I saw this film in my high-school vocational-agriculture class back in the early 1970s. I am positive it is the same film I saw over 45 years ago, because of two scenes forever burned into my brain:
It is a favorite pastime of many to poke fun at instructional films like this one. I do it too: I am a big fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and RiffTrax. True, this film and others like it will never win an Oscar, and many of them are incredibly amateurish and unintentionally hilarious.
But this film is better than average. It made a big impression on me, a 13-year-old farm boy. Rather than revel in gore, it made use of viewers' imaginations. In the first scene I describe above, mostly we see the farmer's legs as first he dangles beside the machine, then slowly keeps regaining and losing his footing as he struggles (unsuccessfully) to free himself.
The film's purpose was to prevent accidents by showing how easy it is to get caught in fast-moving machinery, even if you have gotten away with it many times before. And it succeeded, at least in my case--I was "scared straight". I believe films like these provided a useful public service by preventing injuries and deaths.
- A farmer gets BOTH hands caught in a corn picker. He is finally able to pull out one of them, and waves frantically to attract attention from passers-by on a nearby road. But at least one truck driver thinks he is just being friendly and drives on. The farmer is stuck for several more hours until he is finally rescued.
- Another farmer is able to get his arm free from a corn picker. When he gets up and before he starts to run away, we see a momentary glimpse of the bloody stump as he puts it under his jacket.
It is a favorite pastime of many to poke fun at instructional films like this one. I do it too: I am a big fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and RiffTrax. True, this film and others like it will never win an Oscar, and many of them are incredibly amateurish and unintentionally hilarious.
But this film is better than average. It made a big impression on me, a 13-year-old farm boy. Rather than revel in gore, it made use of viewers' imaginations. In the first scene I describe above, mostly we see the farmer's legs as first he dangles beside the machine, then slowly keeps regaining and losing his footing as he struggles (unsuccessfully) to free himself.
The film's purpose was to prevent accidents by showing how easy it is to get caught in fast-moving machinery, even if you have gotten away with it many times before. And it succeeded, at least in my case--I was "scared straight". I believe films like these provided a useful public service by preventing injuries and deaths.
