Be a Good Neighbour

Lewis Carroll's 'Alice' stories are used to explain certain sections of the Labelling of Food Regulations 1970.

An instructional short aimed at school-aged children of the early 1950s that combines animation and live-action footage with voice-over narration to explain what to do to increase their chances of surviving the blast from an atomic bomb.

Protect and Survive was a public information series on civil defence produced by the British government during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was intended to inform British citizens on how to protect themselves during a nuclear attack, and consisted of a mixture of pamphlets, radio broadcasts, and public information films. The series had originally been intended for distribution only in the event of dire national emergency, but provoked such intense public interest that the pamphlets were authorised for general release.

Sponsored as part of the Electricity Council's 'Understanding Electricity' campaign, Play Safe is a series of three hard-hitting fillers designed to highlight to children the potentially fatal consequences of playing near overhead electric lines and substations. The carefree attitude of the youngsters as they fly their kites and radio-controlled planes in the open air is undermined by composer Harry Robinson's electronic soundtrack, which pulsates with menace throughout.

3 cartoons were made in 1918 by O'Galop, the designer of Bibendum Michelin, to warn the post-war population of the ravaging effects of alcohol and tuberculosis. This public health campaign seems far removed from our present-day concerns. Over time it has acquired a different dimension.

Thud and Blunder learn what not to do while in a coal mine.

This one is another warning to the French public about the dangers of alcohol. Everything seems rosy at first, but that doesn't last long. After illustrating the 'metamorphosis of money' into alcohol, the film describes the inevitable consequence - which isn't just drunkenness and unconsciousness, but insanity and death apparently.

Animated public information film from the Health and Cleanliness Council.

A husband sneezes inconsiderately all over the place, until his wife has had enough and leaves him.

A chain-smoking woman has an encounter with a vampire.

BFI Catalogue: Safety film showing how accidents in the home usually happen and how they can be avoided. Includes fire safety, electricity and gas appliances, babies and children, the elderly, glass, and DIY.

Public information film regarding female safety and how to safeguard against rape

A short film warning the unaware housewife of the dangers of “dry cleaning” with gasoline at home.

Stark 70s firework safety film which mixes the everyday and the uncanny.

The penalties of taking conscious risks are emphasized in three stories of casualties. A heavy load slips, a slippery floor, alighting from a moving tractor. Third in series.

The dangers of drug use by teenagers are illustrated by showing how well-dressed, happy teens are turned into slovenly, long-haired, drug-addled potheads who don't know that, according to the film's drug expert, “in high dosages, it [marijuana] parallels LSD.”

This movie starts with a Mother and her two children nonchalantly going to the window when someone knocks on the window. Shouldn't they be on their guard? And what good is their huge German Shepherd Shep? But wait! It's only Dad! Silly man! He's brought home Halloween stuff! Junior makes a truly hideous mask from a paper bag and sets it in the lamp to make it look more ominous. (archive.org)

Richard Massingham gives a comic demonstration of how to cross the road.

Julien Temple's wartime documentary parody "Punk Can Take It" (1979) - a theatrically released promo for the UK Subs, complete with narration by BBC voice-over veteran John Snagge - paints a glorious picture of England in a punk rock "identity crisis". Punk morale was higher than ever before. Punks were fused together not by fear, but by a surging spirit of revenge, immortality, and the courage never to submit or yield. This proved that punk won't go away and that punks themselves are becoming younger and nastier everyday. They have no time for the precarious thrills of nostalgia nor for its trivial rules.

Sonny Bono appears onscreen to tell kids that marijuana is a "bummer" that turns you into a "weedhead" and will make you "trip out" (the fact that, based upon his performance, Sonny appears to have ingested unknown substances before the cameras started rolling tends to limit the film's crediblity somewhat).