Vintage Tobacco & Cigarette Films

Purchase on DVD
Vintage Tobacco & Cigarette Films

This historic film collection is an amazing look at the cigarette and tobacco industry from the perspective of an increasingly cancer conscious mid-century America. Early groundbreaking films that first discuss the health effects of tobacco and cigarette smoking are showcased here. Most smoking videos from this era in history were typically just tobacco industry advertising and marketing propaganda, designed to make the viewers smoke more or build a healthy mental association with cigarette brand recognition. Thats what makes this DVD collection so unique: it features the best of the best early anti-smoking films, which were bravely dedicated to communicating the negative effects of smoking and nicotine, as well as the dangers of tobacco, to unwary consumers.Apart from the fantastic content available in these movies, of great note to viewers is the breathtaking (no pun intended!) footage and pictures of cigarette smoking, tobacco advertising, tobacco products, tobacco use and smoking effects. There has always been a lot of money backing both the pro tobacco industry video productions and the anti tobacco industry video productions. I think the time and money put into these films really shows up in the quality of the videos. Ironically, showing video clips of people smoking cigarettes in these anti smoking films probably continues the mental nicotine cravings for many addicted consumers. Cigarette smokers will be the first to tell you that watching someone else smoke usually leads to inner cravings… similar to watching another person yawn and then finding yourself unconsciously yawning. Such is the double-edged sword of the mental addiction brought on by the addictive additives in tobacco products. The chemicals and hedonistic drive to consume them continues in the brain, even after recognizing and understanding the atrocious health effects of smoking.

Included Films:

Up In Smoke

Produced: 1960

Length: 21 Minutes

Up in Smoke is a comedic skewering of the tobacco industry. The Boss is the head of the Humbar tobacco cigarette company who goes ballistic when his profits stop climbing or anyone is able to stop smoking. He sends his marketing team out to blitz the American public with dishonest messages about tobacco in order to encourage more people to take up the deadly habit, not providing honest facts about smoking. In particular, the marketers are told to get everyone to smoke: men, women, and children (this is a very early film to address teen smoking). The greedy executives son, an athlete and an all-around good guy, comes to the office to see his dad and gets Shanghaid by the marketing executives who want to make him a selling point. Dad sees the error of his ways and gets a newfound respect for the value of human lives and the harmful effects of smoking with a little help from his goody-two-shoes son. Up in Smoke was made by Brigham Young University to dramatize the evils of smoking, which it does, but unintentionally provides big laughs and entertainment with kooky dialogue and cartoonish characters. The history of cigarette smoking and side effects has never been as enjoyable as in this anti-smoking movie.

You are the Switchman

Produced: 1951

Length: 12 Minutes

You are the Switchman educates people on the warning signs of cancer and urges them to consult a medical professional at any sign of danger. Two parallel stories unfold, all about a man who finds a sore on his lip that wont seem to heal. In one story, he refuses to go to the doctor until it is too late. In the other, the victim consults a physician early on, which allows him to happily smoke a pipe with his wife and son, cured of his cancer. Various treatments for cancer are discussed, including x-rays, radium, and surgery, but the film makes the point that early detection is the best way to survive cancer. The film gives the survival rates for certain types of cancer, including breast, skin, and uterine cancer. The title of the film reveals its overall message: like a railroad worker who switches train tracks, individuals must decide whether theyre going to take the track towards early prevention and health, or inaction and death. A wonderful vintage film on the powerful threat that is cancer, this videos message remains important today.

The Sixth Sense

Produced: 1949

Length: 10 Minutes

The Sixth Sense details cigarette manufacturing and quality control before the link between cancer and cigarettes was confirmed. There are some good shots of tobacco farms and workers plowing and harvesting. Then the film shows the inner workings of the cigarette industry, with nice footage of cigarette manufacture, mostly Lucky Strikes. The most interesting part of the film, however, is the footage of the American Tobacco Companys research lab, which is the sixth sense of the title that lets them develop the finest product on the market. The narrator comments that the researchers are always developing new ways to improve cigarettes and it is even revealed that they were working with the University of Virginias medical school. Fantastically relevant given todays hostile climate towards tobacco companies, The Sixth Sense is a pertinent and important film.

Tobacco and the Human Body

Produced: 1954

Length: 15 Minutes

Here is a scientific approach to stop the spread of smokers in the year of 1954. Tobacco and the Human Body uses specially-designed apparatus for collecting cigarette smoke under controlled conditions. Collecting this vapor determines exactly what is being inhaled by those who take up the habit. By extracting these harmful substances, like nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tar, scientists prove cigarettes’ contamination within the human body. An interesting way to sway smoker’s minds, this scientific approach may have been the start to many non-smoking campaigns there are today.