This black and white 1951 sponsored film tells the story of Tommy, a successful Los Angeles advertising man, who takes his beer campaign a little too seriously, and slips into a “vicious circle” of alcoholic behavior, culminating in a thwarted suicide attempt. Tommy survives to wage a campaign against the very advertising he used to propagate (TRT: 22:54).
Opening titles over a bottle of beer: “The National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union Presents, The Vicious Circle, Produced by Fred S. Niemann” (0:11). An intoxicated man rises from a bar after having had several beers. Narration introduces us to “this bum, this drunk,” Tommy Farrell, the narrator’s former self. Walking past downtown bars and advertisements: “Liquor House” (0:40). Tommy mentions he used to be an artist for liquor ads (1:08). An oil derrick in a residential area. Tommy staggers by (1:26). Drinking a bottle of beer. Approaching a bridge. Contemplating suicide, Tommy throws a bottle over the bridge and into the water (2:06). Preparing to jump. A well-dressed man driving by stops the suicide (3:31). Tommy talks to his friend and savior, sobering up (4:10). A sign: “Auto Park” (4:43). An office building. Inside, Tommy looks at artist’s proofs for an ad campaign for beer: “Feel Hearty and Hale Drink Glockenspeil’s Ale” (5:04). Tommy enters a bar decorated with a wooden wagon wheel (6:16). Talking to a woman at the bar over glasses of beer (6:29). Returning home drunk with flowers to a house decorated with palm trees. Tommy’s daughter turns away, frightened (7:17). Back at work, Tommy can’t be bothered to see his wife (8:13). Signs: “Venice Liquor House, Herb’s Liquor, The Circle ‘B’ Cafe, Cocktails, Christmas in Beverly Hills” (8:54). Los Angeles holiday decorations. A wine shop. A mural for Calvert Reserve whiskey, a billboard: “They all want Budweiser, nothing else.” Another: “It’s 6 to 4 you’ll pick Acme.” A towering 12-story ad for Old Forester (9:13). Drinking at work (10:03). Back at the bar, handing out money to the hostess (10:30). An illuminated Christmas tree and storefronts, liquor signs and ads. “Club Comet, CLC Club” (10:43). Tossed out of the bar. Skid row. An elderly man smokes a pipe, another drinks curbside (11:03). Neon: “Lucky Lager.” A man with a fedora drinks in silhouette. Checking discarded bottles for drips of booze (11:44). Checking a storm cellar. Wandering past storefronts to a pawnbroker and hocking a cherished camera (12:21). Squinting into the sunlight. Drinking in an alley (13:24). Approaching a drug dealer in sunglasses and purchasing pills (14:04). Taking sedatives and chasing the pills with alcohol. Passed out (14:31). Waking up in the gutter (14:54). Meeting with a doctor. Tommy’s wife supports him (15:39). Meeting with another doctor, who distributes The Union Signal, a publication of the Women’s Temperance Union. They shake hands (16:14). Reading the Union Signal. The narrator wonders why alcoholic beverage labels don’t have warnings: “May be habit forming” (17:21). Meeting outdoors with like-minded men, Tommy presents misleading liquor ads and his proposed stick-on warning labels (17:34). Stickers in closeup. Satirical cartoon ads lampoon the liquor industry: “Millions of Undiscriminating People Guzzle Post Mortem” (19:38). Leaving for Washington (20:39). Country driving, train tracks. Walking up to the Capitol building in awe (21:22). Title overlay: “Will This Be The End?” and a call for discussion (22:13).
Writer and director Fred Niemann led a Chicago-based industrial film company that put out several shorts dealing with the issue of temperance. Niemann is also known to have worked a brief stint as a gag writer for 1930s Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoons under Frank Tashlin.
The Women’s Christian Temperance Union, founded in 1873, remains active to this day.
According to the CDC, excessive alcohol use is responsible for more than 95,000 deaths in the United States each year. Alcoholism is a leading cause of preventable death in the United States.
