Made by Sid Davis, a prolific director of social guidance films, this anti-smoking film takes a blunt, no-nonsense approach to smoking cessation, arguing against the deceit of the tobacco industry with staged reenactments, stark narration, and bold title cards promising smokers a shorter life expectancy due to lung cancer (TRT: 10:21). It was apparently released in 1960.
Opening titles: “Sid Davis Productions Presents” (0:08). A man and woman walk through an open field. The man reaches for a pack of cigarettes in his front breast pocket (0:17). As he is about to light a cigarette for his female companion, the narrator interrupts them. “Wait a minute! Don’t light that cigarette!” (0:36). Title cards: “No Smoking. We acknowledge the technical contribution of Dr. Jeremiah R. Lacoe, M.D., whose convictions concerning the dangers and ill effects of the smoking habit led him to act as medical adviser for this film” (0:45). A woman’s hand holds a cigarette. A young man picks out a pipe at a tobacconist. A title overlay: “400,000,000,000 Cigarettes” (1:06). An elderly man falls asleep while smoking a cigar and starts a fire (1:42). A 1950s automobile driver throws away a cigarette butt in a fire area. Fire trucks pull out of a Southern California fire station while a young boy watches from a nearby intersection (2:00). The pipe shopper smokes a cigarette. A title card lists reasons for quitting: “Less Enjoyment, Lower Vitality, Shorter Life” (2:38). Track and field runners. One young man outpaces another. A man is offered bread at dinner, but he clutches his side and lights a cigarette (3:11). He smokes while lying in bed awake (3:51). Cigarette ingredients are listed: “Aldehydes, Arsenic, Carbolic Acid, Formic Acid, Methyl Alcohol, Hydrocyanic Acid, Nicotine” (4:10). Two men smoke cigarettes in an urban street. A panoramic skyline clouded with smog pollution (4:59). A doctor takes a cigarette away from a man during an examination (5:26). A woman polishes mugs by a fireside, then warms her hands while smoking (5:52). School aged boys smoke first cigarettes and cough while smiling (6:11). An illustration of a smoker’s lungs in profile. Tar clogs the nose, throat, and lungs (6:33). A graph of deaths from cancer 1930-1950 shows a correlation with a graph of cigarette consumption (6:59). A pipe smoker waters a plant in his yard. A dentist (7:33). A title card: “You Aren’t Going to Live as Long!” (7:55). Middle-aged smokers. A man reading a magazine lights up a cigarette in frustration (8:05). Title: “Don’t Start!” Urban pedestrians (9:09). The young couple reappears. Deterred by the threatening narration, they discard the cigarettes they were about to smoke. “Now you’re making sense!” (9:42).
According to the CDC, Cigarette smoking is responsible for over 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is approximately 1,300 deaths every day. On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers.
“King of Calamity” Sid Davis moved to Hollywood in 1920 and found early work as a child actor in a Harold Lloyd comedy. In 1949, with funding from John Wayne, Davis pioneered the social guidance film genre with his debut short, “The Dangerous Stranger.” The short was sold to schools and police departments, funding a scare film empire that turned out over 150 films, including the notoriously homophobic 1961 short, “Boys Beware.” Davis parlayed his success into real estate investments and became a multi-millionaire before dying of lung cancer in 2006.
We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
