Drama focusing on gluttony and "hidden hunger," where well-nourished people eat poorly and malnourish themselves.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Coronet Instructional Films
Sponsor: N/A
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keywords: Nutrition; Food; Social guidance

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: pkkms - - May 11, 2012
Subject: At The Trough
This should be mandatory viewing for all people entering the Golden Coral Buffet.....

Reviewer: JSBejma - - April 1, 2012
Subject: Freckle Faced Bill
The kid is obviously adopted as there is no way those parents could produce a ginger kid like Bill. Not even with heterozygosity or any amount of crossing over.

That plate of bacon and eggs had my mouth watering.

A better than average health film.

Reviewer: Marysz - - April 23, 2004
Subject: Don't mistreat your stomach!
Bill learns to, chew, chew, chew his food and swallow it. This film gives us a good look at the different expectations for children that existed in the fifties. Bill bolts down his breakfastoatmeal, toast, bacon, eggs, orange juice and milk in his familys small bungalow dining room. Bills mom is obviously an excellent housekeeper. The breakfast looks delicious and the table is nicely set. We follow Bill through the day; he gulps down the sandwich his mom made him for lunch, goes to the candy store (a vanished institution, unfortunately) and buys pop and candy which he also wolfs down. He has no appetite for his moms carefully prepared dinner and gets a bad stomach-ache. We see a dream sequence when all the food Bill ate so carelessly comes back to haunt him (like Marleys ghost, only food). Bill has to stay in bed (mom tucks him in) until he feels better. The next morning, we see a new Bill. He eats his breakfast slowly and chews each bite. Same with lunch. After school, instead of going to the candy store, he comes straight home and has a good snack of crackers and milk in the kitchen. Then he goes outside to play, play, play. He works up a good appetite for dinner and happily ends the evening playing with his Lionel train set. What, no homework? No soccer practice? Bills mother doesnt chauffer Bill and his sister Carol around to after-school activitiesthere were none then; if kids wanted to go anywhere they got on their bikes and went on their own. Bills mom has time to cook a nice dinner for her family. She doesnt have to work because Bills dad earns a decent wage, enough to support the family. Bills familys life doesnt revolve around him and Carol getting straight As and applying to top colleges. There were plenty of good manufacturing jobs around for Bill when he finished high school (for Carol, its another story). The only thing they have to worry about is Bill not chewing his food! Well, that and the threat of atomic annihilation. This film was made the same year as Duck and Cover.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - June 29, 2003
Subject: Me Hungry!
Another total Coronet classic as it features Bill, who has to be admired for willing to participate in a massive gluttony scene which has to be seen to believed. We first meet Bill at the dinner table, he can barely touch his food. After a while, he gets a stomach ache (I thought he was going to throw up), Mom comes to save him, and she tucks him into bed. We then flash back to how this stomache ache happened. We see Bill at breakfast, and this scene made me stand and applaud, as Bill just wolfs down everything in sight, just watching him eat in this scene will give YOU a stomach ache. During his school lunch period, he wolfs down his sandwich in another great scene and saves the money he was supposed to buy for lunch for some sweets on the way home. Soon, we go back to his bedroom, and then we go to the next day. Of course, Bill has learned his lesson, for he is eating his breakfast slowwwwwwwwwly. Like, bacon cut into little morsels, tiny tiny sips of juice, and (hilariously) this makes Bill the happiest boy on earth! The film is in pretty rough condition and seems to end abruptly, which is a shame, as this is a MUST SEE on this site!

Shotlist

This Coronet cautionary tale attacks excess in customary Fifties fashion, focusing on gluttony. Bill sits down to dinner with an aching stomach because he's eaten badly during the day. Flashbacks and a food-centered nightmare reveal why he's sick.
Not in itself shocking, this film gives pause because the problems it describes Ñ "hidden hunger," where otherwise well-nourished people eat poorly and malnourish themselves Ñ are still very much with us. The difference is that today we might see Bill's bad habits as a manifestation of some individual disorder.

AT THE EVENING MEAL WITH HIS FAMILY, BILL COMPLAINS OF A STOMACH ACHE & FLASHBACKS REVEAL WHY HE IS ILL. LATE FOR SCHOOL IN THE MORNING, BILL GULPED DOWN HIS BREAKFAST, THEN BOLTED HIS SCHOOL LUNCH. NEED FOR GOOD EATING, GOOD FOOD, BALANCED DIET.

Boy playing with model railroad trains
Boy piggishly gulping sodas and eating junk food
Food nightmare; sleeping boy tosses and turns, seeing food projected into space in front of him
Drinking milk
Playing with kites


FOOD DIET HEALTH AND SAFETY EDUCATION DINING DINNERS FAMILY LIFE BREAKFASTS LUNCHES CAFETERIAS ILLNESSES NUTRITION STOMACH ACHES PAINS SICKNESS ILLNESS SCHOOLS STUDENTS BOYS CHILDREN PARENTS TRAYS LUNCHROOMS HUMOR SOCIAL GUIDANCE Model Railroads Trains (Model) Piggishness Gluttony
Danger Lurks Safety
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