Another 16mm film in the strange series made by American Civil Defense in the early 1970's for various preparations for disasters of all kinds. Interestingly, the last bit of the reel is a different kind of film stock spiced in which has completely turned pink. I transferred this reel with my Eiki Telecine, so enjoy!
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- Intro Music by Fran Blanche -
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By Fran

15 thoughts on “Civil defense: technological failures 1973”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Eclectic Feedback says:

    Great! Interesting that even in 1973 Toronto was being used as a stand in for NYC. (approx 7.35 Toronto City Hall at night & then cut to what I believe to be a Toronto Subway)

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Sophia Scott says:

    Irrespective of the economic downturn I think we should engage ourselves into profitable investment so that the government won’t be making fool of us

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars M3SNU says:

    Thanks very much Fran, that was most interesting I really enjoyed watching the video. Just do me a favour keep your films coming and I’ll keep watching. Can’t wait to see your next video and You’ve got me hooked, you’re wonderful Fran keep up great work. Thanks very much bye bye. 😀

  4. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Keri Szafir says:

    If they said that most of us knew next to nothing about how technology worked almost 49 years ago, then what can we say about now?

    "Life was much simpler then" the luddites would say with nostalgia, "but that was a long time ago" which is true, and I definitely don't miss these times. Lots of human potential went to waste for menial work that has become the thing of the machines. On the other hand, consider the apocalypse (which is already happening); will people addicted to technology they don't understand be able to survive?

    Oh, and my flatmate once tried to extinguish a frying pan with water. Who would even think that a science nerd as her, someone who was interested in quantum physics and advanced mathematics, didn't know that you just don't put out grease with water? Still got the smoke trace on the kitchen wall.

  5. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars James Ogden says:

    I find it very frustrating not knowing how to deal with objects failing. That is why I've spent a long time learning about them and subsequently studying engineering to make it part of my career. There are few things I wouldn't be able to deal with in everyday life, but that has its own curse, everyone knows who to call on when something goes wrong!

  6. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Adam Richards says:

    There's a channel on youtube called Mysterious WV, the man who runs it (Sean McCracken), has a voice, style, and demeanor VERY similar to this announcer.

  7. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars FXM says:

    I've never seen Peter Thomas's face, although I grew up with his great voice on Nova and many other wonderful productions. The relevance of this film's message has done nothing but grow over the fifty years since it was made, as technological changes to society and culture come at us faster and faster. This film was made only three years after Alvin Toffler's famous book, "Future Shock."

  8. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars spacecase0 says:

    I think it's funny that I now have a website I can check the level of that hydroelectric dam shown. And we know for sure they're about to shut it off. In the 1980s I would have never thought our civilization would lose the ability to keep the lights on. But apparently this guy knew

  9. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Alan Canon says:

    The presenter's trenchcoat and fedora in what looks to be late summer or early autumn. Love it. Gotta wear that if you're Defensing the Civil. And the anti-skid butterflies in the bathroom sink, so your hamster doesn't slip when it takes a bath.

  10. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Christopher Rasmussen says:

    Most folks don’t know Civil Defense is alive and well today. It’s FEMA. I’ve volunteered for them most of my life. Retired in Florida years ago. Now I work radio communications during hurricanes etc. We had a few doozies over the years where the police were so saturated, I became the main line between the shelter and the rest of the world.

  11. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars good 'un says:

    Fran, how do you determine prior to posting these fims what music needs to be removed due to potential copyright strikes?

  12. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Scott Grammer says:

    Hey, Fran. You keep posting all these cool videos, and I'll keep watching them. I don't know who the commentator was but I've heard his voice in many a TV commercial. Too bad you had to duck so much audio. I'm surprised someone hasn't copyrighted the sound of the car not starting!

  13. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Dr.Andy Hill says:

    No doubt some bright spark who knows everything will tell you it's not a different filmstock and the pink can be fixed by twiddling the toggle flinger and standing on your head and farting Mars Bars!

  14. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Mike Barushok says:

    Individual responsibility seems to have gone out of fashion during my 64 years on this Earth. It's so inconvenient to think about the actual results of one's own choices and how they cumulatively and collectively lead to bad outcomes.

  15. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Jason Olshefsky says:

    I remember the days of carburated cars … wet, cold, or hot weather would make them more unreliable than they already were. And you had to watch out for vapor lock if you stopped for 4-10 minutes (or else you'd have to wait another 10 minutes for the car to start again.) I'm kind of amazed by today's gasoline cars which basically start all the time, every time, and are unaffected by extreme cold, extreme heat, and even heavy rain—until some dumdum drives through deep water and ruins the engine altogether. It's one of those unappreciated, unnoticed things in the modern world.

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