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Date with Disaster (1971)

1971 · Short film · 30 min

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Synopsis

Narrated by actor Jack Webb, this 1971 color film presents “a model for multi-hospital disaster preparedness,” dramatising communications developments at 4 Los Angeles Hospitals: Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, and Kaiser Foundation Hospital. Administrative issues are discussed and elaborate practice drills with makeup injuries are documented and analyzed (TRT: 30:40). The film was made in the immediate wake of the magnitude 6.5 Sylmar earthquake, also known as the San Fernando earthquake of February 9, 1971.The seal of the President’s Office of Emergency Preparedness (0:08). Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, Kaiser Foundation Hospital in montage. Crash zooms on damaged structures and precariously leaning architecture following the 1971 San Fernando earthquake. A wheelchair atop the wreckage (0:30). News headlines and images from natural disasters. Opening titles: “Date With Disaster” (1:05). “Narrated by Jack Webb” over a young man on a stretcher. Los Angeles City Hall. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. A white male doctor uses a stethoscope to check on a black baby. Hospital corridors (1:33). “Outpatient Services.” The doctor in his office (2:28). A hospital administration meeting (2:46). A list of major problems: “Communications, control center, inventory, traffic control” (3:41). File folders: “Disaster” for a disaster preparedness committee and a discussion of interdependence and…

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Details

Running time
30 minutes
Collection
Ephemeral Films

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