movies_creation

American Movie Archives (美國電影檔案)

Title
Build Your Vocabulary
Year
1948
Abstract
Dramatizes the story of a father, who, after finding himself at a loss for words at a public meeting, follows his son's lead and starts a campaign of vocabulary improvement.
Notes
Produced: Coronet Instructional Films
Run Time: 10:20
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keyword
Literacy; Words;Self-improvement; Words;Self-improvement
Theme
MR. WILLIS ISSUES EXPLICIT ULTIMATUM
Review
Pete’s dad, Mr. Willis, has a problem (Pete doesn’t have a problem, which is unusual for a Coronet film). It seems that folks keep usin’ all these high-fallutin’ words around him, words like “explicit” and “anthology.” It darn near drives him nuts (in a very campy scene) until he starts writin’ in one a’ them-there vocabulary notebooks. Now he can finally understand what his wife is talking about! This is a very campy film. Its main character is pathetically stupid, so much so that you get the impression that the only thing keeping him in his job is the fact that he’s a white male. He even gets the book Fundamentals of Printing from the library to read for the first time––considering he works for a printing company this is probably a good idea. Good thing he’s not a doctor. This character, and the fact that an adult is portrayed as the clueless one for once, make this a unique and memorable Coronet film, prime for msting.
(Reviewer: Christine Hennig)
Location
A/V room, 2/F