City of Hope

★★★★ · Beware the White Plague! · Christine Hennig · 2003-12-10

This very bombastically-narrated 30s film tells us all about the City of Hope, a huge tuberculosis sanatorium. It brings back the days when TB was a dread disease that baffled doctors and whose treatment usually involved long months of convalescence at a sanatorium in a remote area with fresh air. Such sanatoriums bit the dust when antibiotics were invented that cured TB. Its a fascinating little piece of history, though, making this film pretty interesting. The bombastic narration makes it unintentionally funny in spots, especially the scene where the first sanatorium, which was literally a…

★★ · A glorified Sanitoruim Commercial · Spuzz · 2003-07-25

This film disguised as a newsreel but really paid for by the Los Angeles Sanitorium, focuses on the history of the many lovely buildings the Sanitorium now has. In a very hard to understand voice, the narrator first goes over very quickly how the Sanitorium came to be. After that, we see the current Sanitorium, and how financial efforts have made possible more buildings for patients. Much back slapping and ceremonial dirt turning abound. Some overviews of the Sanitorum does is glossed over, but I think this was made for people with bucks to give to the Sanitorium.