UNFORTUNATELY, THIS ITEM IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE."Confidential File...a factual report on America today...its people, and their lives…"
In This 1950s tabloid TV series, one of the first of its kind, series creator Paul Coates attacked everything from drug abuse to comic books during the series' five-year run (1953-1958). Grisly staged recreations accompany the host's monologue, followed by a segment in which Coates grills bewildered interviewees. He was usually unsympathetic to the matter at hand, calling homosexuals "a threat to national security" and horror comics "do-it-yourself pamphlets" for murderer. Despite this, the series was extremely successful, growing from local Los Angeles broadcast to nationwide syndication in 1955.
Confidential File's claustrophobic dramatizations, employing moody lighting and extreme camera angles, are the earliest available work of filmmaker Irvin Kershner ("The Empire Strikes Back").
Episodes Include: Horror Comic Books; Barbiturates; Medical Quacks