A Question of Choice (Airlie Productions, 1978)

This film describes and documents examples of family planning and voluntary sterilization programs in Bangladesh, El Salvador, the Philippines, Thailand, and the U.S.A. The opening sequence shows doctors and nurses preparing an operating room and instruments. Dr. Malcolm Potts introduces the topic, noting that in his experience in more than 50 countries, people are interested in these options once they have the number of children they want, even when local leaders believe they will not be.

Profiles in Family Planning (Inter-American Dialogue Center & Airlie Productions, 1975)

Narrated by a doctor originally from Cuba who has come to work in public health in the state of Kentucky, this presentation focuses on staff and clinics associated with a family planning program established by the Kentucky Bureau for Health Services. The program serves men and women living in isolated and poverty-prone areas of the state. The program affirms the right of women to make decisions about their fertility and is based on the principle that every patient and person is deserving of concern, respect, and a genuine interest in his or her problem. The life and career of Dr.

The Forgotten Frontier [Silent] (Frontier Nursing Service, Inc., 1931)

This is an unique and historically valuable film depicting the important medical aid that the Frontier Nursing Service provided in the Appalachian region of Kentucky. The Service provided child hygiene, midwifery, sick nursing, medical care, dentistry, public health, and emergency surgery for poor, mountain people. Film shows patients' and nurses' cabins, children, town, and gives flavor of their lives, language, and problems.

The Oral Contraceptives (USPHS, 1969)

Celso-Ramon Garcia, M.D., moderator, Sheldon Segal, M.D., pro oral contraceptives, and Louis Lasagna, M.D., cautious on oral contraceptives, discuss this therapy in a round-table, studio setting. Two discussants and a moderator present positive and negative views on the use of oral contraceptives. In their favor, one out of every three American women of childbearing age is using them with apparently very little risk. They are easy, convenient, and contribute to the overall health of the woman. Unabated population growth is slowed. Metabolic changes cease when the drug is stopped.

Mother-Infant Interaction (New York University, 1967)

This is the first installment in a series about the behavioral and emotional interaction between mothers and infants in the first year of life. In a study of these relationships, more than 100 mother-infant pairs were observed clinically, and the feeding of each infant by the mother was filmed at intervals during the year. Seven types of maternal behavior with infants are shown. The narrator observes that a mother's handling of her infant during feeding is linked to the child's later behavior and personality.

Clocking a Champion (New York State Dept of Health, 1939)

This film documents the daily routine of a normal, healthy infant in a white middle-class household in pre-World War II America. The baby's routine, almost hour-by-hour, is shown--feeding, napping, outdoor time, the process of sterilization of formula, dinner, and the short time he sees his father at the end of the day. In depicting the baby's routine, the film also illustrates the daily responsibilities of the mother--housekeeping, laundry, food preparation, and the like. Produced by New York State Department of Health.

Triplet Pregnancy: One Intrauterine, Two Extrauterine (John Irwin and Billy Burke Productions, 1961)

This film shows an operation performed on a woman pregnant with triplets at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in Los Angeles, California. One of the fetuses has died prior to birth. Doctors are shown scrubbing in preparation for surgery, then performing a laparotomy for delivery. Afterwards, the procedure for restoring the patient’s abdomen is shown. The stillborn fetus is examined, and a diagnosis is made of an interstitio-isthmal pregnancy.

Science and Art of Obstetrics: Low Cervical Cesarean [edited] (Dr. Joseph DeLee, 1936)

[This film has been edited from its full length of 69 minutes] This film teaches the method of laparotrachelotomy or low cervical cesarean section. At the beginning of the film the instructor lectures and demonstrates the method through the use of diagrams. An actual laparotrachelotomy is performed at the end of the film. Filmed at the Chicago Lying-In Hospital.

Life Begins (Arnold Gesell, 1939)

The first segment of this film is titled "A Baby's Day at Twelve Weeks." Over footage of a 12-week-old baby and his mother, Arnold Gesell of the Yale Clinic of Child Development explains the developmental importance of each aspect of the baby's day, which begins as he wakes, stretches, and yawns. His yawn sends extra oxygen to his brain. Stretching makes his heart beat more strongly. He recognizes his mother and nurses at her breast. He naps in his crib. Gesell says babies show their individuality even in the way they sleep and wake up.

Mammography Technique (USPHS, 1965)

The purpose of this presentation is to describe and demonstrate the technique for achieving the maximum roentgenographic detail in mammography. This objective is achieved with the aid of a middle-aged female clinical subject, a female mammography technician, x-rays, photographs and graphs. The program stresses the importance of obtaining radiographic detail in the early detection of breast cancer. In this presentation statistics regarding the incidence of breast cancer in the United States are presented first.

All My Babies (Georgia Dept of Public Health, 1952)

This film features a middle-aged, experienced midwife named Mrs. Mary Cooley. Throughout the film, Mrs. Cooley helps two women, Ida and Marybell, throughout their pregnancies and deliveries. Ida, a mother of two, is very responsible and attends regular checkups, whereas Marybell confesses to have never seen a doctor and has had one miscarriage and one stillborn infant. Mrs. Cooley takes both women to the doctor for regular blood and urine tests, explains to them what they should eat to have healthy pregnancies, and helps get their homes ready.

Maternity Care (US Navy, 1963)

This film is intended to explain to pregnant women whose babies are soon to be born what to expect from the labor and delivery experience. It addresses how to distinguish false labor from true labor, when to pack a bag for the hospital, what procedures will be carried out to prep the woman for delivery, the types of anesthetic a doctor might order, and techniques for minimizing discomfort. Changes in the cervix and uterus are illustrated with animation techniques, while the birth of the baby, including episiotomy and use of forceps, are shown in a real hospital room.

Family Planning? (National Education & Information Films Ltd, Bombay, India, 1952)

The necessity of family planning and population control in India are presented. Children suffer in families that cannot fully support them, and the country as a whole cannot achieve prosperity when jobs, food supplies, medical care, and housing are not plentiful enough for a large and rapidly growing population. The film urges planned parenthood as one element of the solution to healthier children and a healthier nation.

Science and Art of Obstetrics: Forceps Operation and Episiotomy [edited] (Dr. Joseph DeLee, 1934)

[This film has been edited from its full length of 64 minutes] In a filmed lecture format, obstetrician Dr. Joseph DeLee demonstrates on anatomical models (in the lecture hall) and with live patients (filmed previously) the use of forceps to deliver an infant, as well as the proper technique for episiotomy. He begins by showing images of scores of different forceps' designs from all over the world, mentioning each inventor by name. He explains why forceps are a necessary instrument for the safe delivery of many babies, and how to assess a patient's need for this intervention.