Image from The End of the Road taken from Bold! Daring! Shocking! True! (Shaefer)
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Sex Hygiene Films
Films as Teaching Tools Tutorial, Page 1
Feature length films with an educational purpose date back to the silent era. Sex hygiene films are an excellent example of such films.
In 1913, Eugene Brieux’s play, Les Avaries was produced in New York “under the auspices of the Medical Review of Reviews to stave off possible public protest.” (Schaefer, 21) It was the first play to speak the word “syphilis.”
“The drama told the story of a young man who contracts syphilis. He marries to collect a dowry despite the protests of his physician, eventually infecting his wife and baby.” (Schaefer, 22)
In 1914, Le Avaries made the transition to film. Known as Damaged Goods, it starred Richard Bennett who also starred in the play. The film is presumed lost.
Bennett is shown here in The End of the Road (1918); another sex hygiene film. The End of the Road is one of three important sex hygiene films that were originally produced as armed services training films. The other two were Fit to Fight (1918) and Fit to Win (1919).1
To underscore the educational nature of such movies, lectures were often given as part of the evening’s entertainment. At least since The Naked Truth (1924) was released, patrons could purchase pamphlets and books about the topic.
1The Interenet Movie Database lists Fit to Fit and Fit to Win as the same film. However, I consider Schaefer--my source for this information--to be a more credible.
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