Social guidance film

Social guidance films constitute a genre of films attempting to guide children and adults to behave in certain ways. Typically shown in school classrooms in the USA from the 1950s through the 1970s, the films covered topics including courtesy, responsibility, sexuality, drug use, and driver safety; the genre also includes films for adults, covering topics such as marriage and how to balance budgets.

History
Social guidance films were generally produced by corporations such as Coronet Films, Centron Corporation, and even Encyclopædia Britannica, but the films were also produced by maverick independent filmmakers such as Sid Davis, dubbed by author Ken Smith as the "King of Calamity" for his often calamitous narratives.

Additional resources

 * Mental Hygiene: Classroom Films 1945 - 1970, Ken Smith, (c) 1999, published by Blast Books, ISBN 0-922233-21-7
 * Our Secret Century, a collection of 12 CD-ROMs compiled by film archivist Rick Prelinger
 * The Prelinger Archives at the Internet Archive