Back to school. Ssshhh!

September 4, 2005 6:39 PM

Judy, please turn off the lights while Wayne starts the projector. Streaming video of old educational films with a forum for snickering.
posted by longsleeves (16 comments total)

Kind of a double post, but, yep, the Prelinger archive is amazing.
posted by jack_mo at 6:54 PM on September 4, 2005

Thank God! (and longsleeves) for this post. The string of Katrina posts was killing me!!! I'm watching about the 1930's depression and the great plains, the music alone is worth the short download.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll be reliving my childhood all night.
posted by snsranch at 6:57 PM on September 4, 2005

I watched the homosexuality film in which a young man is seduced by a creepy guy who requires "payment" for his gifts of money and company. The guy is arrested and the kid, we're told, gets off on probation. WTF? You get diddled and suddenly you're on probation.
posted by Jesse H Christ at 7:24 PM on September 4, 2005

J.H. Christ, what are you complaining about. I thought that God HATES fags. (Legal counsel requires that I also include that: God hates "illicit contributors".)
posted by snsranch at 8:16 PM on September 4, 2005

Finally, a refrigerator that lets me be me!
posted by mosch at 8:21 PM on September 4, 2005

Nice find, thanks! They just need to add one little audio track.
posted by cenoxo at 8:23 PM on September 4, 2005

yeah, the prelinger archives rule but check out this small archive of german educationals.
posted by namagomi at 8:35 PM on September 4, 2005

MUST SEE
posted by Krrrlson at 9:58 PM on September 4, 2005

MUST SEE.

Synopsis: A group of children, all wearing ape masks, rides their bicycles to the park for a picnic. Along the way, all but one are eliminated for violating basic bike safety rules.
posted by rafter at 10:17 PM on September 4, 2005

> I watched the homosexuality film

Loved the scene where the guy takes his young victim for lunch at a drive-in.

As they enter the restaurant, the camera lovingly lingers on a section of the sign outside:

...shrimp, CHICKEN!!!

Was the cameraman trying to tell us something?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:00 AM on September 5, 2005

If you enjoy these, definitely check out Ken Smith's book Mental Hygiene, the best examination of educational/industrial films out there.
posted by Vidiot at 8:16 AM on September 5, 2005

The Prelinger Archive is a huge goldmine of cultural weirdness. I think these films should STILL be mandatory viewing in schools, as part of coursework for semiotics of modern culture or a cultural anthropology course.

I've thought it would be fun to gut an old console TV and install a computer that randomly shuffles through Prelinger content. Maybe have the playback program keep track of timing on several different "channels" so you could turn the knob to a different channel and then return to the appropriate spot in the previous channel if you "tuned" back.
posted by gregor-e at 9:07 AM on September 5, 2005

Boys Beware, the one you're talking about with the kid who gets molested and then put on probation, is a Sid Davis film. That's Sid Davis playing the man stalking the boy down the beach. ^_^

... Anyway, his company made a lot of films, some of them very bad, others competent and even touching. Two of the good ones are Age 13 (parts one and two) and Gang Boy.
posted by Tuwa at 10:53 AM on September 5, 2005

are these public domain!?
posted by Satapher at 10:05 PM on September 5, 2005

oh my god, this is GREAT. Kudos, longsleeves.
posted by scody at 12:50 PM on September 6, 2005

are these public domain!?

If you click on a title the information page will tell you. Every one that I've checked out is in the public domain. Feel free, I suppose, to replace soundtracks, borrow scenes or modify images if you think you can be any funnier.
posted by longsleeves at 3:35 PM on September 6, 2005