Die Geisel der Menschheit

Seitenstraße der Prostitution(de)

After a historical excursus on the most common venereal diseases, doctors report on various cases of infection, each illustrated in the manner of amateurish reportage films.

Out of Africa(en)

Tells the life story of Danish author Karen Blixen, who at the beginning of the 20th century moved to Africa to build a new life for herself. The film is based on her 1937 autobiographical novel.

Gonorrhea(en)

Diagnosis of gonorrhea should be done by clinical and laboratory investigation. The physician and patients are shown in the physician's office and examining room. The patients remove their clothing, and the physician takes samples from the end of the penis and makes thin smear slides from them. The techniques for stripping gonococci from male and female patients with chronic gonorrhea are shown in drawings and live footage. The physician is shown getting and preparing a urine sample for laboratory testing for the presence of gonococci, including using a hand-cranked centrifuge. The material is packaged to be sent away for laboratory diagnosis by gram stain and culture.

The Price He Paid(en)

The Price He Paid

V.D. Every 30 Seconds(en)

Describes the symptoms of gonorrhea and syphilis, with warnings of the consequences of avoiding treatment. Discusses some of the prevalent myths about contracting these diseases and stresses the importance of consulting a doctor if infection is suspected.

6 Little Jungle Boys(en)

A short animated War Office commissioned health education film, showing the fate of each of the 6 jungle soldiers.

The Libertine(en)

The story of John Wilmot, a.k.a. the Earl of Rochester, a 17th century poet who famously drank and debauched his way to an early grave, only to earn posthumous critical acclaim for his life's work.

For Which We Stand: To Be Held In Honor(en)

In this film, servicemen are strongly urged to forgo illicit and casual sex because it is degrading and contrary to divine will. The joys of marriage and family are stressed. Long-term happiness should be the goal, not immediate gratification. A medical officer discusses sexual abstinence, saying that it will not adversely affect a man's virility. A commanding officer points out that sexual promiscuity among troops is not just the concern of the medical officer and the chaplain. He says that self-control should be practiced by everyone. Marriage and family should be the goal of every man. A chaplain speaks of abstinence and self-control as obedience to divine law. Shots include: sailors with their families; a wedding; sailors picking up girls and visiting prostitutes. There is some animation.

Eliot Ness vs. Al Capone(fr)

January, 1947. The public receives the news of Al Capone's death with indifference, although twenty years earlier he had ruled Chicago's crime underworld with brute force and corrupting many touchable individuals. Until the day the head of the Untouchables Brigade, Eliot Ness, entered the scene. Since then, a cruel battle between the two of them began, a battle that ended in trial, conviction, disease, insanity and death.

Sex Madness(en)

A young beauty queen travels to New York to further her modelling career, but contracts syphilis after being tricked into a sexual encounter. She is torn between the prospect of a slow, intensive but proven therapy and a supposed miracle cure.

Of the World's Horrors(ro)

A wife and her husband have both contracted syphilis and don't know how to tell each other.

The Quiet Duel(ja)

A young idealistic doctor works at his father's clinic in a small and seedy district. During the war, he contracts syphilis from the blood of a patient when he cuts himself during an operation. Treating himself in secret and tormented by his conscience, he rejects his heartbroken fiancée without explanation.

Open Your Eyes(en)

A propagandistic melodrama recounting the dangers and horrors of venereal disease.

The Escape(en)

A dramatic comparison between the mating habits of animals and the way humans choose their own partners. The film is now considered to be a lost film.

Es werde Licht! 3. Teil(de)

A tyrannical landowner terrorizes his wife and seduces the daughter of one of his employees.

Synden Lockar(fi)

Es werde Licht! 2. Teil(de)

A doctor who believes that only the immoral catch syphilis reconsiders his stance.

Es werde Licht!(de)

A painter with syphilis infects his brother's wife and the child born of their affair.

Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet(en)

True story of the doctor who considered it was not immoral to search for a drug that would cure syphilis.

Falsche Scham(de)

This educational film combines medical information and story to teach the viewers about the prevention and treatment of syphilis. The four episodes cover the stories of students looking to pick up prostitutes, a careless medical student, a wet nurse who has infected an infant, and a country girl afraid of seeking treatment.