PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Damaged Lives (1933)

Damaged Lives (1933) (NTSC)

If you create a user account, you can add your own review of this DVD

Released 22-Oct-2010

Cover Art

This review is sponsored by
BUY IT

Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Cult Short Film
Rating Rated E
Year Of Production 1933
Running Time 52:33 (Case: 61)
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By Edgar G. Ulmer
Studio
Distributor
Gryphon Entertainment Starring Diane Sinclair
Lyman Williams
Harry Myers
Marceline Day
Jason Robards Sr.
Charlotte Merriam
Murray Kinnell
George Irving
Cecilia Parker
Almeda Fowler
Case Amaray-Transparent-Dual
RPI $19.95 Music None Given


Video (NTSC) Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 mono (1536Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.37:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking Yes, it is 1933 after all
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     Under the guise of educating the public about the perils of sexual promiscuity, such as sexually transmitted diseases, unmarried mothers, prostitution and homosexuality, filmmakers from the 30s to the 50s sought to get away with raising otherwise forbidden topics in a titillating way, “sexploitation”, as long as there was a message and moral at the end. Gryphon have released a 6 film, 3 DVD collection entitled Horny – Sexplotation Films from the 30’s to the 50’s, which is a fascinating look at how sexual issues were portrayed in films during those three decades.

     Damaged Lives (aka The Shocking Truth)- tagline “His life of debauchery brought a disease to his wife” is directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, whose 30 year Hollywood career included The Man from Planet X (1951), The Naked Venus (1959) and The Amazing Transparent Man (1960), here presents a cautionary tale about promiscuity and venereal disease.

     Donald (Lyman Williams) is a rising executive in the family shipping company with a pretty fiancée Joan (Diane Sinclair) who one night attends a business function with Nat Franklin (Harry Myers). Nat brings along his girlfriend Elise (Charlotte Merriam) but Nat has a roving eye and leaves the function with another woman. Thrown together Don and Elise find a mutual attraction; they make a night of it at various clubs and speakeasies before spending the night together in her apartment. The next day, a guilt stricken Don confesses to Joan – she forgives him and they immediately go out and get married.

     Some time later a hysterical Elise demands to see Don. She has discovered she has contracted venereal disease from Nat, and wants to warn Don that he could also be infected. Don is disbelieving, but blood tests disclose that he not only has the disease, he has passed it on to Joan who is now pregnant. At a clinic run by Dr. Leonard (Murray Kinnell) Don is confronted with the effects of the disease, the illnesses, sores, rashes, mental illnesses and birth defects. Yet while the disease may have been detected in Don and Joan at an early stage, and is thus treatable, the psychological scares it will leave upon the couple and their marriage may last forever.

     In 1933 Damaged Lives was advertised as “shocking”, “scandalous” and “sinful”, and certainly the scenes at the clinic are quite pointed and severe in their depiction of the ravages of syphilis; this is clearly the message of the film and it is presented in a far more dramatic way than, for example, in the later Sex Madness (1938 - also in this box set). This is not to say the acting is good, its not, and some of the dialogue is very explanatory rather than dramatic. But as a look at the values of the 1930’s society, at least in filmmaking terms, it is fascinating. For example, venereal disease was still a taboo topic, and, in fact, the word syphilis is never actually mentioned in the film. As well, the tagline of “his debauchery brought disease to his wife” is true, but only to a point. For in truth Don was not having an extramarital affair – that would indeed be shocking and presumably lose him any of the audience’s sympathy. He was, in fact, not married at the time, so has some chance of redemption. I would think that if one character in the film is debauched, it would be Nat, who we never see get his comeuppance, although Elise certainly does. But the moral that sexual promiscuity leads to venereal disease, illness, deformity, birth defects and damaged relationships and marriages is plain enough, although the film does end on a note of confidence.

     Damaged Lives is included in the 6 film, 3 DVD collection Horny – Sexplotation Films from the 30’s to the 50’s, a box set from Gryphon. The films are: Sex Madness (1938) and The Wild & Wicked (1956) on disc 1 with the additional short film Boys Beware (1961), Damaged Lives (1933) and Gambling with Souls (1936) plus the short film How Much Affection (1957) on disc 2 and Test Tube Babies (1948) and Child Bride (1938) with the short film What Makes a Good Party (1950) on disc 3.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

     Damaged Lives is presented in a ratio of 1.33:1, and is not 16x9 enhanced. The original ratio was 1.37:1 and at times the cropping is obvious.

     There are continuous marks through the film, including an almost continuous vertical scratch, frequent positive and negative artefacts (most are small but occasionally, such as at 18:27, they are larger), hairs and reel change markers. This is a very, very soft print, with detail lacking so that at times people are quite indistinct; at 45:12 there is almost no detail at all. Blacks are various shades of gray and shadow detail non-existent; contrast and brightness varied quite considerably and there are also copious examples of macro blocking, (see 27:01 for example), plus a couple of missing frames.

     At 2:59 what seems to be a logo appears in the lower right of the screen.

     There are no subtitles.

     The summary? This is an almost 80 year old unrestored print, and it looks it! However, it is by no means the worst example I have seen, including some more recent films (some of them in this box set), and it is never unwatchable. Note that the scores given have been adjusted, as it is not valid to compare this print with those of modern films.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English Linear PCM track at 1536 Kbps. It comes with a constant low hiss, but it is not as loud as some of the other films in the box set, plus the odd crackle. Dialogue varied, depending on who was talking; for example some sentences spoken by Diane Sinclair were very hard to hear. Effects are predictably flat, dull and tinny. There is obviously no surround or sub woofer use.

     There is no-one credited for the score, which uses stock pieces sparingly.

     I did not notice any lip synchronization issues.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

     There are no extras as such, but on the same disc as Damaged Lives and Gambling with Souls is the short film (19:47) How Much Affection? (1957).

     This short film is part of the “Marriage and Family Living Series” from McGraw-Hill, cautioning teenagers against “wrong behaviour”: that is, sex before marriage, and extolling they exercise “judgment rather than emotion” as too much affection leads to unwanted pregnancies and your life ruined forever. Better to wait. Quaint, and the clean cut boys and the girls’ party frocks are a treat! Black and white; frequent marks including a vertical scratch over the titles, murky shadow detail and the analogue tape origins are apparent. A slight hiss throughout the audio.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     I cannot find a record on sales sites of Damaged Lives being available elsewhere.

     I cannot find any equivalent of the Horny box set package in any other region.

Summary

    Damaged Lives was advertised as “shocking”, “scandalous” and “sinful”. As a look at the values of the 1930’s society, it is fascinating.

     The video and audio are not as bad as one could expect from an almost 80 year old unrestored black and white, non-mainstream film.

     Damaged Lives is included in the 6 film, 3 DVD collection Horny, a box set of sexploitation tales from the 1930s to 1950s from Gryphon for a RRP of $19.95. The films taken together are a fascinating window on how sexual topics were portrayed in films during those three decades.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Thursday, December 01, 2011
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S350, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 42inch Hi-Def LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE