International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1934)

THE CINEMA, HYGIENE AND PREVENTION OF DISEASE 801 insist on a proper supply of drinkable water, if they take for granted the treating of cows with tuberculin, and are accustomed to using the dispensary in case of need, we must congratulate the lecturers on social hygiene who, in their turn, will be ready to admit that a large share of the success is due to the use of the cinema and especially to the sound and talking film. The Beginnings of Let us see the distance Hie Educational we h come< Wg can Cinema in France. place the beginning of the use of the cinema for educational purposes to the period of the Great war. It was in the early part of 1918 that the National Committee of Defence against Tuberculosis, powerfully seconded by the Rockfeller Commission, had the merit of perceiving in a set of circumstances where a certain small amount of educational film was being used that the motion picture was capable of playing a most important role and could make hygiene an interesting and agreeable subject for everybody. As a result of this and subsequent considerations the automobile groups toured France for five years, carrying picture projections. An unexpected and prodigious result of these tours was a powerful movement of public opinion in favour of public health movements. We have seen that these educational campaigns continue throughout France and North Africa, thanks to the auto groups of the Propaganda Service of the National Bureau of Social Hygiene. While during and immediately after the war, educational films were very rare, this state of things has fortunately altered for the better. The first groups of auto-cinemas carried films lent by the American Service, provided either by the Rockfeller Foundation or the American Red Cross. Then we obtained some scientific films from Dr. Comandon with enlargements of microbes and details of the human organs. At the present time, our film repository contains more than 500 educational pictures. On the subject of tuberculosis alone, we have nearly 120 films. Some of these pictures illustrate our sanatoria, prevention centres and dispensaries and all form our anti-tuberculosis armament. Others show the prophylaxis, the causes of tuberculosis and the lesions in the lungs; others again deal with the rules and systems by following which the disease may be avoided. We have also some admirable films of child-rearing (puericulture) which arouse the interest of all mothers, while there are in the repository a number of films dealing with venereal peril, slum dwellings, cancer, diminishing birth rate, contagious diseases; malaria, diphtheria, etc. There are further pictures on general hygiene, mil\ hygiene and propaganda on the benefits of water. We have had the satisfaction of seeing projections in the cinemas of Paris and the large provincial centres of admirable films calculated to wage a stout fight against the venereal danger. We may mention among them « There were once Three Friends », « The Kiss that Kills », « The Enemy of the Blood », and a film which has been shown in North Africa in an Arab text and version : « The Story of the Thousand and Second Night ». Then there is the « Le Voile sacre » (The Sacred Veil) which is intended to illustrate the nurse's noble mission. We have again « Ames de Taudis », « Slum Souls » to use in the struggle against slum dwellings. « Maternity » is another picture with a moral beauty similar to those poetic paintings in the country which delight the people. The educational film « The Future Mother » by Dr. Devraigne, a romantic story on the care of children and the essential principles of child rearing did not only enjoy a great success with the children, but manifested its happy influence with great benefit in workmen's quarters of the city where it was very well received. M. Pierre Malo reporting the projection of the film wrote : « The Future Mother » was shown at Lille before 2000 women of the