This entry in Centron's "Discussion Problems in Group Living" series is told mostly in flashback, so we learn at the beginning that three boys are in trouble for a school prank that went wrong. We also quickly learn that Frank was the ringleader of the three. He misbehaved in class and was mildly punished, which filled him with a thirst for revenge against his teacher. He's clearly more interested in his own feelings than anything else, and is quick to rationalize away any other point of view. Basically, he's a jerk.
Jimmy's thought processes never seem to go beyond thinking that Frank's stupid prank would be a funny joke. At one point, he asks himself why he's never able to come up with good ideas like Frank. It's fairly clear that the answer is that he's bereft of imagination and quite unable to think things through to their consequences. He's a sap. Dale, on the other hand, sees from the beginning that Frank's plan could go horribly wrong, but he's too much in fear of being thought "chicken" or a tattler to do anything about it. He's a wimp.
As we've already been told, and could have guessed anyway with this trio, the "joke" is something of a disaster. The narrator really piles on the bad consequences of the prank, ranging from "it interrupted the important dress rehearsal of the school play" to real damage and sickness. There's a strange montage of images as the narrator tells the boys of "the eyes that saw what you did, the lips that told what the eyes had seen, the ears that...", etc. Once the story comes full circle, the narration seems stretches probability a bit to come up with the usual discussion questions. "What would you have done if you were Jimmy?" seems rather pointless, given Jimmy's apparent IQ.
As usual with these films, the acting is no better than what you'd expect from competent amateurs. They hit their marks and you can understand what they are saying. Even more that usual for films in this series, this one relies very heavily on the narrator. In all, "Other People's Properly" is not one of the best school guidance films from this era, but it is far ahead of some of the deathly-dull talky entries in the genre.
Jimmy's thought processes never seem to go beyond thinking that Frank's stupid prank would be a funny joke. At one point, he asks himself why he's never able to come up with good ideas like Frank. It's fairly clear that the answer is that he's bereft of imagination and quite unable to think things through to their consequences. He's a sap. Dale, on the other hand, sees from the beginning that Frank's plan could go horribly wrong, but he's too much in fear of being thought "chicken" or a tattler to do anything about it. He's a wimp.
As we've already been told, and could have guessed anyway with this trio, the "joke" is something of a disaster. The narrator really piles on the bad consequences of the prank, ranging from "it interrupted the important dress rehearsal of the school play" to real damage and sickness. There's a strange montage of images as the narrator tells the boys of "the eyes that saw what you did, the lips that told what the eyes had seen, the ears that...", etc. Once the story comes full circle, the narration seems stretches probability a bit to come up with the usual discussion questions. "What would you have done if you were Jimmy?" seems rather pointless, given Jimmy's apparent IQ.
As usual with these films, the acting is no better than what you'd expect from competent amateurs. They hit their marks and you can understand what they are saying. Even more that usual for films in this series, this one relies very heavily on the narrator. In all, "Other People's Properly" is not one of the best school guidance films from this era, but it is far ahead of some of the deathly-dull talky entries in the genre.
