THE VICIOUS CIRCLE

Year Published: 1951

Description: This 1951 color film tells the story of Tommy, a successful Los Angeles advertising man, who takes his beer campaign a little too seriously, and slips into a “vicious circle” of alcoholic behavior, culminating in a thwarted suicide attempt. Tommy survives to wage a campaign against the very advertising he used to propagate. This film was presented by the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and produced by Fred S. Niemann. 0:00 An intoxicated man rises from a bar after having had several beers. Narration introduces us to “this bum, this drunk,” Tommy Farrell, the narrator’s former self. Walking past downtown bars and advertisements: “Liquor House” (0:40). Tommy mentions he used to be an artist for liquor ads (1:08). An oil derrick in a residential area. Tommy staggers by (1:26). Drinking a bottle of beer. Approaching a bridge. Contemplating suicide, Tommy throws a bottle over the bridge and into the water (2:06). Preparing to jump. A well-dressed man driving by stops the suicide (3:31). Tommy talks to his friend and savior, sobering up (4:10). A sign: “Auto Park” (4:43). An office building. Inside, Tommy looks at artist’s proofs for an ad campaign for beer: “Feel Hearty and Hale Drink Glockenspeil’s Ale” (5:04). Tommy enters a bar decorated with a wooden wagon wheel (6:16). Talking to a woman at the bar over glasses of beer (6:29). Returning home drunk with flowers to a house decorated with palm trees. Tommy’s daughter turns away, frightened (7:17). Back at work, Tommy can’t be bothered to see his wife (8:13). Signs: “Venice Liquor House, Herb’s Liquor, The Circle ‘B’ Cafe, Cocktails, Christmas in Beverly Hills” (8:54). Los Angeles holiday decorations. A wine shop. A mural for Calvert Reserve whiskey, a billboard: “They all want Budweiser, nothing else.” Another: “It’s 6 to 4 you’ll pick Acme.” A towering 12-story ad for Old Forester (9:13). Drinking at work (10:03). Back at the bar, handing out money to the hostess (10:30). An illuminated Christmas tree and storefronts, liquor signs and ads. “Club Comet, CLC Club” (10:43). Tossed out of the bar. Skid row. An elderly man smokes a pipe, another drinks curbside (11:03). Neon: “Lucky Lager.” A man with a fedora drinks in silhouette. Checking discarded bottles for drips of booze (11:44). Checking a storm cellar. Wandering past storefronts to a pawnbroker and hocking a cherished camera (12:21). Squinting into the sunlight. Drinking in an alley (13:24). Approaching a drug dealer in sunglasses and purchasing pills (14:04). Taking sedatives and chasing the pills with alcohol. Passed out (14:31). Waking up in the gutter (14:54). Meeting with a doctor. Tommy’s wife supports him (15:39). Meeting with another doctor, who distributes The Union Signal, a publication of the Women’s Temperance Union. They shake hands (16:14). Reading the Union Signal. The narrator wonders why alcoholic beverage labels don’t have warnings: “May be habit forming” (17:21). Meeting outdoors with like-minded men, Tommy presents misleading liquor ads and his proposed stick-on warning labels (17:34). Stickers in closeup. Satirical cartoon ads lampoon the liquor industry: “Millions of Undiscriminating People Guzzle Post Mortem” (19:38). Leaving for Washington (20:39). Country driving, train tracks. Walking up to the Capitol building in awe (21:22). Title overlay: “Will This Be The End?” and a call for discussion (22:13). Writer and director Fred Niemann led a Chicago-based industrial film company that put out several shorts dealing with the issue of temperance. Niemann is also known to have worked a brief stint as a gag writer for 1930s Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoons under Frank Tashlin.

Online Copy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZhCl7dPdU0

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