Danger Is Your Companion
Danger Is Your Companion
This post-war film encourages participation in first aid classes as a primary means of instilling safety consciouness relative to the "10,000,000 accidents/100,000 fatalities" occuring annually in industrial farm, home, & traffic settings. Very good "period" footage of vehicles and clothing of the postwar period. Very typical of the "frantic appeal" appproach to safety of that era, with bold titles/contrived graphics. The birth of the culture of fear. Narrated by Dwight Weist, directed by Joe Weil.
Danger Is Your Companion
Opening credits. TLS traffic in mid-sized town, trees lining perimeter; l/a MS clock tower, time on clockface reads 4 o'clock. TLSs business district, cars & buses driving sluggishly through safe & secure pathos. MS two middle-aged Caucasian men-- both wearing business suits, one sitting in convertible car-- talking at curbside, F.W. Woolworth store in BG; paperboy happens along, hollering, "Extra, extra, read all about it! Paper, mister?" (no, really, this is genuinely uttered). CU Star Tribune headline-- "Mother and 3 Children Die in Home Explosion". MS/CUs men talking about the tragedy & others that have befallen this quiescent town; great dialogue here, w/ potent quotables like "I get jittery worrying about my own family!" & "Funny thing, doctors seem to get sickness & epidemics under control but no one is able to stop accidents" & "People take too many chances. They just don't think!" (uttered just as he pulls away, almost running down a young white woman jaywalking across street). Safety awareness pamphlets stacked upon each other. MS road sign: "Welcome to Pennsylvania! Please drive with care! Save Lives!". MCU road sign: "Emergency First Aid" with red cross emblem. TLS roadside billboard: "Watch out for our children-- drive carefully". MCU "School Crossing" street sign. MCU sign: "Stop Fires! Remember, I'm not Fireproof" with image of white baby stuffing hand into mouth.
Danger Is Your Companion
MS door w/ "Department of Public Health" on it; MS/CUs two white men looking over chart -- "Total Annual Deaths from Accident in US". Graphic of pie chart showing how many people die annually from influenza, meningitis, polio, tuberculosis, & "other communicable diseases", accidents bearing the brunt of "needless death". Sensational headlines like "10 Million Accidents Last Year" & "27,000 Accidents Every Day" suped over newspapers. Great MS/MCUs of young Caucasian man in business suit driving Chrysler sedan along country road, stopping at site of motorcycle accident, a young white man & woman prone in street; fantastic shots of man panicking, fretting, worrying, wanting to help but not knowing how, until an old country doctor arrives & administers the most general of first aid to the woman. Diss to MCU woman covered in bandages except for the beauty zone, which, miraculously, is unmolested; MSs young white male doctor in frock coat walking to her bedside w/ medical chart, then talking to cam-- "Chance saved her life. Good fortune in the form of a person who knew first aid" The good doctor walks to woman in traction in adjacent bed, then to masked burn victim next bed over; he continues berating the audience for not knowing basic first aid.
Danger Is Your Companion
CU American Red Cross First Aid textbook. MSs group of middle-class Caucasians in first aid class, teacher showing them via chalkboard & models what to do in the event of a motorcycle accident. MS group learning how to tie a bandage around the hand of a victim. MS group learning how to use a stretcher. MS group learning how to bandage an ankle. Graphic swoop towards screen: "Should You Put Antiseptic on Cuts?" & "Should You Put Oil or Grease on Burns?" & "Should You Give Bread in Case of Fishbone in Throats?" & "Should You Move a Person who has a Brain Concussion?" & "What is First Aid for a Heart Attack?" MSs group learning to tie arm slings, roll victim into blanket.
Danger Is Your Companion
EST shots factories and docks. MS office door with "Safety Engineer" written on glass. MS white man learning the proper way to use an acetylene torch. MSs old white male supervisor admonishing young white woman in factory for not having her hair pulled back as per safety guidelines (interesting to note these women factory workers are leftovers of the wartime work force). CU man sticking arm into wooden barrel, a nail protruding from side, almost striking employee. MSs white male factory workers gazing upon first aid postings & warnings at plant. MSs factory employees learning first aid in class. MCU scrawl on floor as people walk across it-- "Let's All Work Safely!"
Danger Is Your Companion
EST shot dairy farm. MSs men working with mechanzied & highly dangerous grain thresher. MS caddish white girl sporting blue jeans and pigtails running up to wobbly ladder leaning against barn, climbing up it until Paw runs along & admonishes her spunky cuteness w/ a pointed finger, pulls her down. MCU penned bull w/ sign on railing: "Warning! Keep Away From Bulls!" MS/CUs white man lazily chopping log with ax, just missing foot. MS/CUs shirtless white man shoveling in field, tractor passing by, running over his foot. TLS three white kids riding bicycles through countryside. TLS white children exiting junior high school; MCUs white kids posing. TLS/MSs white girl roller skating to front steps of brick suburban house, tossing her books & sitting down to take off skates, leaving one poised precariously at door so when Grandma steps out for a breath of fresh air-- whoa! Grandma falls and busts her head open. Traveling shot of suburban houses. MS foppish white boy playing with box of matches in kitchen. MS/CUs man tripping on tear in rug, falling down flight of stairs (ouch). MS man standing on chair, trying to hang picture, only to fall gracelessly to floor.
Danger Is Your Companion
Great LS/TLSs of three-lane highway by ocean, cars traveling along it. Traveling shots of cars on highway. TLS traffic passing by roadside billboard-- "Take Heed! 5 Year Accident Toll 487,000 Dead!" Excellent TLS/MSs of "Junior borrowing the family car" outside of suburban home, fretting nervous parents hovering about as son in dress suit and his teenage pals pull off, everyone waving goodbye-- forever! TLS/MSs teenagers driving family convertible, speeding, cutting people off, having a teenage ball; MS white man wearing fedora waving people around him while driving on highway; TLS/MSs teenagers in rather mild traffic accident, only suddenly they are spilled across the road as citizen attend to them; MSs people administering first aid to reckless teenagers until paramedics & police arrive, carting them off in ambulance. Illustration of giant hand, American Red Cross card appearing in palm.