Atomic Age Classics 5 DVD set Classic Educational Films

Ever wanted to revisit your junior high school years? Here’s your chance to get a little 1950’s education in the 21st Century! Touching on the subjects of Manners, Hygiene, A-Bombs, Venereal Disease and Communism, Atomic Age Classics 5 DVD set collects vintage films they used to make us watch on 16 mm film projectors in school. Was life more simple back when these were the biggest fears and concerns? You'll get a warm feeling watching these movies explain away life's complex problems in systemic simplicity. This is the perfect gift for anyone who loved these films back in school or young kids that want cheap laughs at 1950s ideals.

Atomic Age Classics, Vols. 1-5 5 DVD set boasts 28 slice-of-life melodramas, propaganda films and other examples of a culture gone awry in a collection that any fan of American post-war popular culture will revel in including...

Volume 1 - Manners, Courtesy & Etiquette
1. Are Manners Important? 1954 Encyclopedia Britannica Films - 11 minutes Mickey thinks politeness is all that grown-ups think about. Lack of courtesy might not keep him from being elected President of the USA, but a near riot in the Oval Office may convince him to reconsider his policy on good manners.
2. Good Table Manners 1951 Coronet Films - 10 minutes In this "time travel paradox," clueless Chuck keeps messing up at the dinner table and once again, the parents aren’t any help in providing proper guidance. Thankfully "Future-Chuck" appears and sets "young Chuck" straight.
3. We Play And Share Together 1951 Burnford Productions - 11 minutes Irene and Susan refuse to play with Michael and soon learn that they aren’t having as much fun as they might have if they shared. The fact that the girls have built a tunnel and want the boy to enter it with his train shouldn’t be considered as anything sexual - honest!
4. Everyday Courtesy 1948 Coronet Films - 11 minutes Billy and his mother attend his classroom’s presentation on manners and courtesy. Through Billy's illustrations, we learn about simple gestures that make life with other people more tolerable. However, it seems most of the children's parents didn’t bother to attend the politeness exhibit.
5. Exchanging Greetings and Introductions 1960 Young America Films - 11 minutes First impressions are hard to shake, so this film teaches youngsters the importance of greetings and introductions. The film's producers are asking a lot from children who, just a generation earlier, were instructed to "speak only when spoken to."
6. Social Courtesy 1961 Coronet Films - 11 minutes A moody teenager dreads taking Carol to a friend’s party. Will learning the finer points of social courtesy help him have fun at the party and maybe get a second date? This film tries to help awkward teens overcome small interpersonal problems before they grow into real social crises - alienation, vandalism, alcoholism, crime and a lonely life as a bachelor.
7. Helping Johnny Remember 1956 Portafilms - 10 minutes Kids in a limbo space are building a perfect little society out of shoeboxes and poster paint. Johnny has been banished from this world because he can’t get along with others!
8. By Jupiter 1941 Wilding Picture Productions - 26 minutes Veteran Hollywood character actor Chick Chandler plays Thornton Poindexter, a hapless everyman who learns that a little kindness goes a long way when the Roman god Jupiter allows him to re-live one particularly miserable day.
Volume 2 - Hygiene, Dating & Delinquency
1. Name Unknown 1964 Sid Davis Productions - 10 minutes A juvenile court judge serves as a grim storyteller to a young teen who ran off with a bank robber. The judge warns that even good teenagers can be "delinquent in good sense." He warns of the dangers of making-out in remote places, babysitting for strangers and being picked up by someone driving a convertible in a town where every stranger is a sex-crazed killer.
2. Going Steady 1951 Coronet Films - 10 minutes While this film tries to offer a balanced view of the pros and cons of "going steady," the message is pretty clear - don’t do it (yet). Adults were concerned about exclusive dating since this would lead to heavy petting, premarital sex or worse - settling down with the wrong person. The film implies that teen couples must ever be vigilant to avoid the fate of Marie and Jeff, who found themselves going steady without even knowing it!
3. Getting Along With Parents 1953 Encyclopedia Britannica Films - 13 minutes The gang is all excited about the upcoming dance and expecially about their visit to the glamorous Blue Room afterwards, until their parents nix the idea. This film explains the parents’ strict decisions, but does little to soothe the teens’ frustration.
4. Body Care And Grooming 1946 McGraw-Hill - 17 minutes Aimed at the college crowd, this plea for good hygiene appeals to the older teenager’s growing urge to find a mate. The film covers all the basics of personal hygiene in case the teen never received such information at home.
5. Unto Thyself Be True 1949 Family Films - 20 minutes Dad is so hard on his son Bill that the teen lashes out by stealing the family car and getting into a hit-and-run accident. Luckily, an interfaith counselor at the police station makes things all better. While the message is aimed at teens, the film tries to appeal to parents as well. It may also inadvertently give the message that even teens from good middle-class families could turn criminal if pushed hard enough.
6. Any Boy - USA 1953 Women’s Christian Temperance Union - 24 minutes In this not-too-subtle rip-off of Huckleberry Finn, young William Blake is bored with the country life and leaves for the glamorous excitement of the city. Along the way, he meets up with liquor personified, "Mr. Whiskey," who tags along with Bill and complains about how bad alcohol is for people. This muddled film is as much about the perils of the big city as it is about the evils of alcohol and probably just confused any teen who viewed it.
Volume 3 - A-Bombs, Fallout & Nuclear War
1. Living With The Atom 1957 Moody Institute of Science - 26 minutes The Moody Institute of Science was a film company whose aim was to attract scientific-minded youths to Christianity. This film covers the basics of atomic theory while addressing the moral issues inherent in wielding such godlike power.
2. Radioactive Fallout and Shelter 1965 U.S. Office of Civil Defense - 28 minutes Purporting that fallout is nothing more than a minor nuisance, this dry, matter-of-fact film attempts to soothe the viewer into a comforting sense that "the government knows what to do and here’s how to beat that nagging fallout problem." While they covered topics like appropriate fallout shelter wall material or how to prepare a fallout-free meal, what such films never really addressed was what it would truly be like to live in a post-nuclear attack world.
3. The Atom Strikes! 1945 U.S. Army Signal Corps - 31 minutes Released soon after the atomic attacks on Japan, this film serves as a public documentation of the historic event. It offers official explanations of the reasons that the United States resorted to atomic warfare, and provides a grim visual catalog of the A-Bomb’s horrific effects on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki..
4. Fallout: When And How To Protect Yourself 1959 U.S. Office of Civil Defense - 15 minutes This stylized 1950’s cartoon addresses one nasty side effect of an atomic blast: radioactive fallout. Civil Defense films such as this tried to reassure the public that this new threat could be surmounted with proper shelter and supplies, but instead they probably did more to instill the fear of all things atomic.
5. The Atom Goes To Sea 1954 John Sutherland Prod./General Electric - 11 minutes General Electric was one of the first commercial entities to exploit the potentials of atomic energy. This company created several films to praise the benefits of atomic energy while trying to distance themselvers from the well-publicized, devastating power of the A-bomb.
Volume 4 - Venereal Disease & You
1. With These Weapons 1939 American Social Hygiene Association/Willard Pictures - 10 minutes This stirring piece illustrates the rampant syphilis outbreak at the turn of the century, estimating that one in twenty adults at that time were afflicted. Because this film was originally intended to motivate civic and church audiences into action, it is tamer than sex hygiene films of the era which were created specifically for men, steering clear of explicit imagery of diseased genitalia or descriptions of syphilitic symptoms.
2. Health Is A Victory 1942 American Social Hygiene Association/Willard Pictures - 11 minutes This short, which focuses on gonorrhea, or the "Great Sterilizer," takes place at a factory lecture. Such preventative lectures were commonplace in a time when a venereal disease epidemic could devastate productivity in a company town. While the film is not explicit, it manages to place the blame for the epidemic on men who frequent prostitutes.
3. A Message To Women 1945 U.S. Public Health Service/Hugh Harmon Productions - 20 minutes Most vintage VD films were aimed towards men or general audiences, so this film, meant strictly for women, is a rarity. It attempts to dispel the myth that only poor, uneducated girls get venereal diseas. The message: don’t have sex until you get married!
4. Story Of D.E. 733 (aka USS VD: Ship Of Shame) 1945 U.S. Navy/Paramount Pictures - 46 minutes This motion picture reinforces the message that contracting VD is not only a personal tragedy but could also affect the war effort. The information is presented as a narrative, rather than in the usual lecture form, in the hopes that sailors could identify with the characters and learn from their mistakes. This version was edited down from the original 1945 version, but still features the obligatory shots of infected genitalia and discusses using condoms for protection.
Volume 5 - "C" Is For Communism
1. Russia At War 1945 March Of Time - 17 minutes Made months after the end of World War II, this film heralds the Russians as a great ally who helped us defeat Germany. But even as this film was being shown, politicians on both sides of the Iron Curtain were beginning to question each others’ post-war motives in occupied countries. Within only a few years, footage like in this film would be shown with narration proclaiming the villainy of the Russian people
2. What Is Communism 1963 National Educational Program/Jerry Fairbanks Productions. - 13 minutes Hosted by Herbert Philbrick, celebrated double-agent for the FBI and author of I Led 3 Lives, this film is an excellent record of one of his lectures on the evils of Communism. While some valid points are made about the machinations of the Communist party, films like this helped feed the American public’s rabid mistrust of anything remotely communist. Philbrick continued his campaign against the Red Menace, even after the fall of the Berlin Wall, until his death in 1993.
3. Red Myth: International Communism 1960 KQED/National Educational Television - 29 minutes Through a series of dramatic vignettes, this film examines how Soviet Communism strayed from its well-intentioned ideological roots to a repressive authoritarian state.
4. Yankee Go Home 1950 Communist Propaganda - 45minutes In this US propaganda piece about the Soviet’s own propaganda, George V. Allen, director of the United States Information Agency, Ernest K. Lindley of Newsweek magazine and various members of the American Armed Forces engage in a wide-ranging discussion about how the post-war Soviet Union was beating us in the disinformation race.
5. Crusade Report 1951 Crusade For Freedom - 10 minutes This film was a progress report of the Crusade For Freedom, an organization that was initially set up to continue the private fundraising campaign started by Presidend Dwight D. Eisenhower, to use radio transmitters to broadcast American propaganda to freedom-hungry listeners in Communist countries, in much the same manner as Radio Free Europe would come to do in subsequent decades. Later, it was revealed that Crusade From Freedom was actually a clandestine CIA front that funneled money into a variety of projects that were designed to destabilize pro-Communist regimes.
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