Life begins

PROGRAM NOTES: "The Canadian Social Health Council (CSHC) used Edward H. Griffith's 1919 feature The end of the road as its chief tool for venereal disease education. Initially a military training film, it was produced by the American Commission on Training Camp Activities for use during World War I. Funding restrictions forced the ailing CSHC to use the silent film for years. Its successful 1932 theatrical re-release revived the Council and yielded an agreement with Columbia Pictures for a new film, with Edgar G. Ulmer as director. After beginning his career as a theater set designer for Max Reinhardt, Ulmer both assisted and created film sets for F.W. Murnau in Germany and then the United States. In 1924, at the age of twenty, Ulmer¿s talents earned him a contract at Universal. Before turning twenty-five, Ulmer had worked with Paul Wegener, William Dieterle, Fritz Lang, Robert Siodmak, Fred Zinnemann, Erich von Stroheim, William Wyler and Cecil B. DeMille. Damaged lives was Ulmer¿s first American film as director; he had co-directed a German documentary in 1929. The shooting took three weeks and it opened May, 1933 in Toronto. The CSHC boasted that Damaged lives was the first Canadian picture to be produced in Hollywood and the first Hollywood picture to premiere in Canada. Damaged lives is a medical melodrama. Intended as sexual education, not exploitation, Damaged lives avoids harsh physiological depictions. It concentrates optimistically on hope provided by knowledge and discretion. Some of the humorously ambiguous dialogue, such as ¿I didn¿t know. I didn¿t know. You must believe me. I didn¿t know!¿ (to imply "I have VD and so do you¿) is dated and inferior. But Damaged lives was conceived as an instructional film, not a Hollywood movie. (Of course it was produced to make money for the struggling CSHC and the less altruistic Columbia Pictures.) The first part is a poorly acted parable of transgression. Young shipping tycoon David Bradley (played dreadfully by Lyman Williams) contracts an infectious disease and unknowingly transmits it to his wife. Diane Sinclair plays the traumatized spouse. An extraordinary scene in the last reel illustrates her surprisingly fine silent acting ability. The poignant scene has very little dialogue, and proves to be a brief Ulmer gem of direction, lighting and camera movement. This is an ¿A¿ scene in a ¿B¿ movie with ¿C¿ actors. Once the actors start to speak again, Ulmer¿s capable direction and his chrome Art Deco set are wasted. The drama also functions as a show-and-tell with a legitimate clinical discussion by one of the doctors in the story. Originally, Damaged lived had a ten minute supplementary filmed lecture following the feature. There were two versions produced--one for men and the other for women. Unfortunately, UCLA has not located the two reels. The New York State censors banned Damaged lives for four years until the American Social Hygiene Association won the right to exhibit it. Damaged lives impressed a New York times critic as ¿the decisive stroke in the struggle to free discussion of venereal disease...¿ The same reviewer issued this alliterative verdict, ¿... it is forthright, frank, and unforgettable.¿ The film¿s timeless concern for education and compassion is hampered only by its budget. Sixty years later, sexual ignorance is still threatening. Indeed, a parallel urgency for awareness and research exists today"--Program notes by Eric Aijala. Shown at the 5th Annual Festival of Preservation, April 18, 1993.