THE PEOPLE AT NUMBER 19

Genre: home movie

Year Published: 1949

Format: 16mm

Description: Made by the Crown Film Unit in 1949, "The People at Number 19" is a melodramatic STD scare movie reporting on the evils of syphilis. The film was sponsored after reported cases of sexually transmitted disease spike during and after World War II, but as this film testifies, sexual license amongst soldiers on the frontline wasn't the sole cause. Back on the home front, for many women, like Joan from No. 19, loneliness or newfound independence acted as an incentive to extramarital promiscuity. The film was directed J.B. Holmes with a script by John Rowdon, working for the Central Office of Information (COI), and was aimed squarely at young women. "It couldn't happen to me," Joan repeats in stunned disbelief on learning from her doctor that she has contracted syphilis. All the quintessential ingredients of 'women's films' are called upon to drive home the message that marriage and motherhood is the right path to follow.

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