The severely dated production values and stiff performances by the actors immediately calls to mind another 'educational' gem of the era - "Reefer Madness". In the name of sex education and the eradication of the evils of socially transmitted disease, the film begins with the earnest entreaty that "Ignorance Must Be Abolished". But actually, if the presentation wasn't so corny and outmoded, one would be hard pressed to consider whether anything's been learned since the film was made, as the toll in human lives to STD's worldwide is at epidemic proportions.
I guess you'd really have to be a viewer back in the 1930's to get the full impact of how titillating a lot of the film was. The burlesque sequence offered a lot more tease than the actual dance show, with a lesbian pursuing a hot conquest and a dirty old man type getting worked up enough to attack the first young lady he sees after the show. The main story involves a would be actress falling victim to an unscrupulous director only to find herself at the mercy of the dreaded syphilis, ultimately infecting her new husband and baby. Not entirely unimaginable, but confounded by the unsavory practices of medical quacks who take advantage of the uneducated and uninformed.
As a period piece, this is another example of sensationalist film making and worth a look to see how far we've come as a society and a nation. It's unlikely that anyone reading this was even alive seventy years ago when the film was made, and that in itself is a remarkable testament to the staying power of a cult classic from a bygone era.
I guess you'd really have to be a viewer back in the 1930's to get the full impact of how titillating a lot of the film was. The burlesque sequence offered a lot more tease than the actual dance show, with a lesbian pursuing a hot conquest and a dirty old man type getting worked up enough to attack the first young lady he sees after the show. The main story involves a would be actress falling victim to an unscrupulous director only to find herself at the mercy of the dreaded syphilis, ultimately infecting her new husband and baby. Not entirely unimaginable, but confounded by the unsavory practices of medical quacks who take advantage of the uneducated and uninformed.
As a period piece, this is another example of sensationalist film making and worth a look to see how far we've come as a society and a nation. It's unlikely that anyone reading this was even alive seventy years ago when the film was made, and that in itself is a remarkable testament to the staying power of a cult classic from a bygone era.