Dangerous Stranger (1950)
1950 · Ephemeral film · 9 min · dir. Sid Davis
- Drama
- Documentary
Synopsis
In this film, a police officer tells children about the dangers of accepting rides or presents from strangers, and relates the unfortunate stories of several children who did and were never seen again.
Synopsis from OMDb
Details
- Director
- Sid Davis
- Writer
- Orville H. Hampton
- Studio
- Sidney Davis Productions
- Released
- 1950-02-24
- Running time
- 9 minutes
Cast & crew
- Sid Davis Director
Reviews on the Internet Archive
★★★★★ · Are you a DoDo? · iljc116 · 2004-10-17
1)If some creepy guy is going to touch a girl in a theater, do you think he would touch her shoulder? She looked like his date! 2)The only time I've seen anyone skip and hold hands like those kids did is when my boyfriend and I do our ritualistic frolic to the happy music at the entrance of Six Flags. 3)How did that man guess that girl's name? Was "Sally" that generic of a name back then? 4)That chase scene was scary even for now! 5)I hope my future children never look like DoDo.
★★★★★ · side-splittingly funny · invictius · 2005-03-31
3 things i love about this movie: the satan-esque eyes on the guy dodo is talking to at the movies "do you know what a dodo is... its a dead bird... that means it isn't alive anymore! thats what this kid is going to be, extinct!" the look on the guy's face that gets hoisted out of the cinema My friends constantly make me play this and "boys beware" when they come over. It never gets old.
★★★★★ · "thank goodness one of the boys kept his head" · uniQ · 2011-04-18
One of Sid Davis' better works, this one is well paced, written, acted, etc. (I just finished watching The Stranger beforehand, so I notice the difference). Of all these films, this one is perhaps best in terms of informative content. Most of it actually instructions on what to do/not do in certain scenarios and a few cautionary examples. The car chase is very well done. The light and shadow combined as well as the excellently timed music score is thrilling. This is quintessential of so many things; take a watch.
★★★★★ · Stroble Mania is in full effect! · Bill T. · 2005-05-12
Another gem by Sid Davis. If you have followed his his driving films closely, you'll know that hitchhiking is bad because of course, the driver may be a dangerous driver, kids are always quick to write down license plate numbers, all sorts of weird people hang out at the movie theater and never trust men with pencil mustaches. What you probably didn't know (and is news to me) that strangers can hang out in alleys ready to offer up swell pocketknives, that no matter how often you tell kids, they'll still go off with strangers, and that the cops will give you a manilla folder for your parents…
★★★★ · Sid Davis, we love you! · Scott Bot · 2004-09-17
A somewhat hokey but effective film on the dangers of going off with strangers. We may laugh at the cheesy narration and somewhat stilted acting, but you can bet I'll be teaching my daughter and son everything that this film teaches. I have to wonder, though, if a police officer coming up to a group of kids like that today would still be looked upon as a trusted friend. I remember seeing an updated version of this film (which I have on videotape) in grade school in the early seventies. Do they still make films like this for kids nowadays?
★★★★ · I Know You Wouldn't Want to Do That to Your Folks · Christine Hennig · 2005-04-21
This earlier version of The Dangerous Stranger is a little less ridiculous than the later version, perhaps because it was made during the early 50s, when dont talk to strangers wasnt so ubiquitous. Its also in murky black-and-white, and it seems to have been filmed in a bleak inner-city neighborhood that looks like it really is quite unsafe for kids. The campiest moment is the end, where Sid Davis hauls out silly caricatures of dumb kids getting into cars with and taking candy from strangers. These are a real hoot and definite items for the Film Ephemera Museum of Quirky Devices.…









