DAMAGED LIVES (DVD) DVD

Damaged Lives
Although venereal disease was considered as delicate a subject then as it is now, this was nonetheless the third filmed version of Eugène Brieux' 1901 play Les Avariés, known in English-speaking lands as Damaged Lives. Don is a shallow, naïve former ship's officer trying to make the transition to an executive position in the shipping company. He breaks a dinner engagement with his longtime fiancée Joan in order to make a night on the town with one of his company's clients. The client ends up drunk, and at the end of the long night Don ends up with Elise, a woman of dubious reputation who nevertheless lives in an impressive, Art Deco-styled apartment. Although he feels guilty about the affair, Don swiftly marries his sweetheart, only to get the phone call from "the other woman" saying she must see him immediately. Elise confronts Don discreetly that she has given him the gift that keeps on giving, which he refuses to believe. Elise then promptly kills herself, but later Don gets another call from a VD clinic which is treating his wife. After a harrowing visit to a series of "too-far-gone" patients, Don sees the light and agrees to get treatment. But the psychological effect on Joan has different results, and Don must rise to the occasion to save them both. Damaged Lives was initially released in Canada and a few cities in the United States but was stopped by censors in most American towns. In 1937 it was re-released as The Shocking Truth with a 29-minute lecture on VD added onto the end of the film to satisfy censors. Most current video releases do not include this extra material. A week after it opened, a competing domestic version of Damaged Lives also appeared, and with its similar storyline it is often confused with this Canadian film. There is no comparison stylistically, as Edgar G. Ulmer put far more into Damaged Lives than the property and its 18,000-dollar budget deserved. ~ David Lewis, All Movie Guide

Cast Diane Sinclair as Joan Lyman Williams as Donald Bradley Cecilia Parker as Rosie George Irving as Mr. Bradley, Sr. Almeda Fowler as Mrs. Bradley Jason Robards Sr. as Dr. Hall Marceline Day as Mrs. Hall Charlotte Merriam as Clyce Murray Kinnell as Dr. Leonard Harry Meyers as Nat

Crew Edgar G. Ulmer - Director Otto Meyer - Editor Allen G. Siegler - Cinematographer Donald Davis - Screenwriter Edgar G. Ulmer - Screenwriter Eugene Brieux - Play Author

Damaged Lives
Often censored and staggeringly successful, this roadshow exploitation hit was one of the few made by a mainstream director. It was the American debut of cult filmmaker Edgar G. Ulmer, who followed it with his dark, classic version of The Black Cat for Universal. Needless to say, this is a rung or two down the ladder, being a sensationalistic exposé of the dangers of venereal disease, one of several popular "adults only" sex hygiene films touring the road show circuit at the time. No one ever says the words "venereal disease," but when young Donald (Lyman Williams) gets together with pretty socialite Elise (Charlotte Merriam) after-hours at a New York speakeasy, it's pretty obvious what he's going to bring home to his new bride Joan (Diane Sinclair). As in all of these cautionary tales, things go downhill fairly quickly after that. Donald visits a sanitorium and sees cripples and blind people covered with lesions, Elise shoots herself, and Joan tries to kill both herself and her infected husband by turning on the gas while he sleeps. Jason Robards Sr. shows up, and Ulmer gives the film a technical polish that few of its competitors even attempted. Canadian producer J.J. Allen wanted Damaged Lives to replace The End of the Road on the VD roadhouse circuit, and tried to soften the inevitable charges of exploitation with the standard device of including a 29-minute filmed lecture by a purported expert (Dr. Gordon Bates) showing the ravages of venereal disease. The medical reel was filmed by the American Social Hygiene Association (ASHA), which gave its stamp of legitimacy to the production. Nevertheless, the film was withheld from distribution in New York for four years, heavily cut in other locales, and in some instances, banned outright. Those locations who did screen it -- and it played the circuit well into the 1950s -- reaped substantial rewards. Damaged Lives made 26,500 dollars in just two weeks during a 1937 engagement at Philadelphia's 2,000-seat Erlanger Theater, topped only by A Day at the Races, and in Baltimore was reportedly seen by 65,000 people, over a tenth of the city's adult population. Other popular sex hygiene films of the period included Damaged Goods, Race Suicide, and one of the most profitable exploitation films of all time, Mom and Dad. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
 

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General Specifications: Language Options: English Subtitle Options: Sound Processing: Additional Features: Includes short subject on Veneral Disease DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1: Pre-1954 Standard MPAA Rating: DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: All Content Length: 53 min   DVD Chapters: Side #1 -- 1. Chapter 1 [2:03] 2. Chapter 2 [7:15] 3. Chapter 3 [9:38] 4. Chapter 4 [8:49] 5. Chapter 5 [9:02] 6. Chapter 6 [7:35]