When You Are a Pedestrian (1948)

★★★★ · Best of all worlds · Spuzz · 2005-09-10

When You Are A Pedestrian is a pretty outworldly exploration into what and who causes auto accidents. I cant remember a film that combines so many methods of getting its point across. Lets see, Scare film, desktop model, Sid Davis film, Keaton Cops, etc etc. Actually, the best scene of this film happens at the beginning, when a guy is hit by a car, and he goes flying off. Now THATS how you begin a movie! As for the ending, I think Ive heard a film or two that do end this way.. with the line Ill be seeing you. While the usage here is ironic, I am not 100% convinced this is what the…

★★★★ · Film Zero · Wilford B. Wolf · 2004-08-05

If this was the first film in the Prelinger archive, I can see why. This educational film aimed at an older audience (perhaps as part of a drivers ed course?) is an odd pastiche of styles seen in safety films. The film starts off with a simulated pedestrian-car accident, and the narrator identifying himself as the victim. This transitions to some rather graphic images of automobile accidents and vicitims (including a disturbing shot of two children corpses laid out on a stretcher). Then we get a selection of what to do and not when you cross streets and other unsafe situations, including a…

★★★ · Now That I Have Your Attention · Dodsworth the Cat · 2023-12-05

The short starts with faked footage of a nice post-war car hitting a man, followed by spooky music and stills of real car accident deaths. After that, stop-motion and live-action footage is used along with standard advice to pedestrians and drivers that people ignore today. Other than the footage of old cars and buildings, the rest of the film is ho-hum with some poor sound edits.