Fire! Patty Learns What to Do (1951)

★★★★ · Patty Learns to Stay Out of the Way · Christine Hennig · 2006-07-22

This fire safety film for grade-schoolers, made by Emily Benton Frith, is cheaply done, but it does have some striking images from the stock footage she borrowed liberally from. Captain Clemens of the Fire Department speaks at Pattyâs school on fire safety, including a memorable demonstration of what to do if your clothes catch fire that involves lighting a doll on the end of a stick on fire and waving it around. Then he talks about the terrible âChatsworth Fire,â a fire that really took place in California a few years before the film was made, and which allows the filmmakers to use lots of…

★★★ · Another Disaster For Patty · Dodsworth the Cat · 2024-08-09

Reporters show up to cover a fire. One is smoking a cigarette. The focus of this film is Patty, who we last saw recovering from two broken legs after being hit by a car on an empty country road in another Frith film. In this one, she survives a fire by staying away from it. And the fire stayed away from her; it didn't affect her home. There's some useful advice for kids about fire and stock footage aplenty intercut with new film. We're treated to Patty crying on cue from the director. This is a little longer than the average Frith film, but features the usual cute farm animals.