Vintage social guidance responsibility films! Can it get any better? Watch these teenagers learn about the facts of life and adulthood. There are nine quality films in this compilation – and you cant find this collection anywhere else!
Included Films:
Developing Self Reliance
Developing Self Reliance
Produced: 1946
Length: 21 Minutes
Self-reliance is a tool that everyone must learn. Growing up, it is easy to sit back and let others do all your work for you. However, this is not an efficient or satisfying way to live in the world. Developing Self-Reliance points out one such boy who has no self-reliance and is too dependent on those around him. He has gotten used to everyone doing his work for him. As a youngster, he is helped at dressing himself. As a student he is helped with his homework. What this cultural film teaches is the importance of becoming independent, a lesson everyone must learn to be successful.
Habit Patterns
Habit Patterns
Produced: 1954
Length: 14 Minutes
This film follows two very different teenagers, Helen, a lovely girl and social butterfly, and Barbara, a slovenly misfit. Barbara is heckled by the heartless narrator throughout the movie, even as she cries into her hands in the beginning scenes he says, Its a little late for tears, isnt it? Barbara had been invited to a party the day before by a group of popular girls. When she went, though, her bad habit patterns of poor grooming, bad posture, and common manners made the other girls dislike her. She becomes the subject of nasty gossip, and according to the narrator, she deserves it. Back in Barbaras bedroom, she gets a lesson in good manners and personal care. Hopefully, she can ditch her old bad habits and be accepted into the group later. This films scenes are mostly set in upper middle class establishments and the girls talk about going to some high-class vacation spots, so social class defines part of the dynamic of the conflict between Barbara and the other girls. The message seems to be that in order for people to raise their position in life, they will have to be possessed of high-class manners.
Your Thrift Habits
Your Thrift Habits
Produced: 1948
Length: 11 Minutes
Your Thrift Habits broaches a problem many people have—saving money. Sitting down for some ice cream and soda, Jack notices his friend’s brand new camera and asks how he could afford such an appliance. His friend then tells him how he laid aside money each week in order to buy it. Complete with graphs on how to save, Jack learns that persistence is a key trait to have when trying to save. Your Thrift Habits is an instructional film that teaches kids how to be responsible with their money, a great lesson to learn early on in life.
Beginning Responsibility: Taking Care of Things
Beginning Responsibility: Taking Care of Things
Produced: 1951
Length: 10 Minutes
A sloppy person who doesnt take care of their belongings ends up shunned from the group and not as popular as the kids who take their responsibilities. Such is the message of, Beginning Responsibility: Taking Care of Things. Andy, a five year old boy, is shown acting irresponsibly with his belongings; he kills two of his tadpoles by forgetting to feed them and leaves an expensive camera under a tree outside. The conformist 50s viewpoint has Andy liked by no one because of his slovenly ways. Eventually a long talk with his mother helps him understand the error of his actions and he is sent on the golden path of popularity through responsible living and taking care of his things and, through that, himself.
The Benefits of Looking Ahead
The Benefits of Looking Ahead
Produced: 1950
Length: 11 Minutes
A slacker teen, Nick, played by a hilariously hammy actor, is in danger of being voted least likely to succeed in his high school. He is lazy, doesnt think about his future, and cant even plan ahead enough to make a table in shop class. When one of his more goal-oriented friends, Don, tells him that he could end up as a bum, Nick starts having visions of himself in different situations. First, he imagines himself as a drifter, That could be me…nothing but a bum. Then he starts to ask himself what he really wants out of life, I want to be happy. Be somebody. Have a good job. Friends. A home. A wife and kids. But how do I get there? If thats my purpose, how do I reach it. How? A detailed plan. How to achieve my purpose. And Id better be getting at it right now. Soon, he imagines himself as a successful businessman and chairman of the Community Club. Now Bill has a purpose in life and he starts out by going to the wood shop and getting that table built right.
Facing Reality
Facing Reality
Produced: 1954
Length: 12 Minutes
Excuses are made constantly for getting out of something or not wanting to believe the truth. This humanistic film explores different types of escaping reality that are common within human culture. Acted out in the film are suppression, blame, denial, negativity, etc. that hinders a person rather than helps. While the actors cope with life’s stressors, viewers easily relate to each reaction, and identify with how they themselves deal with societal pressures. A psychological exploration into the human psyche, Facing Reality sheds light on the human condition with a scientific outlook.
How to Keep a Job
How to Keep a Job
Produced: 1949
Length: 11 Minutes
This Coronet film discusses how to become the kind of employee that businesses want to keep and promote. Ed gets a job but doesnt know how to keep it and after getting fired, must go out to look for another. At a job interview, his potential employer tells him the story of two twin boys who each tackle their jobs differently: one does everything right and the other is lazy and unproductive. Ed sees himself in the story as the bad employee and decides to change his ways. The boss takes a chance on him and Ed is soon working in the mail room.
Responsibility
Responsibility
Produced: 1953
Length: 14 Minutes
Principal Gordon narrates the story of the election of the schools class president. It comes down to a tie between Hank Evans and his friend. Hank is popular and handsome and seems to rely more on his looks to get him through life than hard work and responsibility. His grades start to slip when he doesnt redo his algebra, skips reading assignments, and gets stage fright during the debate finals. His friend is more humble and responsible. In the end, Principal Gordon says there is just one vote left, an absentee ballot. The audience must decide who they would vote for as class president, the responsible boy, or the popular looker who slacks off.
