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Poster for Health: The Dirt-Witch Cleans Up! (1971)

Health: The Dirt-Witch Cleans Up! (1971)

1971 · Short film · 6 min · dir. Paul Ferrara

  • Family
Watch now On the Internet Archive

Synopsis

Casting her devious filth hex on pig farmers, house painters, and football-playing children, The Dirt Witch delights in making everyone as unclean as herself, until one day a young girl takes pity on her and instructs the soiled sorceress in the ways of hygiene. Produced by the Encyclopaedia Britannica Educational Corporation as part of their “Joy of Growing” series of educational shorts for elementary grade children.

Synopsis from TMDb

Details

Director
Paul Ferrara
Studio
Encyclopædia Britannica Films
Released
1971-11-10
Running time
6 minutes

Cast & crew

Reviews on the Internet Archive

★★★★★ · Children of the 1970's expected more · Leonard Pinth-Garnell · 2024-05-11

Director Ferrara seems to be offering a morality play. The witch, dirtied by the world, unpure, soiled, even dirtier than the pigs, is not seen yet felt through the grime and grit of the fallen world. It is only through the innocence of the pure child, the unstained, that the witch is seen, then invited, to a ritual bathing. The closing image shows the transformed dirt witch to an angelic being in white, embracing the young child that in fact, was a divine being offering salvation and redemption. Or It was just a cheap, 1970's educational film that screamed NOT FOR CHILDREN. The creepy freeze…

★★★★ · Whut · Spuzz · 2018-01-28

A very strange film about the good of being clean. A witch who damns everyone to being dirty gets hers when approached by a little girl and given a bath. Well worth it for the music in the bath scenes.

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