Preface to a Life (1950) Online

Preface to a Life (1950)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

This twenty-eight minute short was produced by the National Institute of Mental Health and tells the story of Michael Thompson. We meet Michael as a baby as the narrator talks about several things his parents does wrong, which might mean Michael will grow up into a bad person. For example, his mother tries to protect him too much while his father is never happy with the good things he does.

Basically this film is a warning to parents about putting too much stress on their kids or punishing the kids for not living up to the parent's dream. This is a pretty boring film mainly because it runs so long. It certainly doesn't help that the narration makes it feel even longer but there are a few things here that makes it worth watching to film buffs. For starters, Don Murray makes his screen debut here playing the older Michael. The cinematography was also done by Boris Kaufman who would soon be shooting movies like 12 ANGRY MEN, THE FUGITIVE KIND, BABY DOLL and several other classics.

Those two things will make this a curio to film buffs but there are so many of these "warning" films out there that it's hard to really enjoy them unless they've fallen into the "so bad they're good" type of film. That's not the case here as this one is mainly just boring.