There are few historical images more poignant than that of a child lying in an iron lung, and Ken Mandel's compelling documentary about the epidemic of polio that gripped America in the 20th century contains more than a few such sights. Filled with dramat ically potent visuals accompanying its clear, concise history of the disease, "A Fight to the Finish: Stories of Polio," while not a strong contender for extensive theatrical release, is a rewarding documentary that will find a steady berth on cable and public television. It is receiving its theatrical premiere at New York's Two Boots Pioneer Theatre.
As the film relates, polio did not surge in this country until 1916, when a major outbreak took place in New York. The cause, ironically enough, was the better sanitary conditions that apparently helped to destroy the natural immunity that had developed in people. By the middle of the century, there were 50,000 new cases a year in the United States.
The film delivers strong doses of emotion along with its information, thanks to several interviews with polio survivors and their caregivers, including families, doctors and nurses. Among the more notable interviewees are former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and writer Geoffrey C. Ward; the latter wrote a biography of the disease's most notable sufferer, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, seen here in extensive archival clips.
Although the subject is necessarily tragic -- one nurse's account of manipulating an iron lung by hand during a power failure is particularly harrowing -- it does, fortunately, have a happy ending, thanks to the March of Dimes, the fund-raising campaign spearheaded by lawyer Basil O'Connor, and the vaccines developed by Albert Sabin and Jonas Salk. The accounts of their rivalry and the politics involved in the process form one of the film's most interesting segments.
A FIGHT TO THE FINISH: STORIES OF POLIO
Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children/Ken Mandel Prods.
Credits: Director: Ken Mandel; Screenwriter: Ralph Meyers; Producers: Tony Herring, Ken Mandel; Executive producer: J.C. Montgomery Jr.; Music: John Bryant, Frank Hames; Editors: Ken Mandel, Ralph Meyers. No MPAA rating. Color/black and white. Running time -- 83 minutes...
As the film relates, polio did not surge in this country until 1916, when a major outbreak took place in New York. The cause, ironically enough, was the better sanitary conditions that apparently helped to destroy the natural immunity that had developed in people. By the middle of the century, there were 50,000 new cases a year in the United States.
The film delivers strong doses of emotion along with its information, thanks to several interviews with polio survivors and their caregivers, including families, doctors and nurses. Among the more notable interviewees are former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and writer Geoffrey C. Ward; the latter wrote a biography of the disease's most notable sufferer, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, seen here in extensive archival clips.
Although the subject is necessarily tragic -- one nurse's account of manipulating an iron lung by hand during a power failure is particularly harrowing -- it does, fortunately, have a happy ending, thanks to the March of Dimes, the fund-raising campaign spearheaded by lawyer Basil O'Connor, and the vaccines developed by Albert Sabin and Jonas Salk. The accounts of their rivalry and the politics involved in the process form one of the film's most interesting segments.
A FIGHT TO THE FINISH: STORIES OF POLIO
Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children/Ken Mandel Prods.
Credits: Director: Ken Mandel; Screenwriter: Ralph Meyers; Producers: Tony Herring, Ken Mandel; Executive producer: J.C. Montgomery Jr.; Music: John Bryant, Frank Hames; Editors: Ken Mandel, Ralph Meyers. No MPAA rating. Color/black and white. Running time -- 83 minutes...
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