Purity Squad

One of MGM's short films made during the 30s and 40s was presented by TCM recently. These one reel movies were done, in part, to present new talent, or like in this one, to inform the public about a new drug. The emphasis of this short film is to show how the Food and Drug Administration, the government agency that deals with the approval of medicine prescribed in the United States, works in dealing with careless individuals that try to do their own version of a drug being tasted to combat diabetes.

Diabulin, was being tested in the form of a pill to replace insulin shots. When people begin dying after taking the drug, brings the FDA into action. The problem is there are some unscrupulous individuals doing illegal things at the laboratory where the experimental drug is being tested on rabbits.

The film, which is done documentary style, was informative in warning audiences of the time how vigilant the agency was in getting bad medicine from ever reaching patients. As directed by Harold Kress, and based on the screen treatment by Charles Royal, the film served its purpose by alerting the American public of the dangers of taking the tainted product.

MGM released a series of twenty-one two-reelers from 1935 to 1945 under the general heading of "Crime Does Not Pay." These were well made shorts that promoted respect for the law and gave publicity to such government law enforcement agencies as the FBI. Not merely propaganda or indoctrination, these two-reelers were entertaining short stories featuring many of the best character actors of the day, well-written, well-directed, and well-acted.

"Purity Squad" was one of the last in the series spotlighting the efforts of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to protect the consumer from bad medicine, in this case a pill, Diabulin, for type 2 diabetes that would replace the need for insulin injections. Ironically, sixty years later the drug community has actually created such a pill, Metaglidasen, now waiting for the approval of today's FDA. This film shows a much weaker FDA in 1945, largely dependent on state cooperation for approval or disapproval.

The story written by Charles F. Royal, who specialized in scripts for action B westerns, tells of a pair of con artists who take advantage of a discredited chemist to concoct a pill for type 2 diabetes. The two shysters also plant a janitor in the lab at the state capital to make sure the results on the test rabbits are positive by switching hares when needed. The FDA lab in Washington, D.C., runs its own tests which come up negative. Investigators are sent to the office of the state attorney general to find out what is happening to cause the two test results to be different. In the meantime diabetes patients who are taking Diabulin begin dying in alarming numbers.

I've seen most of the films in the "Crime Does Not Pay" series, which also led to a popular radio show at the time. None is boring. All, including "Purity Squad," are exciting and informative.

... which had only been on the market for about 20 years. Prior to that, diabetes was a death sentence. But even today it tethers the diabetic to a regimen of shots and blood testing, and they must always have some form of quick sugar on hand because injected insulin is never as good as one's own insulin at self adjustment for stress, exercise, etc. Now there are continuous glucose monitors that also dose the patient with insulin, but 75 years later there is no freedom for the diabetic to be completely spontaneous. But I digress.

This episode in the series is about a discredited doctor, hiding from the law, who comes up with a pill he calls "diabulin" that he thinks can substitute for insulin. The two crooks he is saddled with want to put the pill on the market immediately and not do any further testing, and the doc, a wanted man, is at their mercy. They decide to distribute the drug inside their state only, so in case there are problems they are not dealing with a federal rap. The state's public health lab does tests on the drug too. The doc's guinea pigs die after a few weeks from the side effects of the diabulin. So the crooks decide to pay off somebody who works in the state lab to replace the test rabbits with fresh rabbits to buy time to make more money off the drug.

What they didn't count on is the FDA testing their drug anyways. The FDA lab, being in Washington, is inaccessible to the crooks, plus they don't know about the FDA's involvement in the first place. When the FDA guinea pigs die of the drug, and people begin to die of the drug, yet the state lab's test rabbits are healthy, the FDA and the state public health lab get together and suspect tampering in the state lab. Complications ensue.

It is shown that the doctors of the diabetics warned them against trying such a new and untested drug, but the diabetics' desires to live a life free from insulin injections made them want to believe the claims of the crooks.

There are no small "rackets" selling drugs today. Just giant pharma corporations with teams of lawyers. And there is no marketing a drug in a single state either, so the FDA's extensive testing is involved in the marketing of all drugs. But this is an interesting look back. At this point the Crime Does Not Pay series is trying to come out of the gangster era and into the post War era with crimes and rackets that were relevant to the time. But even with all of this talk of scientific testing, there is gun play in this episode.

Just watched this Crime Does Not Pay short on the DVD of the Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn film Without Love. It tells of how a couple of crooked men-with reluctant help from the doctor who works for them-sell this doc's medicine called diabulin which is supposed to cure diabetes but this doc says it's not ready and shouldn't be sold yet but, well, of course his superiors think differently...Quite dramatically compelling for a 19-mimute short with enough time for the tense climatic end. So that's a recommendation for Purity Squad.

This episode of the Crime Does Not Pay series is about the work of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It begins with an announcement that a dangerous drug has been sold, Diabulin, and it should be destroyed immediately.

Following this introduction, the story of how such a harmful drug came to the market is explained through a flashback. A researcher has created Diabulin to treat diabetes. However, it's not been thoroughly tested and he is horrified to see that his bosses are planning on selling it anyway. And, their marketing campaign is even worse--with fake testimonials and a media blitz that make it SEEM like it is a miracle drug. But, it soon becomes obvious that the drug is dangerous--and the manufacturers couldn't care less and their number one concern is making money! This film was both very informative AND very entertaining--a difficult balancing act for a film. Well worth seeing, it's unusual for the Crime Does Not Pay series--but a worthy installment nevertheless.