Pfizer Sandwich.

Date:
1963
  • Videos

About this work

Description

A corporate video produced for staff and visitors about the research activities of Pfizer, a pharmaceutical business with a large research facility at Sandwich. Originally shot on 16mm film. the beginning is lost (approximately 30 seconds) and so the film starts with high angle footage of the exteriors of laboratories. The chemical research laboratories are seen and a meeting is shown in progress. Radio isotopes are shown being used to test a new compound. The laboratory researcher wears simple disposable plastic gloves and the narrator says that great care is taken in the handling of radioactive compounds. The results are passed on for evaluation. A treatment for the removal of parasites in sheep is investigated; a dead laboratory rat is then shown. Various shots around the site are seen (hand held camera shots). The animal husbandry department is seen (with the eponymous laboratory beagles in a pen). A slide bank of tissue samples held in a standard filing cabinet is consulted. Volunteers at the company come forward for drug trials (a woman donates a blood sample). A proposal to the Committee for the Safety of Drugs is prepared (referred to as the Dunlop Committee) - this then goes to the Department of Health for appraisal. The vaccine development department is then visited with an audio explaination. The sugar lump vaccine was developed in this laboratory. Their concerns are the health of poultry and then in other countries, the treatment of trachoma. It is noted that even the air is treated; it's 'burnt'. Steam sterilisation is demonstrated. Milk yields are investigated; enriched pellets are made and fed to goats. Next the study of enzymes is explained, followed by anti-parasitic treatments. Night time comes and a cleaner mops the corridor. End Credits.

Publication/Creation

UK : Pfizer Sandwich, 1963.

Physical description

1 DVD (24.05 min.) : sound, color, PAL

Copyright note

Pfizer

Notes

Supporting paperwork available in the department.
This video (one of two) was donated by Mr John Hemson, one of the producers of the film. In 1963 he was one of a team of four research scientists who set up the first Biochemistry Department at Pfizer, Sandwich. As the pharmaceutical business expanded rapidly, a great number of visitors toured the site so Hemson and colleagues made a proposal to management to make this orientation film. This they had to do with a nominal sum of £500; they were only permitted to film out-of-office hours and the film took 2 years to put together. Hemson went onto set up a business producing films about science and engineering.
The sound was recorded in loops so there are audio clicks and bangs.

Creator/production credits

Made and produced by John Hemson, Mike Aubrey, Sheila Chapman, Malcolm Gregory, Mike Hayden (members of the Research Division Pfizer Ltd). The first narrator is John White who worked in the Pfizer library and the second, Keith Taylor who worked in the laboratory.

Type/Technique

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores
    5130D

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