Test Tube Babies

Starring:Dorothy Duke, William Thomason, Timothy Farrell, Peggy Roach, John Michael, Mary Lou Reckow, Stacey Alexander, Georgie Barton, Zona Siggins, Guy Gordon, Bebe Berto, Gine Franklin, Helen Cogan, Monica Davis, John Maitland
Director: W. Merle Connell
Studio: Alpha Video
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Informative!

American Experience - Test Tube Babies
Starring: Blair Brown
Director: Chana Gazit , and Hilary Klotz Steinman
Manufacturer: Pbs (Direct)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000IOM0NS
Release Date: 2006-11-07

Description

For centuries, the prospect of conceiving a human being in a laboratory seemed ripped from the pages of science fiction. Then, in 1978, everything changed. This documentary tells the story of doctors, researchers, and hopeful couples who pushed the limits of science and triggered a technological revolution in human reproduction. In so doing, they landed at the center of a controversy whose reverberations continue to this day.

Customer Reviews:

Informative!.......2006-11-15

I had no knowledge whatsoever about the history of IVF, so I couldn't be critical of this documentary generally. I am glad that the documentary makers decided that IVF need ed to be a part of the "American Experience."

From one baby in the late 1970s, now 2.5 million people worldwide owe their lives to IVF. Because this procedure lacks controversy now, to some, this work may seem dated. However, this settled debate may remind many nowadays of the controversy over stem cell research. This documentary suggests that the US and Britain were in a race to see who could successfully perform IVF first; this reminded me of the race in AIDS research between the US and France, as described in "And the Band Played On."

This film repeatedly spoke about couples who wanted children, but oftentimes, individuals were interviewed separately. I wonder if many of the interviewed couples have divorced since they requested IVF.

I guess I have one critique. Issues of class were not brought up. I hear IVF is still INCREDIBLY expensive. I assume that only rich couples have it as an option though the procedure is available. If the documentary makers wanted to be thorough, they would have brought this up.

Average customer rating:

Cattle & Bum/Live in Manchester
Starring: Peter & the Test Tube Babies
Manufacturer: Video Music, Inc.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Music Video & Concerts | Genres | DVD | Video

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Description

The DVD features two unique presentations of the band. "Cattle And Bum" is an entertaining and creative film, constructed by the band themselves. A testament to the humour and energy that the band generated over a decade, the film contains live footage old & new, promos, interviews and plenty of silliness. A classic. "Live In Manchester" features an 'as it happened' record of the band at their most uncouth. This archive performance includes much previously unseen footage, as the 'Test Tubes' hurtle recklessly through their repertoire.

Average customer rating:

Test Tube Babies
"Surely you aren't suggesting there's something wrong with George, are you doctor?"
TEST TUBE BABIES - Amazing Living, today!

Test Tube Babies
Starring: Dorothy Duke , William Thomason , Timothy Farrell , Peggy Roach , and John Michael
Director: W. Merle Connell
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B00082ZREE
Release Date: 2005-05-31

Customer Reviews:

Test Tube Babies.......2005-09-25

"Test Tube Babies/ Hell is a Place Called Hollywood" is a double feature DVD release from Alpha Video. You'd have to go a long way to find a film as peculiar as "Test Tube Babies." With a pseudo educational style (the film's "medical and technical data is approved and supervised" by the National Research Foundation for Fertility, Inc.), this 53 minute long film follows George and Cathy through courtship, marriage, and the arrival of their test tube baby. There's one breakfast scene that is supposed to illustrate their marital bliss--but then their marriage turns rocky. Cathy talks about having a baby, George stays late at work, and the next thing you know, Cathy is having wild parties while George is gone.

The best (and funniest) scene in the film takes place during one of Cathy's wild parties. There's an underlying hint of an orgy as everyone starts changing partners and one woman starts stripping--her drunken husband joins her. But apart from that, the film is quite awful--and it's so awful, it's bizarre. The acting is hideous, the plot contrite, and the film switches back and forth between preachy moral scenes, and sheer nonsense. There's even one scene that could be called "What to Expect at a Gynecologist's Office." The preachy moral stuff probably allowed the naughty bits to sneak by the censors, but the result is an odd blend of voyeuristic non-titillation that runs for a little over 50 minutes

"Hell is a Place Called Hollywood" is the "2nd sinful feature" on this DVD. It's a short piece (about 20 minutes) that catalogues the trials and tribulations of a former beauty queen who wins a trip to Hollywood and a small part in the film. The small part turns out to be a nudie role, and soon our heroine is reduced to taking jobs as a bondage model for a calendar photographer.

The DVD quality is poor. The film skips, and black holes appear in the print. One extra star for the naughty party at Cathy's house ("I didn't recognise you with your clothes on")--this scene made me laugh--displacedhuman

"Surely you aren't suggesting there's something wrong with George, are you doctor?".......2005-08-27

Now its my understanding that back in the day if you wanted to make a movie with some female nekkidness in it, you could, but in order to get around certain local laws prohibiting such displays you did so under the guise of creating an edumacational or medical film (somehow I don't think either of these two films ever found their way to the high schools, which was odd, given their `edumacational' content and all...I'm be facetious...I know, I know, its hard to tell at times). You probably wouldn't have seen these somewhat sleazy movies in a respectable theater, as more often than not those peddling this often times lurid fare would set up their own, makeshift venues by erecting a tent on the outskirts of a town, to which the men would flock, knowing exactly what they were getting...as times changed and restrictions eased, the pretenses were dropped, and thus saw the fading away of films as these...

The first film on this DVD is titled Test Tube Babies (1948) aka Blessed Are They aka Sins of Love aka The Pill and relates to the notion of artificial insemination...sort of...as the film opens, we see the credits, and one in particular stands out stating `The medical and technical data approved by The National Research Foundation for Fertility, Incorporated'...wow, sounds official, doesn't it? Chances are it was probably a sham corporation, or perhaps a real one, with little idea the real intent behind the movie, but then that's just my opinion. Anyway, as the story begins we meet a young couple, their names George and Cathy. George proposes to Cathy, they get married, buy a little house along with some appliances, and go on a honeymoon, all within the first five minutes. Next time we see them it's a year later, and things seem to be all right, but tensions begin to develop, specifically because this union has yet to bear any fruit (its babies I'm speaking to, ya idjit), even though all of their married friends seem to be popping them out like Pez. Cathy's got the baby fever something fierce, so they decide to go to the doctor, and they learn there's nothing wrong with Cathy's plumbing. Turns out George is the one gumming up the works...his man juice has got no go go, he's shooting blanks, his boys are dead in the water, etc...the doc, after a lengthy information sequence, recommends artificial insemination. Hey, it works on livestock, right? Why not on humans? They go for it, and soon Cathy begins popping them out, and all the marital strife soon disappears replaced by domestic happiness...a third of this film actually deals with the subject of artificial insemination, which was incredibly boring, by the way, while the rest is the lurid sleaze the audience is actually paying to see...it's presented in the manner of George and Cathy's swinging friends, the ones without children, and wild parties that include copious amounts of alcohol, impromptu burlesque routines, inebriated women in their underwear, the occasional catfight (complete with hair pulling and clothes falling off), wife swapping, and just debauchery in general. There is some very brief glimpses of flesh, just enough to ensure titillation among the rubes...the funniest thing about this film, besides the completely rotten acting and moronic script is near the end, while George is waiting expectantly for Cathy to birth her test tube baby...he's nervous as hell, and the doctor comes out and recommends he sit and smoke a cigarette, to calm himself down...smoke `em if you got `em...as prescribed by a doctor...one odd aspect was in regards to George's sterility...it wasn't the result of questionable activities from his past (copulation with farm animals or such), but just how he was...the advertising seemed to indicate differently, but in actuality, George was pretty much a stick in the mud with all his uptightness...he's quite the buzz kill, if you ask me. This feature runs 53 minutes.

The bonus feature is titled Hell is a Place Called Hollywood (1950), and focuses on the exploitation that often occurs to the young women who flock west with dreams of becoming famous actresses and such. Apparently this was common enough for someone to produce a sort of edumacational/warning film about it, to which we have here the story of one such girl named Shelia Anderson. Sheila, after winning a local beauty contest, her prize being a bit part in a movie, relocates to Hollywood, hoping to develop a movie career. She moves in with a roommate (who's ugly as sin), but finds the going tough, so Sheila decides to try photographic modeling. She does find work modeling all kinds of things, but advertisers are always looking for fresh faces, so Shelia finds work harder and harder to come by...respectable work, that is... around this time her roommate decides to go back home, because she can't find any work (probably due to her ugly horse face), and Sheila is alone and penniless. She then hooks up with another photographer, and it turns out he only wants to take lurid pictures, and since all her money is gone, Shelia reluctantly acquiesces as beggars can't be choosy...nice granny bloomers there, Sheila...as the film ends we see a regretful, shamed, homeless Sheila eating crackers and using the discarded box in her shoe to cover a hole in her sole...hole in her soul...anyway, this short feature has a bit more nekkidness than the first, as we watch Sheila reviewing the movie footage of herself in her bit part which involved her skinny dipping (what kind of movie was that?), I thought it really odd that someone should make a film exposing the exploitive nature of the Hollywood system that actually featured a girl being exploited, but then again the expressed intent is a long cry from the actual intent, which was to show a little skin for the pleasures of a lecherous audience, all done under the guise of warning those young and impressionable girlies to think twice before hopping that bus to La La Land. This film runs about 20 minutes.

The picture quality on this Alpha Video DVD of Test Tube Babies is completely rotten. It's murky, fuzzy, missing frames, terribly damaged and appears to be a 4th or 5th generation copy. Surprisingly the audio isn't too bad. The picture quality on Hell is a Place Called Hollywood is a little bit better (but not much), appearing washed out at times, but relatively intact. The audio, however, suffers (dropouts, tone variation, etc.). As far as the quality aspects I speak to, it was about how I expected given this was an Alpha release, so there weren't any surprises. There are no extras, except for a video DVD case display of other Alpha cheapie releases. All in all, an inexpensive release, good for a few laughs and a meager amount of flesh...

Cookieman108

TEST TUBE BABIES - Amazing Living, today!.......2005-07-13

Cheapo laughs hit up "Test Tube Babies" as a couple who are tired of some "loose living" decide that having children will fix the problem (sounds like growing up in my home town of Oshawa!). The doctor finds out he's sterile (maybe he's wearing speedos) so then the dozey lady finds out about the miracle of artificial incemination!

The other short on this DVD is fun, but it's funny that it's so low budget that they even throw in the out of focus footage, complete with looped sound.

Customer Reviews:

INFO.......2005-08-25

Peter Bywaters of Peter and the Test Tube Babies heads up one of the strongest bands of the first wave of British punk, which he helped shape following the band's inception in 1978 Brighton. Loud, brash, humorous, and iconoclastic, the boisterous rockers set the scene of the time, and paved the way for those who came after. Songs like "Run Like Hell" and "Banned from the Pubs," released in the early '80s, became genre anthems, and 1995's 'Supermodels" continued to get the crowds going. All of these songs and more appear in this show from the band's 2004 European tour, "A Tribute to Cash," as the guys get dressed up in cowboy costumes to deliver their rowdy, raucous set.

Average customer rating:

Cattle & Bum / Live in Manchester
Starring: Peter & The Test Tube Babies
Manufacturer: Cherry Red UK
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Punk | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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