Archives Movie Reviews

This collection of vintage shorts is so goofy and fun to watch that you may want to play it for friends and share a good laugh.

"The Trouble With Women" tries to address sexism in the workplace with terrible overacting and dated dialogue. Listen carefully to the voice of the actor who plays the boss. I could swear that's Thurl Ravenscroft who later supplied the voice of Tony the Tiger for Frosted Flakes and became a singing bust in Disney's Haunted Mansion.

"When You Grow Up" and "Purely Coincidental" both revel in bad music. The first is so mellow that it would put the children of today asleep. The later zaps us with bursts of electrified panic to indicated that food preparing machinery has not been properly sanitized.

The best segment has to be "Shake Hands With Danger". Professional stuntmen play out a series of on the job mishaps that are sometimes unintentionally funny. Look for Cliff from the International House of Pancakes commercials. He was going by the name Cliff back then too. This time he's having his truck flipped over instead of his pancakes. Ultimately, it's the "Shake Hands With Danger" theme song that steals the show here...and I'm still singing it.

This is the first DVD in this series that I have watched, and I was blown away.


My two favorites have to be "Shake Hands with Danger" a Caterpillar-financed safety film featuring countless construction mishaps set to a country western soundtrack, and "Purely Coincidental" featuring some of the most earnest over-acting you'll ever see in an educational film.


Also not to be missed is "All Together" a 1970 Lou Rawls narrated recruitment film trying to get more African Americans into the Navy. Right on!

Educational Archives is an excellent collection of "educational" films ranging in date from the 1940s to 1980s providing a wonderful look at the concerns of society and its often misguided attempts to change children (and, in some cases, adults) during those periods. (Interestingly, the 1980s films have the most dated fashions).

In these mini masterpieces you get to meet all sorts of interesting characters. There's Chalky, a talking drawing on a chalkboard who, in only 10 minutes, turns a potentially homicidal young bully into the paragon of politeness, then, after the lesson is over, has the young man help him commit assisted suicide! Then there's Soapy, a bar of soap dressed in yellow tights and puffy purple sleeves with fancy elbow length cuffs who sneaks into a young boy's room at night to teach him that washing does not make you a "sissy" by gesturing flamboyantly and making the boy watch a film of a rugged cowboy soaping up. On the other end of the spectrum is Mr. Bungle, a fun-loving puppet who children despise so much that they do their best to act like pod people in order to avoid being anything like him: Mr. Bungle wouldn't neatly line up his utensils on his lunch tray before eating, so I will! In another film a woman learns the truth about hot dogs by taking LSD: they are actually made of still-living troll dolls who have been taken away from their wives and children (leaving them without support) and are cruelly being served as food to those who haven't had the veil lifted from their eyes by popping acid (the film is unintentionally more pro-vegetarianism than anti-drug). But after learning all this from the troll doll, she cruelly stamps it to death!

There are "real" people too, like a stereotyped Italian shopkeeper with syphilus, a mother who apologizes for interrupting her son's masturbating, a factory worker who trips and falls every 2 seconds, and teenagers doomed to die in car crashes on their prom night. In "The Outsider", a seriously mental girl breaks into tears wondering why other kids order chocolate icecream when she orders root bear.

And there's celebrities! Sal Mineo (the guy who dies in "Rebel Without a Cause") sarcastically makes fun of drug addicts then sings a lame song about russian roulette. Lorne Greene advocates using pets as aids in teaching young children about reproduction. In "Shy Guy", narrated by Mike Wallace, a young Dick York stars as a likeable outsider who is encouraged by his father to spy on other young men so he can learn to copy them, conform and become boring. Lou Rawls recommends that blacks join the Navy as a solution to racial discrimination (!) Best of all, there is a stoned looking Sonny Bono dressed in a shiny gold suit who, in a supposed anti-pot film, actually teaches kids that it is okay to smoke pot except while in a bad mood or operating heavy machinery.

As a male, I also finally got to see one of those special films only girls get to see about menstruation (basically an extended TV commercial for maxi pads, complete with blatant product placement).

Not all of the films are funny, but all are fascinating in their own ways. I'm not sure what "Why Doesn't Cathy Eat Breakfast?" is trying to teach, but she has some interesting posters.

Unfortunately, some of the Sex and Drugs films are edited for time, most drastically in the case of "Narcotics: Pit of Despair", but that film is available complete and in a better print as an extra feature on the DVD for "Blood Freak" (also highly recommended to those interested in unintentionally humourous anti-drug propaganda). There are other films I wish were included in the collection, e.g. the Navy's "LSD: Trip to Where?", but the Educational Archives is a great start, filled with amazing films, many I've never heard about.

Hopefully additional volumes will be released in the future.

Whoever had the idea to put this out is nothing short of genius! My favorite parts of the old Mystery Science Theater show were when they'd do the short educational films. Now, here is the oppertunity to perform your own version!

I had hoped for something a bit more 'gory' but overall I'd say that I was so amused by the rest that I can't say I'm dissapointed.

I won't give away too much here, except that its amusing to note that most of the 'drunk driving' films were shot in the daytime. I'm sure this so that the filmmakers could save on lighting. But it gives the appearance that people were getting tanked at 2 in the afternoon.

Little absurdities like that set the whole tone for this DVD, and its well worth viewing. Its just too damn funny not to!

I'm watching "Social Engineering 101." The DVDs arrived today, and they are a HOOT. So far I?ve seen:

"School of the Living Dead" - 1960
Strangely shaped children stagger through the world's most terrifying lunch break, as staring adults serve unidentifiable food stuffs. Watch as the scary minions pick at themselves and obsessively collect and arrange used milk cartons, as a lone fly scurries across a freshly cleaned table. Very Bergman; very disturbing.

"Don't Drop the Soap" - 19??

Mike's Xstacy kicks in just at bedtime, opening the door for one of Satan's minions. A foppishly dressed bar of soap attempts to recruit Mike to the gay underworld, tempting him with visions of strapping, sweaty cowboys.
Sign me up!

"Honor Thy Father" - 1950
Tommy attempts to break through sexual stereotypes by taking up both cleaning and construction. Tommy's parents are thrilled, and pay him to continue his chores in a serf-like role. We know Tommy these days as Tommy Tune.

"Bewitched, Bothered, Besmirched" - 1947
Samantha's future husband, Dick "Darrin" York, is fed a line by his old dad, encouraged to emulate the sassy, select, snobbish elite at his new school. Dick gravitates towards the boys and girls with the worst possible hairdos and largest noses, which seems to decrease the size of his ears. The other students ignore him as often as possible because of his internal dialogue, which they can hear, and which terrifies them all. They eventually capitulate when he threatens them with his "oscillator."

"Groovy Kathy, Anorexic" - 196?
Educational films' first ethnic star has a dirty little secret...she won't eat. Even the announcer from the Chicago Dairy Council can't tempt her with hypnotic visions of ice cream or tacos for breakfast. What's wrong with this girl? Lord knows we've tried!

"Squealer" - 1951
Do-gooders ruin everyone's fun by turning in high-spirited teens to the police. Even worse, one is expected to play stool pigeon and turn in the rest of his pals! In this early version of "Scared Straight", we can tell Harry is walking a fine line between good and evil: He has big hair, but it's not greasy. A shyster takes him to his swinging bachelor pad with blonde hi-fi. Tell, Harry, tell!

"Emotion 10, Looks 3" - 1954
Amateur thespians and spooky children chew up the scenery when asked to express "emotion." Abandoned babies, over-crowded classrooms, and hormone-crazed adolescents are only a few of the horrors faced in the brave new world of the atomic age. Let's take a little blue pill called "Compoz."

I think that's all I can handle for one evening. You'll weep from laughing. Good night.

I own all four of the "Educational Archives" DVDs, and so far, Volume 2 is my favorite. I love "Lunchroom Manners" and "Soapy the Germ Fighter" best of all. Oh, and the one about Chalky -- that's a keeper. "Why Doesn't Cathy Eat Breakfast?" really takes me back to my own elementary school days, because our teacher actually SHOWED us that bizarre little film as part of a "good nutrition" unit. I love the ending -- "STOP PROJECTOR; DISCUSS MOVIE." Wouldn't it be great if more movies ended like that?

[...]

It totally rules!! "Why Vandalism?" is particularly amazing. "Shy Guy" is good because it has a very young Dick York. Actually, I recognized a few of these from Nick at Nite about 10 years ago...they used to show "The Patty Duke Show" and "Dobie Gillis" and all that, and in between they'd show snippets of old classroom films!!! Man, those were the days. The kid in "Soapy The Germ Fighter" kind of looks like a dirty, young male adolescent Bjork ..."Why Doesn't Cathy Eat Breakfast?" is WAY too short. I'd pay [price] for 2 hours of just her in her gloriously funky room. When I finally got 'round to the final film, "The Outsider", I got all giddy; after all, the last filmstrip in "Vol I: Sex & Drugs" was the brilliant "The ABC's of Sex Ed For Trainables." . Once again, Skip does not disappoint! This film is the most brilliantly melodramatic portrayal of basic young girl blues I have ever seen. Thank goodness Susan Jane's mother intervenes, before she has a total mental breakdown! I can't wait until I get "On The Job"!!!!!!!!!

I'm watching "Social Engineering 101." The DVDs arrived today, and they are a HOOT. So far I?ve seen:

"School of the Living Dead" - 1960
Strangely shaped children stagger through the world's most terrifying lunch break, as staring adults serve unidentifiable food stuffs. Watch as the scary minions pick at themselves and obsessively collect and arrange used milk cartons, as a lone fly scurries across a freshly cleaned table. Very Bergman; very disturbing.

"Don't Drop the Soap" - 19??

Mike's Xstacy kicks in just at bedtime, opening the door for one of Satan's minions. A foppishly dressed bar of soap attempts to recruit Mike to the gay underworld, tempting him with visions of strapping, sweaty cowboys.
Sign me up!

"Honor Thy Father" - 1950
Tommy attempts to break through sexual stereotypes by taking up both cleaning and construction. Tommy's parents are thrilled, and pay him to continue his chores in a serf-like role. We know Tommy these days as Tommy Tune.

"Bewitched, Bothered, Besmirched" - 1947
Samantha's future husband, Dick "Darrin" York, is fed a line by his old dad, encouraged to emulate the sassy, select, snobbish elite at his new school. Dick gravitates towards the boys and girls with the worst possible hairdos and largest noses, which seems to decrease the size of his ears. The other students ignore him as often as possible because of his internal dialogue, which they can hear, and which terrifies them all. They eventually capitulate when he threatens them with his "oscillator."

"Groovy Kathy, Anorexic" - 196?
Educational films' first ethnic star has a dirty little secret...she won't eat. Even the announcer from the Chicago Dairy Council can't tempt her with hypnotic visions of ice cream or tacos for breakfast. What's wrong with this girl? Lord knows we've tried!

"Squealer" - 1951
Do-gooders ruin everyone's fun by turning in high-spirited teens to the police. Even worse, one is expected to play stool pigeon and turn in the rest of his pals! In this early version of "Scared Straight", we can tell Harry is walking a fine line between good and evil: He has big hair, but it's not greasy. A shyster takes him to his swinging bachelor pad with blonde hi-fi. Tell, Harry, tell!

"Emotion 10, Looks 3" - 1954
Amateur thespians and spooky children chew up the scenery when asked to express "emotion." Abandoned babies, over-crowded classrooms, and hormone-crazed adolescents are only a few of the horrors faced in the brave new world of the atomic age. Let's take a little blue pill called "Compoz."

I think that's all I can handle for one evening. You'll weep from laughing. Good night.

I own all four of the "Educational Archives" DVDs, and so far, Volume 2 is my favorite. I love "Lunchroom Manners" and "Soapy the Germ Fighter" best of all. Oh, and the one about Chalky -- that's a keeper. "Why Doesn't Cathy Eat Breakfast?" really takes me back to my own elementary school days, because our teacher actually SHOWED us that bizarre little film as part of a "good nutrition" unit. I love the ending -- "STOP PROJECTOR; DISCUSS MOVIE." Wouldn't it be great if more movies ended like that?

[...]

It totally rules!! "Why Vandalism?" is particularly amazing. "Shy Guy" is good because it has a very young Dick York. Actually, I recognized a few of these from Nick at Nite about 10 years ago...they used to show "The Patty Duke Show" and "Dobie Gillis" and all that, and in between they'd show snippets of old classroom films!!! Man, those were the days. The kid in "Soapy The Germ Fighter" kind of looks like a dirty, young male adolescent Bjork ..."Why Doesn't Cathy Eat Breakfast?" is WAY too short. I'd pay [price] for 2 hours of just her in her gloriously funky room. When I finally got 'round to the final film, "The Outsider", I got all giddy; after all, the last filmstrip in "Vol I: Sex & Drugs" was the brilliant "The ABC's of Sex Ed For Trainables." . Once again, Skip does not disappoint! This film is the most brilliantly melodramatic portrayal of basic young girl blues I have ever seen. Thank goodness Susan Jane's mother intervenes, before she has a total mental breakdown! I can't wait until I get "On The Job"!!!!!!!!!

A good overall look at the available color footage during the war. The commentary is quite good as well. Unfortunately, much of the footage is not as good as it could be. The first program on the first disc has a disappointing black level, and as a result, much of the footage looks too bright and washed out. While the next two programs improve on this, other DVDs such as "The Third Reich in Color" have presented color European theatre and Third Reich footage more carefully. However, none can compete all at once with this two disc set.

The color footage shot during actual battles and preperation for D-Day are high points, as well as the seven minutes or so of Eva Braun home movies on the end of the disc. Pacific theatre buffs will feel shortchanged; I'd say 80 to 85% of the material concerns Europe. This DVD set is certainly worthwhile if you wish to see a large quantity of period color footage with informative commentary. It succeeds in bringing the war and the period to life.

Having read dozens of books on World War Two and having seen many documentaries in the classroom or on my own, I was a little skeptical that simply seeing this footage in color would bring it even more to life. But I certainly was wrong. This is amazing footage from a 3-part History Channel program that presents World War II in color, and there's no way you're going to forget it. Most haunting is the bonus footage of Adolf Hitler hanging out with friends, playing with a dog, petting the animal, playing with children. Seeing a monster in this sort of setting only makes more horrific the Holocaust and Hitler's grand vision of Liebenstraum. Then the footage of Auschwitz and Dachau is enough to haunt you forever. Seeing it in black and white was powerful enough. Seeing it in color, the blank stares of corpses piled up one on top of another in the back of a truck is something that you will never forget. And when you see the kamikaze attack on Okinawa, you'll sit there stunned.
In all, the entire 3-DVD series makes for some unforgettable viewing, strung together with historically accurate narration, most of it from diary entries or letters from the average person. For it was roughly 40 million average persons whose lives were lost in this event. As Roger Mudd ends the series, he talks about how Steven Ambrose' D-Day center now houses the color footage of the Normandy Invasion, so, as Ambrose said, future generations would realize that seeing this in color would show that World War Two was not ancient history. Once you see this, you'll never forget that.

Apart from the obvious important issue of color, "Lost Color Archives" is different from many other documentaries dealing with World War II. The emphasis is much less on causes and facts than it is on the impact of the war on society and individuals. Its use of personal observances is remeniscent of the way Ken Burns used eye witness accounts in "The Civil War" to make more of an impact on the viewer.

Evenso, from a historical perspective, "Lost Color Archives" does deserve high praise as a solid explanation of the war as a whole. Because it is told largely from the eye witness point of view, the viewer has a sense of the impending conflict, then the endurance through the war, and finally, the exhausted conclusion. Emphasis is placed on the fact that the war was over, but that much of the world had been destroyed and that the effects and rememberance of the war would linger on.

Add color to all this and the documentary clearly stands above anything else I've ever seen about the war. Some of the images are average, some are stunning, some are beautiful, some are horrifying, but all are in color.

The combination of the color video and the first person narratives often sent chills down my spine.

This is just about the most disappointing DVD purchase I've made. To say that is not to detract from the goal of preserving and presenting rarely seen, non-Hollywood projects. Most of the items in these eleven plus hours are passably interesting, and several are more than that. Still, the label "treasures" suggests a qualitative richness that simply isn't there, for the good reason that the selection criteria were obviously political, not aesthetic.

By "political" I mean that the goal clearly was to demonstrate the breadth (or, if you must, the "diversity") of American film culture, rather than presenting the best the participating archives had in their collections. So we get standard narratives, experimental shorts, home movies, propaganda, ethnic cinema, records of theatrical performances and documentaries, but what we for the most part do not get is a collection of outstanding films. You can practically feel the politically correct clerks checking off their demographic lists to be certain the collection is "inclusive." The bland results are the perfect bureaucratic solution: the discs won't offend anyone.

Some of the films are more famous than others, such as D.W. Griffith's short "The Lonedale Operator" or John Huston's "The Battle of San Pietro." Even these are not necessarily the filmmakers' best work, however, although it is nice to have copies of them for analytical purposes. The less well-known works vary widely in quality and interest. Many seem to have been included just because they are "rare." Rarity does not necessarily imply value, however. (Maybe I should apply for a National Endowment of the Arts grant to preserve *my* home movies.)

The navigation is simple, devoid of the gimmicks that can make DVDs more obnoxious than entertaining. With one major exception, the discs are well-produced and handsomely packaged. That exception is the musical accompaniment to most of the films. In small doses, it's passable, but if you watch more than a couple of the films at a time, the impersonal clackety-clack of the solo piano is enough to drive you mad. It makes Techno seem like Verdi by comparison.

The "Nation Film Preservation" was founded back in 1997 and consists of 18 film archives from all around the US. This box set of 4 DVDs contains no less than 50 preserved films, most of them silent, but also rare documentaries, like a film about the "Hindenburg" (which let us take a peek into the airship's dining room and the cockpit, and we also learn that the "Hindenburg" needed 59 hrs. for an average flight from Frankfurt to New Jersey !).

There is a lot of of curious stuff like Groucho Marx's Home Movies (!) for example, or a very early version of "Snow White from 1916 complete with green (!!) dwarfes, or an awafully dated William S.Hart western called "Hell's Hinges" (which was co-directed by its star !).

But its not all like that. "Treasures" also contains some utterly important films, like Scott Bartlett's pioneering avantgarde film "OffOn", and a short documentary called "The Wall" (about the building of the Berlin wall), which was never before seen in the US, or Joseph Cornell's wonderful, but also very rarely shown "Rose Hobart" (the great, great grandfather of the video clip !).

This set comes along with a 150 page booklet, in which you can research all the informations you need about the preserved films (you can also switch to the DVD menue for a narrated presentation of each of the film archives). It contains also notes about film preservation itself, as well as information about the musical accompaniments. And there we have the only flaw of the entire set: the muscial accompaniments of the silent pictures !
They are consisting only of piano music, which is, by any means, not very varied and at times terribly boring.
But that's just really one little weak spot in an almost perfect and tremendous project.

"Treasures from American Film Archives" is a great collection of forgotten silver and recommended mainly to those who are interested in film history. So appreciate it, buy it and love it !

This is the first review I am writing for amazon because I want to praise a great collection. Yes, there are many "slice-of-life" clips, that once you watch them, you may ask yourself: "Why bother?"
There are many reasons. If you view films as merely an entertaining diversion at best, then this is not the set for you... If you want to see different styles of filmmaking through different periods of history with differing motives, equipment, and budgets, then get ready for a great ride. You are presented with amateurs, professionals, auteurs, and the casual filmmaker, but all of them took their craft seriously enough to warrant being included in this set.
"Rose Hobart" is amazing. "Fall of the House of Usher" is very innovative. "Hell's Hinges" is one of the most straightforward portrayals of redemption I have ever seen with the greatest pre-John Wayne Western actor/director: William S. Hart. "Battle of San Pietro" is an interesting look at John Huston looking at war while making a government film. The Groucho Marx home movie is fun. The films which show life in the early part of the century are priceless.
Laurence Fishburne's commentary on the archive houses is respectful and informative. A fine choice to document the hard work and dedication of these restoration organizations.
A Final Note, There is a film on this collection called "Battery" which is an experimental film melding line animation with photography, and it uses battery park and the world trade center as its backdrop. The music for the film is very compelling, and the shots of an empty battery park with the twin towers appearing obfuscated by trees gave me goosebumps in this post 9/11 world. A very compelling short film...

I've seen a great deal of these films and consider myself a buff. This selection is very weak! Most of the films are of the film strip variety, where there's music and there are still images that change, rather than the piece being a movie. Some of the films are unpardonably boring! There's so much great stuff out there, but not on this DVD. If you must see it, rent it.

I remember watching the sony bono one way back when, and at the time, as I still do, saw it more as a "pro" pot film and thought and still think that Sony HAD to do this film and I truly belive he had a couple puffs before doing this. My Mom remembers the it's wonderful being a girl segemant, and we both giggled and laughed at the early attempts at explaing "womanhood"

I started laughing about halfway through the LSD one and stopped when it ended. I know full well it was supposed to be educational and taken seriously, but how many of you guys out there would have taken it that way, or know how many kids today would pay attetion? =)

I worked in Antarctica for seven months, and for some reason we had this dvd in our library at the station. We watched it about once a week. It's a riot. "Trainables" is one of the oddest pieces of "film" I have ever seen. Why have the huge close-ups of the presenter when he's got a horribly pock-marked face?

It's a fun ride. Good to see some early Kevin Teague before Emergency and Road House.

I've seen a great deal of these films and consider myself a buff. This selection is very weak! Most of the films are of the film strip variety, where there's music and there are still images that change, rather than the piece being a movie. Some of the films are unpardonably boring! There's so much great stuff out there, but not on this DVD. If you must see it, rent it.

I remember watching the sony bono one way back when, and at the time, as I still do, saw it more as a "pro" pot film and thought and still think that Sony HAD to do this film and I truly belive he had a couple puffs before doing this. My Mom remembers the it's wonderful being a girl segemant, and we both giggled and laughed at the early attempts at explaing "womanhood"

I started laughing about halfway through the LSD one and stopped when it ended. I know full well it was supposed to be educational and taken seriously, but how many of you guys out there would have taken it that way, or know how many kids today would pay attetion? =)

I worked in Antarctica for seven months, and for some reason we had this dvd in our library at the station. We watched it about once a week. It's a riot. "Trainables" is one of the oddest pieces of "film" I have ever seen. Why have the huge close-ups of the presenter when he's got a horribly pock-marked face?

It's a fun ride. Good to see some early Kevin Teague before Emergency and Road House.

I really like this whole series. It seems to be pretty factual in the footage and interviews. Dean Stockwell is pretty good as the host, and the subject matter is great. If you like having TLC, History Channel, or Discover on in the background while doing computer work or whatever, this is the series for you. I've seen some cheesy paranormal/conspiracy video's and this doesn't really rank among them. It's a higher grade of revisionist documentary show than normal (the music is actually great for some reason too).

The US Federal Reserve system is a privately owned organization and is no more federal than Federal Express. Owned by European bankers and financiers, the Federal Reserve is unaudited and untaxed, making uncountable trillions of US dollars since it's illegal inception about 100 years ago. By the very nature of this system which lends principle but demands both principle and interest in return, the debt game is rigged so that banks will continually be owed more and the government will continue to be more in debt. Are the international bankers interested in owning America? No, don't think so small. The end-game is nothing less than World government set up as one-world socialism with two classes (as usual): 1) You, equal with your other serf collegues and 2) The elite ruling class that redistribute your wealth-generating power to themsleves.

Welcome to the oldest conspiracy in the world. Documented. Unreported in any mainstream outlet.