U.S. NAVY 1952 VENEREAL DISEASE SCARE FILM

Year Published: 1952

Description: This black & white U.S. Navy film, which was likely shown to sailors as part of basic training, is about the dangers of VD (venereal disease). The title "Taking Chances" has an extended metaphor throughout the film, which compares the odds of winning carnival games with catching a social disease. Copyright 1952. Produced by Herbert Kerkow Productions. Opening: U.S. Navy Training Film - "Taking Chances V.D." (:06-:28). A roulette wheel spins. Navy men at a carnival. A sailor named Drake smokes and throws basketballs in a game of chance. Mercer and Swanson throw basketballs as well. Adams and Kennedy stand around. All of the men partake in carnival games. A Navy officer, their commander, smokes a pipe and narrates the scene -- indicating that every leave produces casualties of one sort or another, including injuries from fights and illness from venereal disease (:29-2:21). Drake, talks to his chief and then another man, a doctor, about STDs. Drake has caught an STD. Animation shows gonorrhea entering Drake's penis. Urine washed out some of the germs but not all of the gonorrhea. Gonorrhea continues to fester (2:22-4:37). A drip inside the penis. The doctor puts on a rubber glove. A roulette wheel spins at the carnival. Mercer has an STD, he talks with a doctor. The two men discuss. Animation explains how syphilis works and what it can do, how dangerous it can be (4:38-7:43). Mercer is worried. The doctor talks with him. A roulette wheel spins. Guys clown around at the carnival. The guys try and figure out their next move. One of them plays a shooting gallery game. According to the narrator, a lot of prostitutes are exposed to STDs during their working career, making the odds good that a client might be exposed to one. The Navy men play a shooting game as the narrator says the fateful line, "Heads you win. Tails you lose." Exterior of a bar. The roulette wheel of fate spins (7:44-10:28). End credits (10:29-10:37).

Complete Record: This black & white U.S. Navy film, which was likely shown to sailors as part of basic training, is about the dangers of VD (venereal disease). The title "Taking Chances" has an extended metaphor throughout the film, which compares the odds of winning carnival games with catching a social disease. Copyright 1952. Produced by Herbert Kerkow Productions. Opening: U.S. Navy Training Film - "Taking Chances V.D." (:06-:28). A roulette wheel spins. Navy men at a carnival. A sailor named Drake smokes and throws basketballs in a game of chance. Mercer and Swanson throw basketballs as well. Adams and Kennedy stand around. All of the men partake in carnival games. A Navy officer, their commander, smokes a pipe and narrates the scene -- indicating that every leave produces casualties of one sort or another, including injuries from fights and illness from venereal disease (:29-2:21). Drake, talks to his chief and then another man, a doctor, about STDs. Drake has caught an STD. Animation shows gonorrhea entering Drake's penis. Urine washed out some of the germs but not all of the gonorrhea. Gonorrhea continues to fester (2:22-4:37). A drip inside the penis. The doctor puts on a rubber glove. A roulette wheel spins at the carnival. Mercer has an STD, he talks with a doctor. The two men discuss. Animation explains how syphilis works and what it can do, how dangerous it can be (4:38-7:43). Mercer is worried. The doctor talks with him. A roulette wheel spins. Guys clown around at the carnival. The guys try and figure out their next move. One of them plays a shooting gallery game. According to the narrator, a lot of prostitutes are exposed to STDs during their working career, making the odds good that a client might be exposed to one. The Navy men play a shooting game as the narrator says the fateful line, "Heads you win. Tails you lose." Exterior of a bar. The roulette wheel of fate spins (7:44-10:28). End credits (10:29-10:37).