Bicentennial Minute (available for viewing in the Classic TV Blog section of TVParty).

I had forgotten all about CBS’s “Bicentennial Minutes” that aired sporadically during the mid 70s, until TVParty posted this one. Jessica Tandy tells a little-known pre-revolution story of the Liberty Tree. This has historical interest both in its content and its documentation of the hoopla surrounding the Bicentennial during the 70s.

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

Apples (film #6 on Campy Classroom Classics, Vol. 5 DVD (Something Weird, 2004)). [Category: Educational]

This 50s film tells us all about how apples are grown, harvested, and shipped. It’s all told in a straightforward way which is not too boring, but has no surprises, either. I liked looking at the fruit crate labels that appeared in the section on packing the apples for shipment. Otherwise, this is very ordinary.

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

Connecticut (film #369 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

Standard-issue educational film about Connecticut, with flowery prose that makes you almost think it’s a travelogue, but then it ends with “Now let’s review what we’ve learned about Connecticut…,” which puts it squarely in the educational category. No surprises here.

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

Communications and Our Town (film #359 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

A telephone lineman rescues a model plane from some telephone wires and returns it to the two boys who threw it there, one of whom is Jerry Mathers as the Beaver, while overly-dramatic music plays on the soundtrack. Rather than bawling them out, the lineman takes a large chunk out of his workday to talk with them about the various forms of communication in their community, including the telephone, mail, and radio. The Beave points out that an obvious form of communication is “just talking to people,” but the lineman, although agreeing with this, never lets the boys talk for themselves, but insists upon narrating the entire film in voice-over. He then creates an elaborate, though primitive, model of their town on the sidewalk, using rolls of tape, a pocketknife, and other lineman stuff, and connects everything together, including the “church,” with short lengths of telephone wire, which coincidentally form a pentagram. Just when you’re beginning to wonder about the wholesomeness of this lineman’s influence on young minds, he decides to get back to work, after giving the boys the “fun” assignment of making a list of all the different kinds of communication they can find in their town, the better to spread his Satanic philosoph––no, no, forget I said that. That pentagram means nothing, actually. Granted, Eddie Haskell did grow up to be Alice Coop––no, no, it’s just a coincidence, folks. Move along, now. Nothing to see here.

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

The Civil War (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #328 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

Straightforward, rather dry film on the Civil War made by Encyclopedia Britannica. Actually, this is a little bit better than you might expect given the low budget I’m sure they had to work with. Some attempt is made to get an emotional feel for the material. Mostly, though, this is the typical Civil War stuff you learned in school.

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

Children of Japan (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #314 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

Considering the year this was made, 1941, I at first thought it was a WWII propaganda film. But no, this is a charming children’s educational film made just before the war about life in Japan. We follow two siblings, Taro and Yukiko, as they go through their day with their family, at school, and going to a cherry blossom festival. It looks pretty realistic, though in simplified form, about Japanese life at the time, and everything seems peaceful and well-ordered. Look at all those strange but nice people from another culture, children! Don’t be afraid––they may seem different to us, but deep down they’re really like you and me. How quickly that would change! In fact, I wonder if this film got any showing in classrooms at all, considering how quickly its tolerant message became outdated. I could swear I saw the scene of Japanese boys practicing fencing at school in a later propaganda film. Here, it’s shown as another charming Japanese cultural practice, but in the other film it was shown as proof of Japanese indoctrination of children in military values. Overall, this is an interesting snapshot of our attitudes towards the Japanese just before we went to war with them.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *** (gets an extra star for the fact that it just begs for msting about Godzilla). Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ***.

The Bus Driver (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #264 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

Straightforward Encyclopedia Britannica film for kids about drivers of long-distance buses. We see a boy and his father go on a long-distance bus ride, and a narrator explains what is happening. About as gripping as, well, a long-distance bus ride.

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

Building a Highway (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #262 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

Do you have a little boy who is fascinated with construction equipment? If so, he should thoroughly enjoy this film, which explains in very simple terms how highways are built and shows lots of cool heavy machinery. All others will find it a dry, boring EB film.

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

Builders of the Broad Highway (film #260 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

Another educational film about highway building. This one goes into quite a bit of detail about the process, and it impresses you with the skill and the risk-taking of the construction workers. But it basically just goes on and on about highway building, which is interesting if you’re into that kind of thing, but boring if you’re not.

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

Brazil: South American Medley (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #244 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

This National Geographic film is a standard, though fairly well-made, educational travelogue about Brazil. A few isolated spots of weirdness include some guys in drag in a Mardi Gras parade and venom being harvested at that weird snake ranch in Sao Paulo. But mostly this is just what you’d expect.

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

Boats (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #226 on Prelinger Archive.). [Category: Educational]

This ERPI film should have been titled Dick and Jane Go on a Boat Ride. Nancy and Roger go on a boat ride down the Hudson River and the narrator tells us all about it in a bright, simplistic fashion. For an ERPI film, though, this is pretty darned exciting. The soundtrack is full of boat whistles and water sounds and there’s even a part where characters talk to each other in synchronized sound!! This is when Nancy and Roger visit the captain of the boat, who tells them that when he turns the wheel this way, it makes the boat go to the right, and when he turns it this way, it goes to the left. This is great msting fodder, folks. See Roger and Nancy on the boat. Go, Roger and Nancy, go!

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

American Pioneer (film #122 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

This is a fairly straightforward social studies film about American pioneers making their first forays into the west, crossing the Appalachian mountains into what would later be Kentucky. The reenactments shown on screen seem pretty authentic for the most part, and the acting is good, though you don’t get to hear anyone speak since the film is narrated. The attitude of the film towards Indians, though, will make you wince––they are constantly portrayed at ruthless killers. Mostly, though, this is pretty ordinary.

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

Behind the Scenes at the Supermarket (film #4 on The 1950s Time Capsule (Video Resources, 1994)). [Category: Educational]

Johnny's dad is a grocer and treats Johnny to a behind-the-scenes tour of the supermarket before it opens. It's pretty much what you'd expect, with some neat shots of 50s grocery products and sign painting. And unlike most films of the period, the store's employees seem to be of several different races. The opening theme music is great––it just screams "bouncy 50s educational film music".

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

Animals in Modern Life (film #381 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

Dry ERPI film about the various uses of animals by human beings. There is a great variety here of animals and animal products shown, but they are presented in a seemingly random order, without rhyme or reason. Kids probably did a lot of fidgeting during this sort of film.

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

America's Presidents (film #351 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

This film quickly (sometimes very quickly) summarizes the careers of America's presidents from Washington to Eisenhower. For most of them, this is done in voice-over, over a picture of the president in question, but from McKinley onward, film clips of the presidents are shown. It's kind of fun, actually, to trip down the line, especially if you're a person who likes lists. Mostly, though, it's just what you'd expect.

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

The Airport (film #308 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Educational]

This straightforward Encyclopedia Brittanica film about airports is pretty dull in and of itself, but it has tremendous msting potential. With lines like "Here is the pilot. He is high in his plane," and "The passengers are waiting to get off," how can you resist? And when you see how small and low-tech the airports are and how easy it is for passengers to get on a flight, you will probably have a lot of post-9/11 hostility to vent.

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

Alaska: A Modern Frontier (http://www.avgeeks.com/wp2/alaska-a-modern-frontier-revised-1948/").

This 50s geography film about Alaska contains interesting historical footage of what the state looked like back then, as well as some funky topographic maps that look like they were made out of plasticene. Other than that, it's pretty ordinary.

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