Another terrible short. I saw the so-called educational 'Mr. B Natural' and almost thought it was funny enough to recommend. This is one is just very bad. The narrator tells us how to behave when you have dinner with your family. The family shows us how it must be done and what can go wrong. Don't be emotional, don't talk all the time, wait until the mother starts eating. You understand this is not something I want to see again.
18 Reviews
Even by the preachy standards of the Fifties ...
Bevan - #42 December 2005
... this one was way out there in left field.
One can only imagine the 1950s classrooms in which this film was shown ... full of glazed-eyed, snoring students. It conforms to the worst stereotypes of the era, one in which the menfolk engage in such manly, worthy pursuits as playing baseball, working as a professional and studying for college, while the womenfolk have no better raison d'etre than to look pretty and pleasant and pick flowers for the dinner table.
Beyond the stereotypes, though, consider that there was a production company out there which seriously thought -- and presumably justifiably so -- that there was a market for a ten minute educational film pushing no more important a message than making dinner time nice for the family. In the Pleasantville-land of the Fifties, that's a telling point.
2/10.
One can only imagine the 1950s classrooms in which this film was shown ... full of glazed-eyed, snoring students. It conforms to the worst stereotypes of the era, one in which the menfolk engage in such manly, worthy pursuits as playing baseball, working as a professional and studying for college, while the womenfolk have no better raison d'etre than to look pretty and pleasant and pick flowers for the dinner table.
Beyond the stereotypes, though, consider that there was a production company out there which seriously thought -- and presumably justifiably so -- that there was a market for a ten minute educational film pushing no more important a message than making dinner time nice for the family. In the Pleasantville-land of the Fifties, that's a telling point.
2/10.
These were scary times...
robdahlgren05067 August 2006
This short does have some redeeming value. Getting the family to sit around the dinner table is a noble gesture. Still, I would rather have the family eating TV dinners on the couch than have to put up with the gender roles portrayed here. I really enjoy these kinds of movies because they give a great insight into the thinking of the time, but I doubt that there were many families who lived up to the ideal set forth in this film. If it appeared that they did, it was because father ruled with an iron fist. I've got two kids myself, and while they aren't always the best behaved, I refuse to rule my house through fear. Too bad they didn't have black neighbors, then we could have really seen how far we've come.
The funniest MST3K short EVER!!
rowsdower4526 January 2003
Warning: Spoilers
I don't know what you consider a spoiler, so for all I know, this comment might contain some.
This one is so 50's, when everybody was supposed to have the perfect nuclear family. If you are unsure of how to do this, watch this short, preferably on MST3K.
Mike: "Dad, I'm dating a Negro."
This one is so 50's, when everybody was supposed to have the perfect nuclear family. If you are unsure of how to do this, watch this short, preferably on MST3K.
Mike: "Dad, I'm dating a Negro."
A hilarious short film.
TOMNEL21 August 2007
This short is one of the many old shorts to give you proper table etiquette. All this is, is a 10 minute short where a narrator talks as a family eats dinner and shows the do's and don'ts of eating dinner. It was a bad short in the 1950's, and it's even worse now. I personally find it hilarious, but that doesn't save it from a 1 rating. It just seems like this short is pointless. I don't know of any family who wants to watch a short film on family dining to learn how to eat dinner. Plus the narration is really corny, and poorly written. You can find this short on MST3K, so watch it, it's so bad it's hilarious.
My rating: 1/2 out of ****. 10 mins.
My rating: 1/2 out of ****. 10 mins.
The Woody Allen Story!
marcus_stokes200014 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
*A Date With Your SPOILERS*
Brother and Sister have big stupid smiles on their faces; why? But because they're dining at home with Father, Mother and li'l bro Junior, of course! Yes, you heard me right. This is what they're all excited about, and the focus of this short.
This is possibly the worst short movie from the '50s (and that's saying something!), a terrifying praise of sexism, bigotism and unemotional conservatism (I cannot stress unemotional enough!).
I am certainly agape at the dementia shown in this (Sister and Mother change into their best clothes to give the men of the family something nice to look at (can you say 'incest'?), 'be yourself with your family, just be sure it's your best self' (and be sure no one knows the real you!), Sister obsesses with the flowers of a stupid centerpiece she created (seriously), the puzzling behaviour at the table (first Father, then Mother, then Sister, and lastly Brother and Junior... let's get the flow chart for this) and scary quotes such as 'Brother and Sister greet Dad as if they're genuinely glad to see him' (Because they aren't) 'Then helps Mother to her chair as he would his best girl' (EW)).
I just am really glad I didn't have to sit in class and watch this, because it's really terrifying, set in an atmosphere of control and repression.
It makes great MST3K fodder, though.
A Date With Your Family: 1/10.
Brother and Sister have big stupid smiles on their faces; why? But because they're dining at home with Father, Mother and li'l bro Junior, of course! Yes, you heard me right. This is what they're all excited about, and the focus of this short.
This is possibly the worst short movie from the '50s (and that's saying something!), a terrifying praise of sexism, bigotism and unemotional conservatism (I cannot stress unemotional enough!).
I am certainly agape at the dementia shown in this (Sister and Mother change into their best clothes to give the men of the family something nice to look at (can you say 'incest'?), 'be yourself with your family, just be sure it's your best self' (and be sure no one knows the real you!), Sister obsesses with the flowers of a stupid centerpiece she created (seriously), the puzzling behaviour at the table (first Father, then Mother, then Sister, and lastly Brother and Junior... let's get the flow chart for this) and scary quotes such as 'Brother and Sister greet Dad as if they're genuinely glad to see him' (Because they aren't) 'Then helps Mother to her chair as he would his best girl' (EW)).
I just am really glad I didn't have to sit in class and watch this, because it's really terrifying, set in an atmosphere of control and repression.
It makes great MST3K fodder, though.
A Date With Your Family: 1/10.
Hasn't dated very well.
kfuchs9622 March 2014
Time has not been kind to this short. What was seen as a model family back then now seems boring, creepy, and robotic. Our story begins with two siblings named Brother and Sister. Actually, nobody in this move is named. They're just coldly referred to as Brother, Sister, Father, etc. So, Brother and Sister are excited for dinner with the family. Mother is hard at work in the kitchen, where she belongs. Everyone wears vacant eyed grins, rarely showing any emotion other then "excruciatingly happy". As the short progresses we see Brother helping Junior clean up, Sister help Mother in the kitchen, and Father come home from whatever he does. The narrator drones on and on about what behaviors are appropriate, such as not saying anything unpleasant or showing emotion. We get to see them eat dinner and the short ends.
Really, this short just screams 50s, and not in a good way. Everything is happy and nice (Don't want to trigger Father's WWII flashbacks, do we?), and it just feels stifled and repressed. Someone could make a dark parody of it where Father is a repressed homosexual, Mother needs alcohol to get through the day, Sister is sleeping with everyone at school, Brother is a habitual drug user, and Junior is just trying to survive.
Some nostalgics might like it so they can fondly remember the good old days before "those goldang ghetto emulating kids with their X-Stations and computers and marihuanas." The rest of us can just laugh at the MST3K version.
Really, this short just screams 50s, and not in a good way. Everything is happy and nice (Don't want to trigger Father's WWII flashbacks, do we?), and it just feels stifled and repressed. Someone could make a dark parody of it where Father is a repressed homosexual, Mother needs alcohol to get through the day, Sister is sleeping with everyone at school, Brother is a habitual drug user, and Junior is just trying to survive.
Some nostalgics might like it so they can fondly remember the good old days before "those goldang ghetto emulating kids with their X-Stations and computers and marihuanas." The rest of us can just laugh at the MST3K version.
Let's eat!
johnny_burnaway25 October 2016
Sit down to dinner with the Whitebreads and learn how taking a meal together is done. No arguing, no unpleasant talk. Mother and Father even greet each other with a handshake so as to keep the emotions in the house on an even keel (and, considering the age gap between Junior and the other two kids in the family, to prevent any more accidents).
This short was probably created to combat the trend of family meals eaten in front of that wonderful new machine, television. Just try to picture Father in his undershirt, his plate on a TV tray and the fights on the tube. You can't, can you? Nor should you try. Get that out of your head at once and get back to the dinner table.
For the gentler sex, the narrator delivers a fantastically vintage line: "The women of this family seem to feel that they owe it to the men of the family to look relaxed, rested, and attractive at dinnertime." Uh...yeah.
I'm all for family dinners and time spent together, but pedantry typically has the effect of pushing people in the opposite direction. Much like warnings about the evils of rock n' roll only make me want to listen to more Black Sabbath, this short just makes me want to eat in front of my laptop so I can watch MST3k shorts on YouTube.
For a quick double feature, pair this short (the MST3k version, natch) with the "Don't hit the hair!" dinner scene from "Saturday Night Fever".
This short was probably created to combat the trend of family meals eaten in front of that wonderful new machine, television. Just try to picture Father in his undershirt, his plate on a TV tray and the fights on the tube. You can't, can you? Nor should you try. Get that out of your head at once and get back to the dinner table.
For the gentler sex, the narrator delivers a fantastically vintage line: "The women of this family seem to feel that they owe it to the men of the family to look relaxed, rested, and attractive at dinnertime." Uh...yeah.
I'm all for family dinners and time spent together, but pedantry typically has the effect of pushing people in the opposite direction. Much like warnings about the evils of rock n' roll only make me want to listen to more Black Sabbath, this short just makes me want to eat in front of my laptop so I can watch MST3k shorts on YouTube.
For a quick double feature, pair this short (the MST3k version, natch) with the "Don't hit the hair!" dinner scene from "Saturday Night Fever".
not even the title makes sense
lee_eisenberg25 September 2013
The title might imply that "A Date with Your Family" is about a family going to a movie or restaurant or something, but it actually shows a family having dinner at home. The idea is that the movie shows the proper way to act at dinner. It's probably more recognizable now that "Mystery Science Theater 3000" heckled it. One of the things that the movie reminds us - according to the Satellite of Love Crew - is that emotions are for ethnic people (this IS a wholesome WASP family, remember). It's the sort of movie that'll make anyone want to eat dinner like the Simpsons. Seriously, are there ANY families who willingly act like the one in this short?
For People Who Were Raised By Wolves
boblipton27 December 2023
Here's another of the dull educational short subjects produced during the 1940s and 1950s and exhibited for the education of people who seemingly had no manners. It's certainly not great film making, and it certainly is about how to behave with your family. To the modern audience it appears stiff and unnatural. That is the way it was handled as one of the short subjects that appeared on MYSTERY SCIENCE 3000.
And yet, does that make this a bad movie, or does it make modern audiences savages? Imagine the idea of wanting to eat with your family! Imagine thinking that wanting the other members of your family to have a pleasant time is a good idea! We've evolved well past that, and they should all be made miserable.
My sarcastic appraisal doesn't make this a good movie, but stop and consider what your slighting comments about the idea that you should treat your close family worse than you treat people you don't care about says about you.
And yet, does that make this a bad movie, or does it make modern audiences savages? Imagine the idea of wanting to eat with your family! Imagine thinking that wanting the other members of your family to have a pleasant time is a good idea! We've evolved well past that, and they should all be made miserable.
My sarcastic appraisal doesn't make this a good movie, but stop and consider what your slighting comments about the idea that you should treat your close family worse than you treat people you don't care about says about you.
Pleasantville
galensaysyes16 May 2002
This is the classic example of behavioral control as effected through the medium of instructional film. It's hilarious and scary. My 10 rating isn't based on its achieving what it set out to do but on its sociocultural value now. The members of the family on the "date," allegorically named "Brother," "Sister," "Mother," and "Father," play out their parts in a dinner ritual that resembles a holodeck re-creation based on an extraterrestrial race's guesswork about human customs derived from etiquette books discovered among the ruins of Earth. Mother and Sister wear their best frocks to table to please the men; table talk is always to remain pleasant and inoffensive; the children are to behave "as though" they are pleased to see Father. The god-voice that imparts all this wisdom is of an authoritarian jollity that sums up the weird mixture of good will and ill nature that informs the whole piece. Anyone born after this film was made should see it (it's available online for free) and feel really really lucky.
An interesting look at what they used to teach kids
lil_tiffy12314 December 2005
I showed this in class for a project on the roles of women and how the stereotypes have changed I can honestly say that this may just be the funniest educational video I've ever seen. Some of the things that they say are valid for the present day, but most of it is stereotypical and just strange. It even suggests acting fake around your family to make it a more pleasant atmosphere, especially for Father. If you can't be yourself around your family, who can you be yourself around? I love the fact that Sister moves her centrepiece to the side table because its too big. Sister is the one who puts her clothing and others down. Brother only talks about fighting at the dinner table. Mother must knit or do something relaxing for father. I can't believe they actually made kids watch this in school and expected them to actually listen to it.
WOW... gender role reinforcement at its scariest
paintbrush_200327 April 2004
Those of us who were not around in the 1950's are vaguely skeptical at the thought that the media and these sort of school movies could possibly be SO laden with gender stereotypes and that weird force of conformity... but here it is. Yikes. It's hard to believe these sorts of movies were ever even produced -- Mother and Sister change into their best dresses to be pleasant to look at for their men... and, of course, Mother and Sister are doing all the cooking and other dinner preparations while Brother does his homework [I guess Sister doesn't need good grades to land that husband someday] and Junior is off having fun... then Father comes home from a hard day at the office to enjoy some "pleasant" conversation with Brother and Junior... gag me! Glad I watched this on MST3K. That made it a little less terrifying that this sort of crap passed for education at one point in our history. Joel -- "'Dad, I had an emotion today' 'Well, stop that, Son'"
Obviously funny but...
Cicman6927 July 2004
Ok, we all saw this short via the medium of "Mystery Science Theater". I love MST3k, it is perhaps the best tv comedy show in history. Ok, putting that aside, seeing Joel and the bots riff this old 50s educational short is funny but one has to consider something: the basic idea behind this short is GOOD!
Consider how dysfunctional today's families are. I bet more than one family would prefer the family portrayed in this short (with all of the repression and gender stereotyping) to their own. Why? Because we've thrown the baby out with the bath water. It is a good idea to respect your parents, help out with siblings, eat dinner together as a family, etc, etc. The short obviously took these things to the 50s extreme but they were not bad ideas!
Consider how dysfunctional today's families are. I bet more than one family would prefer the family portrayed in this short (with all of the repression and gender stereotyping) to their own. Why? Because we've thrown the baby out with the bath water. It is a good idea to respect your parents, help out with siblings, eat dinner together as a family, etc, etc. The short obviously took these things to the 50s extreme but they were not bad ideas!
...is a date with BOREDOM!
icehole411 April 2002
This short 1950 instructional film talks about how to make the evening meal go well with your family. I'm sure it was much better when viewed when first released. These days, it's just plain boring. Some of the sequences where they talk about what not to do during the evening meal are a little unintentionally funny. Overall, however, this short is just plain boring and pretty bad.
Look ma, another #1!
Look ma, another #1!
Propriety never goes out of style.
GlennBeckFan6 June 2006
In an age of Hyper Media Saturation and woefully flagging standards of home decorum one can easily see the value of films as these.
Propriety never goes out of style.
"There is no family so poor but that the evening meal can be eaten in an atmosphere of warmth and gentleness. There is no family so bust that it can come together in the evening for a dinner date that will give its members something to look back upon with happiness all their days." Who in their right mind could argue with that?
The ability to project clearly defined high expectations and habits is how economies separate the wheat from the chaff. Conjointly, children need high objectives. In all things lead by example for this is not an issue of conformity, it is a statement of love.
Try a little tenderness.
Propriety never goes out of style.
"There is no family so poor but that the evening meal can be eaten in an atmosphere of warmth and gentleness. There is no family so bust that it can come together in the evening for a dinner date that will give its members something to look back upon with happiness all their days." Who in their right mind could argue with that?
The ability to project clearly defined high expectations and habits is how economies separate the wheat from the chaff. Conjointly, children need high objectives. In all things lead by example for this is not an issue of conformity, it is a statement of love.
Try a little tenderness.
A violent argument erupts over whose day was more pleasant!
Hancock_the_Superb6 August 2003
Stupid, boring short about how you should show no emotion or individuality at the dinner table. I'm glad I wasn't around in Fifties after seeing this flick. ;) MST3K rightfully tore this one up and spit it out. Eleven stars for that. The short itself gets zero.
That was never then...
SERVOMOORE25 November 2004
Here we have another look at the fantasy, Levittown world where a family was bound together by "love" rather than the laziness of anyone to leave the house or the trailer. Everyone's clearly outlined role is fulfilled, and the whole nuclear family, a horror which has since gone the way of Sodomy laws (and good riddance) Probably the least accurate thing here is that the father is having dinner not at a bar.
I've heard families endorsed a lot. It's nonsense: the best thing your parents can possibly do is divorce, and have you strike out on your own as soon as you turn sixteen with minimal funds (only you get to learn from their mistake and not get pregnant or someone else such.) It's what everyone really wants.
I've heard families endorsed a lot. It's nonsense: the best thing your parents can possibly do is divorce, and have you strike out on your own as soon as you turn sixteen with minimal funds (only you get to learn from their mistake and not get pregnant or someone else such.) It's what everyone really wants.
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