The Battle of Britain

SUBJECT FOR DISCUSSION [Main Title]

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Fair Use

All Rights Reserved except for Fair Dealing exceptions otherwise permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

Catalogue number
  • UKY 436
Production date
1943
Place made
GB
Subject period
Creator
Category
film

All Rights Reserved except for Fair Dealing exceptions otherwise permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

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Object description

The need to bring the topic of venereal disease into the open is suggested by two fictional storylines, linked by the character of a doctor.

Full description

In the first story, a boy loses his sight because of syphilis inherited from his parents, the father having contracted the disease two years before marriage but not realising this since the symptoms apparently cleared up. In the second, the doctor wishes to make VD the topic for a talk he is scheduled to give an ARP discussion group. The idea offends a conventional old (male) warden ("I cannot see the necessity for discussing such unpleasant topics before decent people") but is defended by a young woman ("If it's a thing a man can pass on to his wife and a kid can inherit from its mother, then surely it's a matter for everybody"); she and the doctor talk the objector round. The film takes the opportunities presented by the plots to mention (discreetly) VD symptoms, the availability and confidentiality of treatment and its efficacy, and the importance of seeking treatment immediately. Above all it stresses the need for informed awareness ("Fear can become a disease in itself").

Physical description

35mm

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