Agency:.Produced by the National Film Board of Canada for the Canadian Department of National Health and Welfare and the United States Public Health Service.

Director, Morten Parker ; producer, Guy Glover ; script, Maurice Constant ; camera, Grant McLean ; sound, Clarke Daprato ; editing, Douglas Tunstell ; animation, Colin Low, Evelyn Lambart ; music, Louis Applebaum.

Narrator, Raymond Massey.

Recorded 1950.

How far have scientists advanced toward solving the riddle of cancer, and what are the key problems now facing them? To explain the enormous complexity of the problem, the film traces briefly the growth and multiplication of a single fertilized cell into an adult man, and asks why some outlaw cells begin persistent growth after the whole body has reached maturity. Research scientists are shown following up clues with test tube, microscope, controlled diets and other aids that may guide them to the eventual solution. Methods of treatment being used meanwhile for different types of cancer are briefly described. As each new aspect of the disease is revealed, the secret of cancer is seen to be as complex as the universe itself, and the quest for its solution one of the greatest adventures on which a scientist can embark.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

First Prize - Category: Scientific Films, 1950 First Prize - Category: Scientific, 1951

Description based on online resource; title from title screen (National Film Board of Canada, viewed 2023-08-10).