November 11, 2003
Classroom Kitsch
Remember those cheesy old educational movies they made you watch in grade school? Though my schooling was in the early VHS era, reel-to-reel moldy oldies from the likes of Coronet and Encyclopedia Brittanica still occupied many a bored afternoon back then. I relived some of that goofy "AV Club" mentality by watching the new
Educational Archives: Patriotism DVD. This is part of a series that collects edu films dating from the WWII era to the '70s. This patriotism one has a lot of interesting shorts - such as the immortal
Duck and Cover and
Despotism, which examines how a democracy can tilt into despotism (watch it today and marvel at how despotic our current administration is!).
My faves on this one disc were two animated films. One was a stylized, fast paced cartoon on the Bill of Rights with an all-star cast of voice talents, including Daws Butler and June Foray. The other was a groovy, psychedelic piece made for the Bicentennial celebrations with a rock 'n roll soundtrack. One clever bonus on these DVDs is the option to watch "classroom" style, with the sound of a rickety old movie projecter ticking away in the background.
One caveat: most of the films are in an awful, scratched up state - but that only adds to their clutzy charm. I can't wait to check out the others in the series such as Sex & Drugs and Social Engineering 101.
Posted by mhinrichs at November 11, 2003 12:36 PM
I taught Driver's Ed this summer (don't laugh!). It was just the classroom component: here in CA, kids have to have 30 hours in a classroom before they can get their learner's permit.
Anyway, I ordered the Driver's Ed films in this series to show as a special treat. They were fun, but they just weren't gory enough for my students.
WTTW-11 in Chicago, our local PBS station, ran a wonderful half-hour on education films last year, entitled "Those Films You Saw In School." Turns out most of them were produced here, whether by Brittanica, the Moody Bible Institute, or whassisname up in Evanston, the founder of Esquire. Really interesting show.
I received the DVD of Sex and Drugs Vol 1 for Christmas last year and it's a hoot1 At our annual Festivus party we show selections from the volume.
Some of the films are available at the Prelinger Archives (it helps if you have a fast connection) and I've burned several VCDs of WWII propoganda and Health and Hygiene gems.
They sure don't make them like they used to!
Propaganda, is propaganda, is propaganda: the Duck and Cover film was totally scary.
By the time I was in grade school, this old fashioned placebo was outdated; but watching it made me realize how easy it is to brainwash children into believing anything. I mean, lying down close to a wall until the "all clear" sounded is stupid to the extreme, but clearly served a purpose.
When Matt and I were watching, I filled in my own voice-over narration when they showed a boy standing in the middle of some park -- no where near anything like a protective structure. The real narration said something about ducking and covering, while I added "While the radiation burns your shadow into the cement behind you."
How something as gruesome as nuclear bombs could be so easily dismissed by "duck and cover" is beyond comprehension.
It might have made sense then, but does not now.
What I remember most fondly are the old Bell Labs. education films. The details are fuzzy but I do remember "Hemo the Magnificent" teaching me about blood and of course "Our Mr. Sun."
For me the best part of the James Coburn movie the President's Analyst is the parody of the old Bell Labs movies near the end. In a kindly fashion it explains why we should let The Phone Company implant a little telephone in our heads.
Richard - don't know if you already knew this, but 'Our Mr. Sun' is available on DVD.
I found your site by searching for "Hemo the Magnificent". Unfortunately, the videos are no longer available. Now, "Hemo" and "Unchained Goddess" are double featured on one DVD and "Mr. Sun" and "Strange Case of Cosmic Rays" are on another. The remainder have no Frank Capra connection and are no longer available. Image Entertainment now has the rights to the Capra sets. I've been told by Rhino, who had the VHS tapes, that the other VHSs are sitting on pallets in their warehouse. They are "reluctant" to sell them due to copyright, so are available to no one.
As an added interest, Disney now has available the "Man in Space" series as well as, "Our Friend the Atom", all from the '50s. I have used "Atom" on 16mm for years in science classes. Quite brilliant!
A site to find these treasures is www.wonderworkshops.com.
Thank you!
Tom
