Schmilmography : Schmilmography

Prologue

2008-01-06T14:35:38Z

Like many other bored people, I sometimes spend hours searching and watching all different kind of videos from YouTube. Nowadays I probably watch those vids more than I watch television.

And I'm not alone, many of my friends has this new hobby.

While ago I talked about this with a friend. We were both amazed how, more often than not, we actually find the weirdest, silliest, most unlikely vids there - it's almost like everything really is uploaded in YouTube.

There's an international short film festival every spring in my hometown (Tampere Film Festival). Every year there's usually collections of different kind of old short films - those are the shows I usually go see. I'm not that big filmfreak, but I rather enjoy the unintentional comedy value those films offer aswell as I love to "travel in time". Those films (fiction or education) tells so much so many ways of that era they were made in.

Several years ago me and the friend mentioned above went to see one those shows. A collector (possibly from USA) had brought some samples from his collection - all somehow related to sex.

We saw short films from early 1900's till 1970's including for example really old, really dirty flicks (showed in brothels for customers while they were waiting), movie trailers and sex education films from different decades.

We both agreed already back then that the most bizarre film of all was a sex education film from 1970's(?), where a whole family (mum, dad and big sister) teaches to a little girl with Down syndrome (maybe 10yrs old) what are periods and how to use sanitary pads.

I kid you not.

Experience was gruesome yet hilarious.

I don't laugh at disabled people, we can't really help the way we are born to this world and I'd like to think that we all are just as special and important despite they way we look. There's nothing comical about that little girl featured in that film. But everything else about that film... it's just... hilarious.

I got weird sense of humor and I'm not very PC in general. And it was like 4am in the morning. So I remember laughing hysterically. The questions rose the next day.

Only reasonable explanation for such film was obviously that it was aimed to disabled people. Hence the leading lady had to be someone to relate to.

All in all it was unforgettable experience.

We joked with my friend wouldn't it be kinda funny (ha ha and weird) if THAT film was uploaded in youtube.

As you might guess, the reason why I'm writing this is that I actually found it.

And while I was searching, I found loads of other such sex ed, hygiene, propaganda short films.

It's not just the (unintentional) comedy they offer that intrigues me. I find it quite interesting to see how the "message" in those films have changed - how the moral values and society has changed.

Tone changes from puritan preaching, warning and forbidding to the casual "hey it's perfectly normal to touch yourself"...

So I've been watching and laughing. And searching more info about those films if possible.

What started as search of certain film from YouTube, turned into a fascinating journey into past decades.

***

I've collected the links and added sometimes some reviews or related info and will continue doing so.

Obviously I have no copyrights whatsoever to anything, nor can't really help if some of those links die.

I hope you will have as much fun reading/watching as I have had (and still do) searching and finding!

"All Women Have Periods"

2008-01-06T15:32:10Z

Here's the short film (in 2 parts) that started this is all - education film for disabled girls/women.

(check the whole story from Prologue)

I was trying to find more about this film, so far only reference to it is an scientific article by Robert Lenz

(Sexuality and Disability, Volume 4, Number 4 / December, 1981).

Unfortunately the database is not public, but in the abstract there's atleast the original name of the film

"All Women Have Periods"

(in YouTube there tends to be several versions with different names from many movies).

All women have periods, - lenght 10:29

(ebaum doesnt like embedding, so just a link)

"Is it possible or is it even necessary?"

2008-01-06T16:16:19Z

I have seen few spoofed versions of this film or it's parts until I found this original.

Apparently it's from early 1970's and it's aimed to help out teaching sex ed for disable - the title is from the ebaumsworld.com - not quite sure if it's original
(I'm still trying to find that out as well as the release year).

And yes, the word "trainables" is used in this film itself...

This film covers anatomy, periods, wet dreams, masturbation...

"We must teach to those with serious disabilities that hinder their learning to live as successfully as possibly with other people. This includes their sexual behaviour. But rather than teach which is somewhat difficult, it becomes a training situation with as much explanations as they can absorb."

"Sex education should also involve instructing them how to recognise and avoid sexual exploitation. Trainables are particularly vulnerable because the common characteristic of trust, lack of judgement and the desire of affection."

Sex education for trainables - lenght 7:01

(ebaum doesnt like embedding, so just a link)

Here's one short spoof version made from the masturbation scene.

lenght 1:12

"Am I normal?"

2008-01-06T16:57:45Z

He sure has lot's of questions this young fellow...

But as he goes around asking them, he also gets answers to such burning questions will the skil peel of if you touch "it" like his friend claims.

Scene where dad tries to explain things "Let's see now, men have their own ... baseball bat..." - somehow I think that this (or some similar film/scene) have inspired the makers of American Pie when they wrote the role of Jim's dad..

Around the 15 minutes come a scene that absolutely cracked me up. Boys are in the zoo, checking out animals and wondering does size matter...

Janitor of the zoo is asked bout the matter: "You have come to the right man for the answer. Let's face it, in this job I see a lot of penises."

Sometimes it takes a whole village to sex educate a young man.

Am I normal?" - lenght 21:46

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ow5eZQ1xhgs&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ow5eZQ1xhgs&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

Boys Beware

2008-01-06T17:43:32Z

Film by Sid Davis, a social guidance film director and producer.

"Boys beware" is from 1961 and apparently quite notorious from it's heavy anti-homosexual tendencies (pretty much labeling that being homosexuals = pedophiles).

As important as the message to be cautious is, the bigorty of film maker makes this quite laughable. Attitudes, society and culture have luckily changed so much that we can laugh at the untintentional comicalness created by the passionate tone of this film.

And no-one thinks like that anymore, right? (sadly that's not true...)

"What Jimmy didn't know was that Ralph was sick. The sickness was not visible like small pox, but no less dangerous and contagious - the sickness of the mind. You see, Ralph was a homosexual, a person who demands an intimate relationship with members of their own sex."

Boys Beware by Sid Davis (1961) - lenght: 10:19

Social guidance -genre

2008-01-09T18:30:22Z

After I had watched more of these old films, I actually got interested about this genre and wanted to know more. I started my search using the names of films or director/producer etc and seems like it's a search that can be done infinitely - there's always something more to check.

There's much to read alone in Wikipedia and random searches through Google.

Easy way to start is article in Wikipedia: Social guidance film

"Social guidance films constitute a genre of films attempting to guide children and adults to behave in certain ways. Typically shown in school classrooms in the USA from the 1950s through the 1970s, the films covered topics including courtesy, responsibility, sexuality, drug use, and driver safety; the genre also includes films for adults, covering topics such as marriage and how to balance budgets."

Plenty of links to follow - when I've found (and will find) more info about the films I've linked in this blog, I've added it to related entries.

---

Although some of these films seems very distant past, fact is that they were seen by generations of our grandparents and parents. And not just in USA, I remember when I was in my early pre-teens (back in early 1980's) we actually watched old American sex ed films. They were subtitled or dubbed, can't remember that well. Can't remember the titles either, only that they were American and usually colour films and my wild guess is that the ones we watched were from 1960's/1970's (the little I remember from the clothes and style how those films were made).

School I was then was build in early 1960's, most AV equipments were from that time - also the old filmprojector.

With a childhood friend (we were same class all through the schooltime) we have talked about those early sex ed lessons: fond memories of film projector heating up too much and film melting and our teacher occasionally blurring the scenes with zooming so that we dont see anything indecent.

I do remember one scene quite well and if I ever see it I will recognize it. Film was about the (hormonal) changes of teenage years and how they affect our body. The particular scene was about teenage boy whose hormones made him sweat more and how that sweat now also has more manly smell. Healty and perky looking youngster stood there on the lawn playing with his friend, wearing a flannel shirt with very wet armpits. I have a brother 5 years older than me and I remember distinctivelt realizing the reason why he always seemed to smell so disgusting. Well I was in the age when all boys were more or less disgusting.

I guess it was also bit difficult for our teacher that time (male) to start tell the girls about periods and other changes we will go through... Besides age 10-12 all we did was just become hysterical and giggle - boys and girls alike. In that dark filmroom atleast our teacher didn't have to watch our smirking faces.

Few years later (age 14-18) another schools and we actually got proper sex ed from school nurse or other visiting lectures. Mid-1980's all the publicity that HIV/AIDS got lead to nationwide campaign here (Finland): all 15-25(?) years old adolescents received info-booklet about sex, STDs.

And a condom glued on backcover - surely with an educational intention, but widely used for humours purposes I recall.

At that time the sex ed "went through changes" aswell - safety sex became more and more into focus. World certainly had changed too since those innocent times of earlier decades.

Going steady

2008-01-09T19:13:22Z

Marie and Jeff pondering should/would/could they "go steady" or are they already doing it??

And one day I will count how many times the phrase "going steady" actually is repeated through the film.

Original film can be found from Prelinger Archive:
Going Steady.

I decided to link a spoofed version (by Josh Way) because it's both funny and well done (dubbing isn't interfering with original dialogue)

Dangers of illicit sexual intercourse

2008-01-09T20:16:14Z

World War II era, official military training film for american troops and how to avoid bring embarassing diseases as a souvenir...

"If our country is to succesfully defend our right to live the American way, it needs every one of you in the best possible condition."

Intresting approach is that in this film, they watch an educational film about venereal diseases. Things are talked pretty straight, but the language is really complicated. Makes you wonder what the simple farmboys from Iowa were wondering while watching this...

"The army recognizes the risks present for a large number of men in the satisfaction of their sexual impulse."

Official Training film 8-1238, by war department - lenght 08:08

Perversion for profit

2008-01-10T09:28:30Z

"This moral decay weakens our resistance to the onslaught of the communist masters of deceit."

Who would have known? Pornography is dirty trick to lure people into communism and attempt to destroy the Western Civilization...

Perversion for profit was financed by Charles Keating, founder of Cincinnati anti-pornography organization Citizens for Decent Literature (later Citizens for Decency through Law). His campaign against porn lead him to be appointed to president's comission on pornography where he attempted to stop its rather liberal recommendation policy. He also participated the "People vs Larry Hunt" case mid-1970's.

Keating himself was convicted in state court in 1992 of fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy and received a 10 year prison sentence.

Perversion for Profit is from 1965, narrated by wellknown newsman George Putnam.

The film shows multitude of still pictures from (soft) porn magazines while George Putnam preaches the dangers of such vile obscenity.

"Now, you might ask yourself, why this sudden concern? Pornography and
sex deviation have always been with mankind. This is true. But now,
consider another fact. Never in the history of the world have the
merchants of obscenity, the teachers of unnatural sex acts, had
available to them the modern facilities for disseminating this filth.
High-speed presses, rapid transportation, mass distribution. All have
combined to put the vilest obscenity within reach of every man, woman
and child in the country."

Perversion for profit (1965), part 1 - lenght 6:37

Perversion for profit (1965), part 2 - lenght 6:39