The dangers of drunk driving have been a common issue, for those of us in the West at least, since the car was first put into mass production. The media has been used to differing degrees of effect since the problem arose, as with most issues, and public information films such as the one above are still seen today, often in a tone that is surprisingly not so dissimilar from the film seen above, originally shown in the late 1950's on American television.
As is often the way with these American PIF's, the initial casual tone of this film is superseded by a fairly horrific account of what could happen to you if you're not a good, sensible citizen. Despite the story of our drunk driving 18 year old almost certainly being fictional, it is understandable how impactful such a film could have been at the time of airing. Although, the PIF is seemingly aimed at young drivers, the case study being 18 years old. It's difficult to judge whether the youth of the time would have taken its formal tone seriously, or not.
The brief when producing such a film is to firstly relate to the audience, and then shock them with an 'it could be you!!' scenario. Bill is just your average 18 year old guy, he hangs out with the boys, likes a drink or two while relaxing, and then he goes and accidentally kills a little girl and maims her mother for life. Lesson learned? Don't drink and drive.
It's difficult to judge how impactful a film such as this would have been at the time of airing... in this country today there are public information shorts shown regarding similar problems and indeed there are films warning against driving while under the influence. In fact, there are striking similarities between contemporary shorts and PIF's from nearly 50 years ago. One recent short showed a group of 'proper lads' sitting at a table in a pub, eyeing some woman up from a distance. And then everything goes crazy and the woman ends up on the floor, apparently dead. The age of the men, the men having a casual drink, the man (the metaphorical driver) killing a woman... the similarities are there. The message has remained relatively unchanged.
There was also a PIF not so long ago, which showed a small child slumped against a tree, a voiceover (apparently the child) tells the audience that if she had been hit by a car at 30 miles per hour she would have lived. The PIF was not regarding drunk driving, but the potential death of children is something that strikes most people as poignant and uncomfortable, and is still being used as a shock tactic now, however in this instance its use might be considered more valid.
This PIF, like all of them, really shows its age now. While one must always bear in mind that the film was produced 50 years ago probably less than 10 years after broadcasting began in America, it is still interesting to see how much as changed with regards to both attitudes and the stylistic approach to filmmaking-for-television.
The use of the case study seems to be a recurring theme in such films. The viewer is expected to relate directly to the case study, and not make the same mistakes! It is often a case of 'Bill is just like you', and that 'it would be this easy for you to fall foul of evil too!' In a sense, it seems as though the producers of these PIF's didn't know of any other approach to take. Though, this is not always the case.
The narrator states that drinking 'is a social custom of our time'. We should remember that prohibition only ended 25 years previously to this film, and many of the viewers potentially would have remembered prohibition, when the production and distribution of alcohol as illegal. The producers (by direction from the government) are telling us that while buying alcohol is great, and is allowed, it must not be abused.
