{{Short description|1957 educational film}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox television | image = | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = | genre = Educational | creator = | based_on = | writer = Frank Capra | screenplay = | story = | director = Frank Capra<br />William T. Hurtz (animation director) | starring = Richard Carlson<br />Dr. Frank C. Baxter | narrator = | theme_music_composer = | country = United States | language = English | num_episodes = | producer = Frank Capra | editor = Frank P. Keller | cinematography = Harold E. Wellman | runtime = 55 minutes | company = | budget = | network = CBS | first_aired = {{Start date|1957|03|20}} | last_aired = | related = {{Plainlist| * ''Our Mr. Sun'' * ''The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays'' }} }}
'''''Hemo the Magnificent''''' is a one-hour Technicolor made-for-television educational film, released in 1957 by Bell Laboratories and directed by Frank Capra, and first telecast by CBS.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lenburg |first1=Jeff |title=The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons |date=2009 |publisher=Checkmark Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8160-6600-1 |edition=3rd |page=317}}</ref> It details the workings of the circulatory system. It is one program in The Bell System Science Series, a series of nine Bell Telephone science specials telecast in prime time on commercial network television from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s. All but one of these specials starred Prof. Frank C. Baxter; the last of them starred Walt Disney.
== Background == Baxter played his usual role as "Dr. Research", the resident scientist in the film series. Richard Carlson played the other recurring character, a writer for television. Several well-known voice artists were employed for the animated sequences, including Marvin Miller as the title character, Hemo. Also appearing were Mel Blanc and June Foray as a squirrel and a deer, respectively. Sterling Holloway appeared in an uncredited role as a lab assistant.
== Reception == Although ''Time'' magazine gave it an extremely negative review,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,867579,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111019202452/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,867579,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 19, 2011|title=Television: Review|date=1 April 1957|work=Time}}</ref> calling it "condescending" and citing it as an example of how the scientific information was presumably "dumbed down" by including cute cartoon animals, it quickly became a classic of the genre, featuring incredibly detailed television animations for its time.
''Hemo the Magnificent'' and another Bell Laboratories film, ''Our Mr. Sun'', were favorites for showing in school science classrooms.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}}
==Home media== The film was released on DVD with another film featuring Dr. Baxter, ''The Unchained Goddess'' (1958).
==In popular culture== A brief sequence from ''Hemo the Magnificent'' is seen in the film ''Gremlins'' and also in Disney's ''Bill Nye the Science Guy''. One of the evil gremlins sneaks into a classroom while the science teacher (Glynn Turman) is showing ''Hemo'' to the class.
According to screenwriter David Koepp, the 'Mr. DNA' sequence in ''Jurassic Park'' was inspired by ''Hemo the Magnificent''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-09-26 |title=Scriptnotes Ep 418: The One with David Koepp, Transcript |url=https://johnaugust.com/2019/scriptnotes-ep-418-the-one-with-david-koepp |access-date=2022-03-08 |website=johnaugust.com |language=en-US}}</ref>
The film is mentioned in the ''Freaks and Geeks'' episode "Discos and Dragons" by the A/V supervisor.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=0156602}}
{{Frank Capra}}
Category:1957 American animated films Category:1957 films Category:1957 television films Category:Sponsored films Category:American television films Category:Bell Labs Category:1950s educational films Category:Films directed by Frank Capra Category:American educational films