Experiments in the Revival of Organisms (1940)

★★★★★ · Refrigerators keep food fresh · Prescott · 2003-04-08

There's no reason to assume the experiments depicted in this film are not genuine. Consider the fact that today, these procedures are commonly performed on human patients. Humans have been revived after having been dead for over an hour. Today we call this resuscitation. In fact millions of people have been trained in the simple techniques of resuscitation that we now call CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Consider also the fact that various organs are now transplanted from one human to another after having been dead for much longer periods of time. These transplanted organs resume their…

★★★★★ · Fascinating Historical Document · peter · 2002-10-20

This is one of my favorite pieces in the Prelinger collection. The first time I watched it I found it somewhat disturbing, although medical science has since built upon the things this film discusses. There are intensive brain surgeries that involve essentially killing a person, performing the operation, and then reviving them again. I must concur, however, with another reviewer with regard to the fact that some parts of this film seem fabricated.

★★★★★ · Wow i am amazed... · fezec · 2005-04-17

at all of your stupidity. I have just finished reading each and every one of your reviews. Since when did all of you become the authority on the matter. Now I am not a professional doctor, or history major. I am wise enough to do my research rather than assume what i was shown was propoganda, or medical fact. Here is the case. Yes the host is a well known character in history. This does not make the video true. This only dates the video as being acurate. So where is the proof? Its in the whole video. Have you guys ever heard of a heart lung machine? We use them every day. During procedures.…

★★★★★ · Fakey... but hey, it's Haldane! · Biflspud · 2003-09-01

J.B.S. Haldane's a big name in biology, so I'm a little surprised to see him here hawking the amazing progress of those wacky Russkis.. particularly when this one's a well performed farce. The severed dog head scene, while believable, sorta goes a bit overboard with the hammering scene -- how can a dog head, severed from the neck, twitch and lift up to the sound of a hammer when there's no neck to lift it? Ah well. Nice try, and a real party pleaser.

★★★★★ · True? · thefoxna · 2005-07-06

I find that this film shows real experiments. I know this by the science behind this, first the severed dog head. The reason the head was twiching is because the dogs entire head was techically alive, it could process information such as light and sound as well as if it were on the body. The dogs brain was geting oxygen and blood flow, the only factor to determine time of 2nd death is how long the cells can go with waste build-up and lack of nutrients. The whole dogs revival is just like the use of an H&L machine. The mechanism which they discribe would be completely fuctional if built today…

★★★★★ · An Important Historical Document · terence1212 · 2015-06-07

The movie demonstrates the ability to keep various mammalian tissues alive outside of the animal itself. It also shows rare footage of JBS Haldane, who made immensely important contributions to a number of scientific fields, including biology, at that time. As a biologist, I am surprised at the cries of "fake" from other commentators. Perhaps this is a fault of the scientific community to effectively convey current scientific understanding to the general public. All of the demonstrations of extracorporial organ function are, by modern standards of medicine, for example in the maintenance of…