This compilation features vintage films about the wonders & dangers of living in world filled with manufactured chemicals.
Included Films:
Death to Weeds
Death to Weeds
Produced: 1947
Length: 22 Minutes
There are no second chances, there are no excuses, if you are a weed, you must die. Produced by the Dow Chemical Company about exciting new pesticides, we see the benefits of four weed killers and how weeds are menacing the good people of America. Weeds can cost farmers billions of dollars a year. Dows solution? Kill them all! The film is a gripping look at chemical sprays used on plants before harsh regulations and activists sought to make the chemicals safer. Death to Weeds strident call to kill all weeds everywhere is a superb look into the history of agriculture as well as the history of chemical pesticides. Organic farmers…look away.
Test Tube Tale
Test Tube Tale
Produced: 1941
Length: 9 Minutes
From the Middle Ages down to modern times, the magic of chemistry has fascinated and inspired people to achieve greater and better things. The 1940s was no exception to the thrill of researching and designing new things, like nylon, rayon, plastic hair brushes that come in an array of colors and plastic raincoats that protect the wearer. Test Tube Tale, expounds on the many ways in which chemistry can be used for the greater good, encouraging young men to take up the call of science during a time when the nation needed chemists badly. Designed primarily to get men interested in chemistry during World War II the film also serves as a strangely prophetic look at the worries of pollution from factories, offering chemistry as the way to stop such pollution, as well as serving to show the wonders created by daring men who refused to stop searching for answers.
The Magic Wheel
The Magic Wheel
Produced: 1952
Length: 29 Minutes
This is a great film about the National Cash Register Company from the perspective of a 25 year veteran of a chemical engineering firm.
Dow Midland
Dow Midland
Produced: 1950s
Length: 21 Minutes
Garden Wise
Garden Wise
Produced: 1940
Length: 24 Minutes
A somewhat shocking vintage film, Garden Wise was a promotional film made by the Monsanto Corporation (still in operation) to advertise their latest fertilizer: Krillium. This pesticide is actually worse than it sounds: its chiefly made from polyacrylamide, which is horribly toxic to humans and no longer allowed! In stark contrast, the film is narrated by a beautiful woman with a lovely voice as she serenely discusses her hopes and dreams of achieving the perfect garden. This documentation of nasty pesticides and 1950s optimism makes Garden Wise a striking classic movie.
Mallinckrodt Chemical Comedy
Mallinckrodt Chemical Comedy
Produced: 1935
Length: 9 Minutes
A chemical company is not just about chemistry and factory work, at least not in this 1930s silent montage by the Mallinckrodt Chemical Company. Made for the employees of the company as a way to bring the workers together and inspire a few chuckles this shows many of the employees of the company putting on zany skits, like fake attempting to take a mans appendix out with ether and a hacksaw. Great fun that celebrates 1930s humor and camaraderie, Mallinckrodt Chemical Comedy is a must see.
