Community Health in Action (film #325 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Public Service]

This 50s film exhorts communities to beef up their health departments, by showing all the things an ideal health department does, ranging from keeping statistics on births and deaths, regulating milk production, inspecting the sanitary conditions of restaurants, holidng well-baby clinics, vaccinating pets against rabies, getting farmers to replace their outhouses with indoor plumbing, running a child guidance clinic, and more, more, more! This results in a detailed document of public health practices during the 50s, and a fairly interesting one to boot. And although it’s not particularly campy in and of itself, it does present many opportunities for msting, as the narrator often pauses at significant points, which just beg to be filled in with smart-ass comments.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.