Oddball Films presents Learn Your Lesson on Dating, Sex, and Marriage - A Valentine's Shockucation, the 35th in a monthly series of programs highlighting the most ridiculous, insane and camptastic educational scare films, mental hygiene primers and TV specials of the collection. This month, in honor of Valentine's Day, we're taking a look at romance with 1950s dating instructional films, VD cartoons, divorce scare films, teen pregnancies and more! Junior High students take their first plunge into dating at the Winter party, see who does it right and who needs a few extra takes to not fail miserably in the newly acquired Beginning To Date (1953). Winnie and Ken seemed so in love, now see them in mid-century divorce court screaming at each other and wondering where it all went wrong in another new find: This Charming Couple (1950). More couples ponder what makes a good match for marriage in Is This Love? (1957). Planned Parenthood sponsored Mark and Susan (1975) is a simple film with an important message: "No means No!". Peter Sellers lends his voice to an animated father struggling to educate his child in Birds, Bees and Storks (1965). Di$ney brings us a very different kind of cartoon, the disturbingly knee-slapping VD: Attack Plan (1972) featuring a syphilitic army sergeant directing his VD troops into battle against stupid humans. The Canadians bring us a melodramatic account of Teenage Pregnancy (1971). Debbie Harry, Carrie Fisher, Gilda Radner and more celebrity babes in their prime explain why American Women Love Creeps (1979). Confused about your teenage hormones? The Sexual Puzzle: Putting the Pieces Together (1982) will give you a healthy dose of some Christian morality and schmaltzy expository theme songs to help you keep those hormones in check and save it for marriage. Early love birds will be treated to Mormon-made audience favorite The Phone Call (1977) a film that wants you to know that even geeky, karate and bassoon-loving fast food workers deserve love, and with a little self-confidence and a great ginger-fro, they just might get it.
Featuring:
Beginning to Date (B+W, 1953)
Learn proper first date etiquette in this social engineering classic making its Oddball debut. The first co-ed party of junior high is on the horizon and the whole school is in an uproar over The Winter Frolic. After some encouraging words from the swim coach and several analogies to diving, George decides to take the plunge and ask Mildred. Bill doesn't fare so well with Ellen, but thanks to editing and several takes at the same scenario, these youngsters might have a chance at the perfect date. Plus, plenty of awkward pubescent dancing.
This Charming Couple (B+W, 1950, Willard Van Dyck)
Divorce Court, mid-century style! What turned one happy, loving couple into a bitter pair of hateful divorcees? Go back in time and see if you can spot the cracks in the foundation of their love affair before they head to the altar and finally off to divorce court. Another Oddball debut!
Is This Love? (B+W, 1957)
"Peggy thinks it's all hand-holding and looking into each other's eyes". College kids Peggy and Joe have only been dating for three months, but they're so in love and already engaged. Peg's roommate (who appears 20 years her elder) might be square, but she thinks that marriage isn't something to be rushed. Have they even thought about money and children and parents? Maybe they aren't the perfect match she thought they were, and maybe the dull and square couple are really the ones who ought to be tying the knot. See which couple makes it to the altar and wonder where they'll head from there.
Mark and Susan (Color, 1975)
No means no! A Planned Parenthood-sponsored film aimed at the teen date rapist about not pressuring girls into sex. Visually, all we see is a car parked by the river, but we get to listen in as one teen boy tries to change his girlfriend's answer in the backseat.
Jane Curtin, Margot Kidder, Gilda Radner, Wendie Malick, Teri Garr, Debbie Harry, Carrie Fisher and more all chime in on the things they love about creepy men, like dandruff, impotence, and nose-blowing in this hilarious bit from one of the strangest films ever made. Conceived by SNL writer Michael O'Donohue as a spoof on 1960's shock documentaries and intended to air on television, it was deemed too over-the-top and offensive by network executives. Eventually released as a short feature film where it became a midnight-movie staple, the origin of this print is a mystery and contains slugs for commercials. Could this be the original program intended for late night TV in 1979?
The Sexual Puzzle: Putting the Pieces Together (Color, 1982, excerpt)
If you ever wanted expository songs to better illustrate the confusing and ever-changing sexual attitudes of adolescence, look no further than this camptastic sex-ed film brought to you by Gospel Films and Josh McDowell Ministry. A 40-something "youth counselor" (who is in fact minister Josh McDowell himself) in a polyester leisure suit talks to teens about their sex lives while his points are illustrated by musical melodramatizations with a variety of issues facing Christian teens "today". Each teen presented gets their very own theme song to underscore their insecurities and changing bodies.
No one can bring you the melodrama of teen pregnancy quite like the Canadians. This campy morsel features a lot of worry, disappointment, facts and good old-fashioned overacting. Like a lost Degrassi episode, the touching story of 16 year-old Betty’s life will bring you to tears…of laughter!
VD: Attack Plan (1972, color)
“Yes, it’s true. Walt D*sney Productions has made a significant contribution to the war against VD. “VD Attack Plan” – A fully animated Walt D*sney 16mm motion picture.” states the brochure accompanying this 16mm educational film. VD Attack Plan had some forward thinking and enlightening approaches (not just for D*sney but everyone else producing this type of film in 1973) to the subject of sexually transmitted diseases including promotion of condoms (instead of abstinence) and the fact that VD can be spread through same sex couplings. This “war against disease “ film doesn’t miss a beat-even showcasing some of the graphic effects of the disease in action. In brilliant Technicolor, just like you’d want it to be.
Oddball Films is a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Silicon Valley, Kurt Cobain: The Montage of Heck, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our screenings are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educational films, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.