View movie

View thumbnails
Run time: 14:00

Stream (help)

64Kb MPEG4 (dialup)
256Kb MPEG4 (broadband)

Play / Download (help)

(17 MB)64Kb MPEG4
(38 MB)256Kb MPEG4
(128 MB)MPEG1
(413 MB)MPEG2

Resources

Blasting Cap Danger (1957)

Shows the dangers to which children expose themselves when they play with blasting caps.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Production Company: Inst Of Makers Of Explosives
Audio/Visual: sound, color

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

Individual Files

Write a review
Downloaded 7,210 timesReviews
Average Rating:

Reviewer: 240Zman - - November 8, 2005
Subject: Ahh, memories...
In 1968 my gradeschool held a special assembly to have a us watch this movie on a 16mm projector in our auditorium...I remember the barbecue scene vividly to this day. It ended with a display by
a uniformed "official" who actually set off a real blasting cap in a metal strong-box on stage.

The effect was unintended...rather than leave the audience fearful, it caused nearly every boy in the school to look for blasting caps in building sites for years afterwards...I never found any though...

Reviewer: Visual16 - - October 21, 2005
Subject: Might put an eye out! Might put an eye out!
GRREAT film!! Interesting, the Institute of Makers of Explosives www.ime.org have a modern version of this same cautionary message available on DVD from their website. I guess if the folks here have no problem watching two hours of of hog slaughtering, it would a neat medley of blasting cap warning films "thru the ages"! Anyway there's more blasting cap fun on AV Geeks, too!
This one takes the cake. In glorious magenta and yellow-orange the stage is set for disaster! I love the Centron type acting by the kids, and the fact that the first ten minutes have absolutely nothing to do with blasting caps - just a gender roles debate as to whether girls can become airline pilots or not. Just for that it gets five!

Reviewer: uniQ - - June 2, 2005
Subject: Something else to watchout for (Besides the usuall Sid Davis stuff)
Spoilers, as usuall.

Some things:

This films "00:00" is actually a picture, instead of the usuall blank screen.

The "...great new superhighway" is 3 lanes wide!

That is a HUGE stripmine! They must be nearly to Hell be now ;D

Dynamite, which you shouldn't be cleaning your clothes with either (See "More Dangerous then Dynamite" for the explanation behind that)!

The way it's quoted it seems like "Blasting Cap!" is the actual title. Unless someone finds some documentation related to this I guess we'll never know...

The IME still exists. I wonder if they remember?

Are they inside or outsite?

They talk like they should be in a B&W Coronet film!

It's a 4 prop plane! (Looks at date) Well, 1957 I guess. That also explains the previous.

Some of these shots are very shaky.

The voices at the airport sound completely fake. Notice you never actually see them talk. They probably commandeered a radio studio and acted them out there.

He is NOT "working on the rail-road"!

EWW! Don't eat THAT apple (He picks up a windfall appl!)!

This is just me but that looks NOTHING like a firecracker.

Nice shots of various things blown up with caps. Especially the pattern in the baseball.

The construction worker's the least stanged sounding in his acting, but his "Hey! Where ya goin?" is pretty bad.

Who shoots 2 handed? (No Tim McCoy doesn't)

Their "porch" is ugly! Those chairs and what is with that hole cut out of the wall?

Not that bad a dramatic run-up, but not truely great either. The continual repetition of key phrases in increasing tones is the most annoying part of it.

The fact that Dad says the almost exact same thing as Mr. Barrow probably made a few kids who watched this wonder...

Hmm, Dad was in the Air Force!

Pennsylvania Film Productions. @least it didn't have to pass the Pennsylvania State Board of Censors!

-uniQ

Reviewer: Spuzz - - November 13, 2004
Subject: Don't touch it! Don't touch it! Don't touch it! Don't touch it! Don't touch it! Don't touch it! Don't touch it!
A film about the hotly (I guess) debated topic of Blasting caps and all the menace it does on society when it falls in the wrong hands.
After a brief intro of what a blasting cap IS, we then seague into the bizarre main plot of the story, which features 2 boys and a girl. For some inexplicable reason, the filmmakers decided to make the girl as tomboyish as possible. Anyways, in the first scene, she's playing with a plane, and one of the boys is trying to shoot it down by making a "uh uh uh uh" sound. The other boy arrives and accuses the girl of being a tomboy and playing with planes. No no! The girl cries, she's going to be a pilot just like her daddy! (a plane conveniently flies over at this point (they must live inches from the airport based on this shot)) Oh, did I tell you this movie was about blasting caps? RIght. So the boys let the girl be, and go down for a bike ride. They stop at this old codger's house to get the bike fixed. While waiting for the bike to get fixed, one of the boys FINALLY get the plot going by finding a blasting cap and deciding it would be a great joke by throwing it into the girl's family barbecue. The other boy disagrees, and the blasting cap boy goes off to do his dirty deed.
While helping the old codger clean up, the blastingcapless kid finds a box of blasting caps. The old codger then finally goes off about the many dangers of blasting caps stopping short of drooling. "Don't Touch It! It'll put out an eye! Don't Touch It!" On and on it goes. Frightened by his speech, the boy runs off to save the day!

Meanwhile at the girl's house, the girl is dressed in nifty cowboy (not cowgirl) gear, Dad shoots her (well pretends to). Anyways, what will happen to the family? Will a blasting cap put out an eye? Will the exasperated Mom say at the end, "Oh, Chuck!" Will there be another 5 minute monologue with "DON'T TOUCH IT!" repeated like 25 times?

Tune in and find out!!

A MUST SEE on this site!

Reviewer: lonestrikr - - November 12, 2004
Subject: Faded, but nice shot of a Connie
Wonderfully cheesy safety film.

This film is badly faded, but it has a nice shot of a TWA Lockheed Constellation coming in for a landing.

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - November 8, 2004
Subject: If You See This Film, Don't Touch It! Leave It Where It Is and Tell Somebody Who Knows How to Handle It!
This cheaply-made film tries to warn kids away from playing with blasting caps. Tag and Chuck, after bullying Kathy, who bragged about a cookout her family was going to have for her fatherÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs birthday, ride their bikes up to visit Mr. Barrow, the local bicycle repairman and demolitions expert. While they wait for Mr. Barrow to fix TagÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs bike, Chuck finds a blasting cap and decides to sneak into KathyÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs familyÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs cookout and throw it into the barbecue grill. Tag doesnÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂt like the idea, so Chuck takes off in a huff, vowing to do it by himself. Tag lingers behind to help Mr. Barrow load his truck with various items you can use to blow things up, and this gives Mr. Barrow the opportunity to lecture Tag on the dangers of blasting caps. Tag suddenly realizes that ChuckÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs little prank could result in serious injury, so he races his bike back to KathyÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs house, only to see her lying on the patio, apparently unconscious. But she was only playing cowboy with her father, so Tag takes the opportunity to wrestle the blasting cap out of ChuckÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs hand before he can throw it into the fire. This gives KathyÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs dad the opportunity to give another lecture on the dangers of blasting caps. This is a cheap film with uniformly bad acting, which actually makes it a lot of fun. The kids in particular are terrible actors, but they seem real nonetheless, especially bullying Chuck. The film repeats the words ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂDonÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂt touch it!ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ more than the mother of a 2-year-old, and the montage sequence of Tag riding his bike back to KathyÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs while seeing images of injured kids is a classic. Where they thought kids would get ahold of blasting caps is not explained, though. A classic in the cheesy safety film genre.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.