In the wake of the 'Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water' making it onto channel 4's Top 100 scary moments':
Does anyone remember the name of the Public Information Film touted around junior schools in the 80s that featured a schoolboy getting his lower legs chopped off on the railway? As I recall it was fairly long for a safety film and built up a bit of a narrative about the main character being a potential star football player before the accident. The brief closing shot of him being carried from his chair sans legs was a frightener to say the least!
The film was accompanied by an employee of British Rail who would introduce the film and afterwards field questions. I have heard suggested that the film is 'Robbie' (1979) but although the 'kid cops it on railway line' plot is similar it doesn't end like this one....any ideas?
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These safety films are a neglected genre of British Cinema History - some of them are masterpieces of suspense and horror - certainly scared the hell out of me!!!
The one I liked (or remember most) was the one with someone getting their hair caught in a lathe. Being a long haired hippy type in my youth when I was working in a lab where we used lathes & drills, I was always careful to wear the full hairnet.
Steve
Hi,
The one I remember is of a little boy running along the beach,his eyes looking up (maybe a seagull) and the film stops just as his foot was about to step on to a broken bottle.
Ta Ta
Marky B frown
Hi,
The one I remember is of a little boy running along the beach,his eyes looking up (maybe a seagull) and the film stops just as his foot was about to step on to a broken bottle.
Ta Ta
Marky B frown
Hi all,
I've only just found out that many of the public information films from 60s on are now available on 2 DVDs, "Charley Says, The Best Public Information Films" and "Charley Says vol 2 - Charley Live". However, there are a couple of PIFs I vaguely remember which don't seem to get mentioned anywhere. One was a film of the Red Arrows that had the Beatles track "Flying" playing over the footage. Another was a cartoon about not dropping litter that had Dave Brubeck's “Take Five” playing over it. I think the cartoon had a glider or something in it. Yet another PIF I can remember was a military display in a park with lots of cannons going off etc. Can anyone else remember these. The time would be late 60s early 70s.
Cheers,
A
Yep -
I can remember the ARROWS one and I think the glider one was an animation (?) ; I think it was a Countryside Code one.
The Arrows one IIRC, was filmed from various viewpoints, incl. from the cockpit.
SMUDGE
Thanks S,
Good to know it wasn't just my imagination.
Yes! country code! that was it. I loved that and all the colour test transmissions on BBC2. Magic stuff.
Cheers,
A
One that sticks in my mind from the very early 60's was a carful of rollicking Beatnik types. There is some kind of off-screen kerfuffle and it ended with an eerie shot of prostrate bodies lying draped all over (I think), Trafalgar Square.
The the message came - DON'T OVERLOAD YOUR CAR !
Spooky. Anyone rember that one ?
The other thing was about PI films they were always shown as the last program at night when 99.9% of the public were asleep and the remaining tiny fraction were either too pissed or stoned to care or were un-employed and actually thought it might be a good idea to do exactly what the government were telling you not to !
Since the advent of quality 24 hour broadcasting I can't recall the last PIF I saw.
PIF's out ASBO's in.
Originally posted by Tony Pendrey@Jun 13 2005, 12:04 PM
One that sticks in my mind from the very early 60's was a carful of rollicking Beatnik types. There is some kind of off-screen kerfuffle and it ended with an eerie shot of prostrate bodies lying draped all over (I think), Trafalgar Square.
The the message came - DON'T OVERLOAD YOUR CAR !
Spooky. Anyone rember that one ?
The other thing was about PI films they were always shown as the last program at night when 99.9% of the public were asleep and the remaining tiny fraction were either too pissed or stoned to care or were un-employed and actually thought it might be a good idea to do exactly what the government were telling you not to !
Since the advent of quality 24 hour broadcasting I can't recall the last PIF I saw.
PIF's out ASBO's in.
Oh, you're a sly one Tone....."Since the advent of quality 24 hour broadcasting",...... indeed!
I used to like the Reginald Molehusband p.i.f.
I still think of it when I'm having difficulty with my parallel parking!Originally posted by plasticjock@Jun 13 2005, 03:06 PM
I used to like the Reginald Molehusband p.i.f
The DON'T OVERLOAD YOUR CAR one is on the new DVD selection...
I am very surprised that they don't (as yet) seem to have picked up on old Reginald Molehusband ; he's a cult in his own right. Drivers of many generations are still known to say that they have don't a bit of a Reginald M whilst vainly trying to atone for their 4 wheeled embarrassments !
I used to love the old late-at-night 'Don't forget the fireguard/unplug EVERYTHING !' type of PIFs.
I am sure a few of the animated ones derived from the old Halas & Batchelor studios too. Remember THEM ?
PIFs still occur, but obviously not called that now ; most seem to turn up in dead time on Sat channels. I remember GRANADA PLUS regularly had two or three every morning in their lead-in time.
SMUDGE
Here's a question for you:
Reginald Molehusband, married with ???? children ?
I can't remember was it 6!!! No wonder he couldn't park
Crikey ! I'd like to see that. But I don't fancy shelling out for a whole disk full of this stuff.Originally posted by smudge@Jun 13 2005, 03:25 PM
The DON'T OVERLOAD YOUR CAR one is on the new DVD selection...
Wear Something White At Night !!!
Clunk Click Every trip !!
Ha ! It's all coming back ...........
John Collier John Collier The Window To Watch !!
'ere Bert, This Is The Place
Err....... Hold up a bit........
See what late night telly does to your brain
Two children, A -Originally posted by Aenima@Jun 13 2005, 03:29 PM
Here's a question for you:
Reginald Molehusband, married with ???? children ?
I can't remember was it 6!!! No wonder he couldn't park
There's an audio copy of one Reg ad here at TV Cream
http://tv.cream.org/specialassignmen...es/adverts.htm
Don't forget Tony, if you're watching telly that late at night, be sure to unplug both it, and all of your other electrical appliances, before you go to bed. And don't forget...shutting all your doors will act as a barrier to smoke, just in case you forget one and it does start a fire....
SMUDGE
"Don't forget Tony, if you're watching telly that late at night, be sure to unplug both it, and all of your other electrical appliances, before you go to bed. And don't forget...shutting all your doors will act as a barrier to smoke, just in case you forget one and it does start a fire.... "
" and WHO'S that BEHIND YOU !!!!! WHOOOOAAAAARRRRRR !!!!!!
cheers Ollie.
NICE ONE OLLIE !!!Originally posted by ollie@Jun 13 2005, 06:29 PM
"Don't forget Tony, if you're watching telly that late at night, be sure to unplug both it, and all of your other electrical appliances, before you go to bed. And don't forget...shutting all your doors will act as a barrier to smoke, just in case you forget one and it does start a fire.... "
" and WHO'S that BEHIND YOU !!!!! WHOOOOAAAAARRRRRR !!!!!!
cheers Ollie.
SMUDGE
You've all jogged (ha ha ) my memory,
What was the one that went like this;
early morning start ( sound of car not being able to start)
something about fumes? (actor who i can see,in my mind,smoking a fag in bed?)
consumption heavy ( bacon,egg,sos,toms,beans,fried bread,pigs puddin,etc)
runnin for a bus,(heart attack)
where did that come from??,probably british heart foundation or something,anyone remember?
cheers Ollie.
I remember the heart one, or one like it. Featured a close up of some poor sap stuffing his face with good solid British grub as featured on the above menu. And ended with the "ironic" shot of a thermometer being shoved into that self same gob.Originally posted by ollie@Jun 13 2005, 07:18 PM
consumption heavy ( bacon,egg,sos,toms,beans,fried bread,pigs puddin,etc)
runnin for a bus,(heart attack)
where did that come from??,probably british heart foundation or something,anyone remember?
cheers Ollie.
Take Care of Your Heart
The scary one was the cartoon to the theme of Green Door, showing a mad axeman roaming around outside the house slaughtering the neighbours, and the female occupant wondering whether or not to open the door. I think it was for fitting a security chain, but with an axe wielding psycho outside I don't suppose a chain would have helped much.Originally posted by ollie@Jun 13 2005, 06:29 PM
"Don't forget Tony, if you're watching telly that late at night, be sure to unplug both it, and all of your other electrical appliances, before you go to bed. And don't forget...shutting all your doors will act as a barrier to smoke, just in case you forget one and it does start a fire....* "
" and WHO'S that BEHIND YOU !!!!!* WHOOOOAAAAARRRRRR !!!!!!*
cheers Ollie.
The other cartoon one was the two stupid holidaymakers sat on the beach and a man in a boat was waving at them because he was in serious trouble, and they just waved back.
Rolf Harris of course did "Keep in the Swim" to teach your kids to swim.
Tufty crossing the road as well, although it was a bit unrealistic given the amount of dead squirrels we had squashed on our local streets! They may as well have used a hedgehog!
Ahh yes, Tufty ! At my primary school there was a thing called "The Tufty Club" which was supposed to teach nippers road safety (or the kerb drill).Originally posted by samkydd@Jun 14 2005, 06:41 AM
Tufty crossing the road as well, although it was a bit unrealistic given the amount of dead squirrels we had squashed on our local streets! They may as well have used a hedgehog!
Thing was it was 2/6 to join which for many was too much. So the "posh" kids got to join and got badges and awards and stuff, whilst us on the council estate were just left to be skittled like ninepins.
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