This film is part of Free
A Modern Guide to Health
Modern advice and old-fashioned values combine in this postwar animated health guide from the makers of Animal Farm
Overview
This "modern" advice may be over 70 years old, but there is a lot of good common sense contained in this post-war health film. Roughly divided into sections on working men, children, young women and finally housewives, it's this segregation that dates the film. The lot of married women is painted as particularly arduous, with the only help offered being a half-hour break before bed.
Many of the artists who worked on the film were women, including the co-director, writer and designer Joy Batchelor. At this stage the animators of Halas & Batchelor was almost all female, although most had left the company by the time it embarked on Animal Farm, Britain's first animated feature film. This government film is a public record, preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives, home to more than 1,000 years of British history.
Related
Strangers Strangers
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1973 1 mins
Who needs to talk to strangers when you're the only one who can understand the garbled mewling of your best buddy cat, Charley?
Giro - Fast and Loose Giro - Fast and Loose
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1935 9 mins Silent
Don’t listen to Slacky the Sloucher or Giro the Germ will stage a jailbreak – public health cartoon by the Health & Cleanliness Council
Pan-tele-tron Pan-tele-tron
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1957 10 mins
Ye Gods! It’s the future of telecommunications – as seen through a cartoon modern lens from the 1950s
John the Bull John the Bull
Advert 1930 5 mins
Bloody foreign cows coming over here and becoming our dinners
The Dream of Arthur Sleap The Dream of Arthur Sleap
Advert 1972 1 mins
Dangerously addicted to boring old movies? This is a case for Dr BFI, as demonstrated in this 1970s animated promo
"T" For Teacher "T" For Teacher
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1947 5 mins Silent
Do you know the golden rules of tea making? The Tea Bureau set out to put your cuppa straight in this progressively designed post-war cartoon
Alexandre Desplat (Masterclass) Alexandre Desplat (Masterclass)
Inside Film 2011 33 mins
Over 30 years and 150 projects, the composer shares, with humour and passion, the intricacies of making film music.
Ian Neil (Masterclass) Ian Neil (Masterclass)
Inside Film 2012 74 mins
Neil selected soundtracks for 127 Hours, Shame, Kick Ass, Control and many more. He discusses the job and its complexities, referencing his own work.
Screenwriters' Lecture: Peter Straughan Screenwriters' Lecture: Peter Straughan
Inside Film 2012 mins
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy's adapter reveals his quest for "the poem of the book" and the importance of simplicity: 'Drain the pond to find the fish'.
Screenwriters' Lecture with Brian Helgeland Screenwriters' Lecture with Brian Helgeland
Inside Film 2012 27 mins
L.A. Confidential's screenwriter explains why he thinks writer's block is a myth, and reveals Clint Eastwood's unique powers of persuasion.
Olivier Assayas (Masterclass) Olivier Assayas (Masterclass)
Inside Film 2010 41 mins
Irma Vep writer/director Assayas moved from film journalism to filmmaking – a fascinating journey told with disarming honesty to Jonathan Romney.
Roger Corman in Conversation Roger Corman in Conversation
Inside Film 2013 61 mins
Jack Nicholson, Boris Karloff, Francis Coppola and making movies in five days – prepare yourself for Corman wisdom.