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Audio Productions, Inc.Human Reproduction (1947)

Though this sex education film concentrates on presenting the anatomy and physiology of human reproduction in sober medical terms, its release kicked off a controversy in many American cities and towns over the legitimacy of sex education in the public schools. The film is narrated from the point of view of an adult who tries to decide how to answer his son's natural questions about sex and reproduction. With excellent diagrams of the reproductive process.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Audio Productions, Inc.
Sponsor: N/A
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keywords: Sex education; Biology: Reproduction; Families

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Jackal2000 - - August 24, 2006
Subject: xsdxsaf
ddsfvsdv

Reviewer: mjwise - - January 27, 2006
Subject: By the grace of heaven...
...this film really isn't too bad. But can anyone here place those accents? I'm stumped. The father's increasingly perturbed/panicked look at his kid's questions is great, though.

Good sardonic narrator too. The explanations are very straightforward and do not seem dated. I think the lack of pubic hair in the woman is kind of odd though. The male erection is also completely cropped out. Also notable is that the male explanation/model portrays a male with foreskin, which was a somewhat unusual inclusion compared to even other films of its age as circumcision was already quite popular in the US when this was filmed.

Reviewer: fanfare - - September 8, 2004
Subject: So THAT'S how they do it...
I could've used a bit less realism in the animation, thank you (the slow, contracting passage of the baby through the uterus was almost painful to watch), but Dad's trauma at his son's probing questions kinda made up for it. A very enlightening film.

Reviewer: AliceTeeple - - March 18, 2004
Subject: i think i am going to telephone the hospital right now.
Strangely-accented people narrate the facts of life in quite possibly the most unappealing description of conception ever filmed. Features disturbing silhouetted images of newborns hanging upside-down. And Dad perpetually looks perplexed about all of it. How DID Junior show up? What's with all those Latin names? Huh? Huh?

Reviewer: trafalgar - - March 12, 2004
Subject: I learned a few things...
Pretty complete and accurate, with some nice animations that made clear some things that, frankly, I was a little vague on myself. Also nice that the assessment of the growing egg/embryo/fetus is untainted by the current political/ideological debate...just the facts, ma'am...
All in all, I think parents could use this film, even today.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - August 13, 2003
Subject: Dad? Dad??
A peculiar movie made apparently for adults who have absolutely no idea where babies come from LOL. The movie starts by a young tyke asking his father where babies come from. The Dad soon starts, um, I don't know, going into a trance I guess, and then narrator starts talking about the female reproduction system. Soon, junior apparently snaps Dad out of it to ask another question, which just gets Dad deeper in the fog again, thinking about the Male reproduction system (insert your own joke here). Although quite an informative and educational film, the formatting of it is rather bizarre.

Shotlist

"The development of a foetus [fetus] is followed in detail, and the absence of a common bloodstream is emphasized."
"presents vital information accurately and in good taste"

Ken Smith sez: Little Johnny Burke asks his dad where babies come from. "From the grace of heaven," dad chuckles, but Johnny is not so easily dissuaded. "What would you reply?" asks the narrator, and this straightforward film then attempts to give us the answer. Through the use of animation, we see wiggly sperm, ovulating eggs, and ink wash illustrations of babies growing in the womb. But are you really going to tell your kid; "Then the walls of the uterus become engorged with blood and fluids"? Good luck. Remade in 1966.

Sex education