Remember Max Fleischer, creator of Betty Boop? (See yesterday's film tip.) He was also an inventor, and a scientifically-minded fellow, was Mr Fleischer. He invented new ways to make cartoons, and introduced other film innovations.

In addition to bringing us the likes of Betty Boop and an animated Superman – and giving Disney a run for his money – Fleischer once tried to explain the Theory of Relativity. Here's his film.

Now, you may yawn. But stop and consider: this was 1923. Very few people understood the Theory of Relativity. We weren't yet used to the concepts, and we hadn't seen hundreds of Star Trek episodes yet. Not yet inured to technobabble, the public had trouble taking it all in.

The year before, 1922, had seen the release of a German silent film on relativity. Now, the Germans were film pioneers, but one doubts that the British/US public were much up on Relativiätstheorie. The umlauts alone would give you a headache. Scientific American had published an article with the opinion that a film really couldn''t do justice to Einstein's theory.

Scientific American didn't anticipate the likes of Stanley Kubrick, obviously.

It seems Fleischer and his brother took this as a challenge, and the following year, they produced this little gem. Yes, it's in black and white. Yes, it's slow. Yes, it reminds you of all those films you had to watch in school. But take the time to reflect: isn't this a good way to inform the general public of some of the concepts involved? I particularly like the train experiment. The music on this Vimeo version is a particularly nice touch.

If you'd like some more modern music, I recommend Julie Miller's haunting song, 'The Speed of Light'.

Watch Fleischer's film and tell us: are you now enlightened? Do you say, 'Oh, of course! How elementary!' We'll let Prof Einstein have the last word on his theory. He later explained what he meant succinctly, but Teutonically.

I'm sure Prof Einstein would have agreed with Professor Perkowitz, a US scientist who has taken the film industry to task for all that ridiculous trekolalia and 'science' stunts. Prof Perkowitz has suggested that film-makers be limited to one ludicrous and non-scientific idea per story.

I second this notion. Beam me up, Scotty.