Prohibition seems like a dumb experiment in American history, but this dull advocacy film shows the sentiment that brought it into law.
A trivia item in IMDb claims this to be the first film to use double-exposure technique, in this case to bring Rex Lease (who receives star billing for largely just standing there) full-size into a bottle, a crude effect, as the "spirit" of the gin bottle. I'm sure Melies and others pioneered the gimmick in their trick films a couple of decades earlier.
Repetitious and overdone, film shows over & over how people's lives are ruined by imbibing. It's a forerunner of the beloved exploitation "scare films" (REEFER MADNESS, etc.), but is laughably biased and obvious. Not to belittle the harmful effects of alcoholism, this short adds little or nothing to the discussion.
A trivia item in IMDb claims this to be the first film to use double-exposure technique, in this case to bring Rex Lease (who receives star billing for largely just standing there) full-size into a bottle, a crude effect, as the "spirit" of the gin bottle. I'm sure Melies and others pioneered the gimmick in their trick films a couple of decades earlier.
Repetitious and overdone, film shows over & over how people's lives are ruined by imbibing. It's a forerunner of the beloved exploitation "scare films" (REEFER MADNESS, etc.), but is laughably biased and obvious. Not to belittle the harmful effects of alcoholism, this short adds little or nothing to the discussion.