View movie

View thumbnails
Run time: 10:15

Stream (help)

64Kb Real Media (dialup)
256Kb Real Media (broadband)

Play / Download (help)

(31 MB)Cinepack
(42 MB)512Kb MPEG4
(42 MB)Ogg Video
(43 MB)64Kb Real Media
(102 MB)256Kb Real Media
(160 MB)HiRes MPEG4
(271 MB)MPEG2

Resources

Aetna Casualty & Surety CompanyLive and Let Live (1947)

Set in a toy tabletop town, this film uses brightly colored model cars and trucks to demonstrate a range of driving safety scenarios. The number of near-misses and accidents would make for an extremely violent film if real vehicles and people were used, but the models keep the feeling of mayhem at a distance. An unusual example of a rich tradition within the safety film genre: the tabletop model.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Aetna Casualty & Surety Company
Sponsor: Aetna Casualty & Surety Company
Audio/Visual: Sd, C
Keywords: Safety: Automotive; Animation: Stop-motion; Surrealism

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

Individual Files

Write a review
Downloaded 14,960 timesReviews
Average Rating:

Reviewer: eniksleestack - - March 1, 2004
Subject: Danger in Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood!
This film is great! I especially love the technicolor cars, trucks, houses, etc. In many ways this appeals to my purient wishes to see toy vehicles careening out of control in the H/O scale town that was the intro and outro to "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood." There's also something damn scary about this town, where bloodless accidents seem to happen every few seconds, and no one's behind the wheels of any of the cars! Just one wish would be close-ups of the odd tiny motorcycles that are occasionally seen.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - November 17, 2003
Subject: Amazing!!!!!!
Well, any movie that has me on the floor laughing 2 minutes into the movie, deserves reccomendation. This ulta-strange movie, about car safety using miniature cars, shows incredible accidents usually associated with 6 year olds playing with cars. You know, cars going off cliffs! Head ons with 16 wheelers! Smacking into trains! This is GREAT STUFF. Oh, and there's narration about how to avoid these kind of accidents, but the images are what rules here folks. This is a TOTAL must see on this site!!

Reviewer: cashel - - September 29, 2003
Subject: use for new film
This film appears to be crying out for editing..There is a lot of film of real-life crashes in the archives..Perhaps each toy cars crash could be followed by real film crash and there are certainly some horrible images that could take effect

Reviewer: Mr. Snout - - February 10, 2003
Subject: Lots of model car wrecks - good for 2 year olds
My two-year old loved all the model car wrecks. There's plenty of action (most of it pretty tame) and no talking heads, just the usual droning narration that sternly warns you that you must "never, not even for a moment, relax your vigilance while at the wheel."

Shotlist

Demonstrates causes and effects of such unsafe driving practices as passing on a curve, driving after drinking, following too closely, and speeding.
Lots of near misses.

Model cars involved in several different accident scenarios. Good shot of model intersection with cars passing through. All stop-motion animation. Drunk driver sequence with yellow car. Railroad freight train hits car.
Danger Lurks Safety