Girls Beware
About Girls Beware
Policewoman Norma Neufner tells three cases to teenage girls. Judy takes a babysitting call from a stranger and is later found dead on a desert road. Elizabeth and a friend let two older boys they meet at a movie pick them up. Sally's mother stops her from going again. Elizabeth rides with the boys to Lookout Peak and is attacked. Mary meets Robert, an older boy who hangs around the Ah-Ha hamburger stand because people his own age will not have him. She stays with him until, the film says, it is too late for advice, and juvenile authorities take her out of school.
Cast & crew
More about Girls Beware
Sid Davis produced and directed it in 1961 with the Inglewood Police Department and the Inglewood Unified School District. Wikidata times it at 10 minutes. The Library of Congress copy runs 11 minutes. Lookout Peak in the second story is San Pedro Hill.
Themes
Background
It was shown in schools as a social-guidance short about babysitting calls, pickups, and older boys.
Making
Davis made short warning films for schools. This one was shot with local police and school cooperation in Inglewood.
Preservation
The Library of Congress holds a Prelinger Collection copy, about 11 minutes, black and white.
Notes
- The Library of Congress summary, drawn from an educational-film locator, says the film presents four case histories. The picture itself is built as three stories.
- Norma Neufner says there is no good way to tell a mother her daughter has been murdered, and that Judy had only been careless.
- The Library of Congress holds a Prelinger Collection video.
- A companion short from the same producer is Boys Beware.
Scenes
- Neufner reports that Judy's body was found on a desert road.
- Elizabeth goes up to Lookout Peak with the two boys.
- Mary is taken out of school by juvenile authorities.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Girls beware.webm)
- Library of Congress Prelinger Collection
Quotes
You can never find the right words to tell a mother her daughter has been murdered.
Judy hadn't done anything wrong, she'd only been careless.
