Safety in Offices

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Safety in Offices is a short film from 1944 released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.

This is one of the few films that shows the dangers of the white-collar life. Mandated (we can guess) to grab and hold the attention of the tired war worker, this film revels in carelessness, surprise, and pratfalls.

Funny accidents in the workplace. Highly recommended. Excellent shots involving accidents in the workplace. Scenes include people arriving at work. Woman overjoyed / happy to be at work. Woman trips over opened file cabinet. Man shows woman the correct way to use a paper cutter. Man falling back from chair. Man catching woman falling off a step ladder. Man knocking cigarette into garbage can. Man removes garbage can on fire. Woman bumps her head on closet. Woman knocks book out window. Woman is hurt lifting books. Man shows her the correct method of lifting books. Sailor trips over telephone wire. Clumsy man trips and falls down stairs; man rushing down stairs trips & falls. Man carrying boxes up a flight of stairs. Man trips at the top of the stairs. Bicycle cart hits woman.

Great bits of 1940s comedy about injuries in the workplace. Great physical comedy bits on office accidents. Witty narration for each incident. Great bit with Navy sailor repeatedly getting injured then complaining to narrator that he doesn�t want to trip over the telephone cord, but subserviently takes the disembodied narrators orders and trips anyway.


05:51:46:16 Blonde woman rushes through crowd and barges through door swinging door, knocks over Navy sailor; sailor recovers and just before just as he is about to exit through the door again a couple pushes the door open scaring the traumatized sailor.

05:52:07:24 Comical woman walks into office and messes up the hair of a man working diligently at his desk.

05:52:27:28 Row of women typing at type writers.

05:52:32:01 Woman in office tries gets finger jammed in type writer; audio track �What could happen to anyone working behind a nice safe desk. Watch what happens�typewriter bites girl.�

05:52:42:20 Man hard at work writing on paper seated at desk; man tries to get up but gets trapped by his desk and falls over; audio track �Here�s an industrious looking fellow with his mind on his work. Oh! desk traps man.�

05:52:55:08 Man in office bends down to open the bottom drawer of filing cabinet, stands up and kicks the drawer shut, the cabinet opens back up and trips a woman walking by. Woman comically sighs after seeing she tore her stockings; audio track �Of course the real tragedy is, that was her last pair of good stockings.�

05:53:27:16 Man opens top drawer of filing cabinet, closes it, opens the one beneath it, then distracted by the file he is reading closes the drawer with his hand still in it.

05:53:55:04 Great bit of physical comedy. Women in office can�t open filing cabinet drawer; woman pulls and tugs at it twisting her face; audio track ��why go through those un-lady like gyrations�� Navy sailor enters frame with bandage on his nose, tries to open the drawer but pulls the whole filing cabinet onto himself.

05:54:34:29 CU woman fixing typewriter

05:54:40:04 Man in office spinning wheel of printing press to make copies.

05:54:45:28 Man interrupts woman at paper-cutter to show woman how to properly use the machine.

05:55:00:24 Blonde woman pinches finger working with the paper hole puncher.

05:55:48:17 CU man puts scissors into leather case then places case inside drawer and closes the drawer. Man leans back in chair, reading a file, and falls on his back.

05:56:24:20 Woman uses step ladder to reach top filing cabinet drawer; woman falls opening the cabinet and is caught by a coworker looking through another filing cabinet drawer.

05:56:43:25 Man smoking cigarette at his desk places cigarette on the edge of his desk; cigarette falls into trash can with paper, paper catches fire and set off fire alarm.

05:57:02:21 Woman opens door and tries to enter dark closest but bang her head on object hidden by the shadows; audio track �Don�t go barging into dark closets, your friend will never believe your story.�

05:57:13:03 Woman working at large typewriters stands up to grab book on window sill but knocks the books out the window by mistake; POV shot looking down several stories to pedestrian traffic on sidewalk below.

05:57:32:14 Man tries to fix plug then plug it back into the wall but gets shocked.

05:57:46:15 Woman tries to lift stack of books and paper in office but strains back; man runs over to see if woman is ok, then demonstrates how to lift with one�s arms and legs and straightened back.

05:58:12:02 Woman sits on top of her desk dialing telephone as Navy soldier turns corner and walks toward the woman, stopping just before he is about to trip over the telephone cord. Audio track �Hey you weren�t supposed to see that, no you don�t�.you�re supposed to trip over that wire� Navy soldier answer to disembodied voice �Oh, gee whiz, I�m all black and blue already. Do I have to?� �I am afraid you�re it Locky. Now be a good fellow and give us a nice fall�sorry you have to take a beating like this locky.�

Navy man walks back down aisle of desks then back toward camera and trips over the phone cord.

05:59:07:25 Man hurrying down stairwell trips down the steps.

05;59:28:27 Man carrying stack of boxes runs up steps and trips on top step falling to the ground.

05:59:49:20 Woman running down steps gets hits by man riding on mail delivery cart.

Safety in Offices
Produced byWeston (Carry) Productions, Inc.
Production
companies
Weston (Carry) Productions, Inc.
Distributed byWeston (Carry) Productions, Inc.
Release date
1944
Running time
10:00
LanguageEnglish
Thumbnail
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