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Dr. Price’s Search for Health: Film Treatment
Typed introduction and script of “Dr. Price’s Search for Health”, 1978.
* * *
Weston A. Price was certainly one of the pioneers in the field of nutrition, and any attempt to adequately communicate his significance is no small undertaking. He was motivated by the deep, perhaps spiritual, belief that a bounty of information regarding human health could be discovered among primitive peoples where modern forms of food production and preparation had not yet usurped the dietary customs which had maintained a maximal level of tribal health for generations. His great interests eventuated with numerous global journeys to locate such primitive tribes around the world, and he has left behind a wealth of written and visual documentation which support his convictions. A film which surveys the life and work of Weston A. Price is certainly a worthwhile undertaking.
It is my conviction that this film should be geared in language and information to an informed lay audience. Technical data should be included for scientific accuracy, but it seems that the general tone of this film should be introductory in nature and suggestive of topical areas. It should be intended to open up discussion regarding the entire range and significance of this pioneering work.
Any attempt to reconstruct the life of this rare and colorful person can easily become a forum for spectacular misinformation or unsupported generalizations. Fortunately, Dr. Price established numerous reasonable boundaries for the interpretation of his data, and these boundaries should be maintained.
The Concept
While there are numerous photographic slides and prints taken by Dr. Price to document his findings, it is my conviction that this material is necessary but not sufficient to tell a compelling story. The majority of these photographs are black and white, and many are poorly focused which will make image resolution on film footage somewhat difficult. I do not believe that the available visual material will adequately hold viewing interest for any extended period of time.
Let me suggest a different approach. Build the entire film around an intriguing narrator who uses a picturesque and knowledgeable language to tell his story of Weston A. Price. The narrator might be thought of as a technical story-teller.
Such a narrator would serve to unify the film. He could be used visually with off-camera narration. At other points he could do straight on-camera narration. If animated footage is used he would be the unifying feature. The narrator could also be used in dialogue with leading figures in the field of nutrition as they evaluate the significance of Dr. Price. The presence of such a narrator would bring a natural continuity to every feature of the film.
A brief description of one suggested storyline will illustrate the use of the narrator as well as the information that should be included in the documentary. The story could open with our narrator casually dressed, enjoying a rambling stroll through an appropriate natural environmental setting. No music would be necessary at this point. Instead the sound track would consist of the natural sound effects of the narrator walking. There might be footsteps, wind, cracking twigs and leaves, maybe even some bird sound effects. A contemplative off-camera narration would be dubbed in which introduces the mood of the life and the topic of Weston A. Price. The narrator does not need to be introduced. Let him remain anonymous.
Once Weston A. Price is introduced and the film is established with a narrative style, the narrator could bridge into a brief, but illustrative segment of animated photographs taken from the Price travels around the world. During this segment it should be pointed out that Dr. Price’s wanderings were purposeful. This is carefully spelled out in the introductory and supplemental sections of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.
With the adventuresome nature of the travels well established, the narrator could return on-camera to discuss the specific findings and implications. Here a dialogue format might be useful. The narrator could interact with various significant figures from the field of nutrition. During this interaction appropriate animated footage could be intercut to accent various points. Several visual comparisons are rather dramatic.
There are several topics which should be included in this discussion section. Some will be covered more extensively depending on the available visual material. Some topics might be handled solely within the context of the interaction. The topical areas should include:
- Characteristics of primitive and modern diet
- Primitive dental hygiene
- Suggestions of the origins of physical deformity
- Prenatal nutrition
- Physical and mental deterioration
- Soil depletion and nutritional deterioration
- Activator X
- Programs for nutritional regeneration
As the topical material is discussed the narrator can move back and forth between technical information and accurate general statements. During the discussion of primitive and modern diet the supportive work of Dr. Francis Pottenger should be integrated. This same approach should be taken with the work of Dr. William Albrecht when the discussion turns to soil depletion and nutritional deterioration.
If the contemplative tone of the narrator is well established in the beginning of the film, it seems appropriate to return to this style for summary and conclusion. Here the narrator can discuss specific implications and extensions. ending with an appropriate anecdote.
Dr. Price’s Search for Health
FADE IN:
1. Main Title: “Dr. Price’s Search for Health.” MUSIC IN AND ESTABLISH
Copyright: 1978 by the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, Incorporated
FADE OUT AND IN:
2. INT–A SMALL LIBRARY OR STUDY
This is a tastefully done room such as would be found in a private home. It is furnished with table-type desk, comfortable chairs, and a large bookcase. As the scene opens we see a man, possibly in his forties, standing by the bookcase leafing through a copy of Dr. Price’s book. This man will be our HOST for the film. He will alternate with a NARRATOR who will handle portions of the narration in the voice over (VO) format. The HOST will appear on-camera throughout the live action portions of the film.
Camera will hold on the HOST for a moment. He then looks up, directly at the camera, and speaks. MUSIC FADES OUT.
HOST
Hello! This book is a very graphic account of one man’s search for better health through good nutrition.
The HOST walks over to the desk, pauses, and then continues:
His name was Dr. Weston A. Price. In 1930 he left a successful dental practice in Cleveland, and began dental research that was to take him around the world. He traveled 150,000 miles studying the effects of diet on primitive people, and, in particular, how diet affected their teeth.
Camera moves in closer on HOST.
But, first, here is Dr. Price in 1936 describing his work.
DISSOLVE TO:
3. DR. PRICE VISITING ABORIGINE RESERVATION NEAR SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (STOCK MOVIETONE)
This sequence opens with a wide view of Dr. Price and a lady (probably Mrs. Price) with a group of Aborigines. SUPERIMPOSE underneath his opening shot “Aborigine Reservation near Sydney, Australia, 1936.”
MEDIUM SHOT of Dr. Price with young Aborigine boy.
LOSE SUPER.
PRICE: Come over here. Let me see you. How old are you?
SUPERIMPOSE “Dr. Weston A. Price” underneath shot.
LOSE SUPER.
BOY: (Mutters) Thirteen years.
PRICE: (Dr. Price begins superficial examination of the boy’s teeth.) A number of the teeth have decayed cavities in them and that happened because he’s not eating enough fish or not getting enough milk.
Camera moves to MEDIUM SHOT with an adult male Aborigine.
PRICE: Say, you’re a fine, big strong fellow. How old are you?
MAN: Twenty.
PRICE: You look as though you’re a giant. My, my. Where’d you come from?
MAN: Labaru.
PRICE: Well, that’s the place. Did you have lots of fish when you were a little boy?
MAN: Yes.
PRICE: That’s the stuff that makes good bodies if everybody would do that.
Camera moves into a CLOSE-UP as he faces the camera.
PRICE: The most universal disease in the world is the decay of the teeth and unfortunately we have not known the cause until we’ve gone to the primitive people to find how they prevent tooth decay.
Our difficulty is that we are adding too much white flour and sugar and do not get enough of the foods that contain minerals and vitamins.
When the primitive people adopt the food of modern civilization their teeth decay just as ours do.
I’ve spent several years studying various people in several parts of the world and I’ve come as a missionary from them to the people of modern civilization. And I beg of you, learn their accumulated wisdom and if you do you, too, can have strong healthy bodies without so much disease as we suffer from these days.
DISSOLVE TO:
4. MEDIUM SHOT–HOST
HOST
Dr. Price was sixty when he began his nutrition travels. He was still traveling at seventy, searching for the conditions that supported and sustained good health. In his studies he found that primitive peoples who wisely chose their foods, had good health when they ate the natural foods available to them. When they ate the foods of modern society the decline in health was devastating.
HOST now picks up some of the slides and photographs on the table.
Dr. Price made thousands of photographs of people all over the world, showing the results of his work. Many of these photographs were transferred to glass slides by him.
5. INSERT–HOST HOLDS GLASS SLIDE.
Switches on the light box so we can see what the slide was like. His voice will continue while we see the slides.
6. MEDIUM SHOT–HOST
Camera moves in closer as he speaks.
HOST
These slides were used in illustrated lectures presented world-wide by Dr. Price. His message: That eating the wrong kinds of modern food caused tooth decay, general physical degeneration, and facial and dental-arch deformities.
Dr. Price began his search for health in the early 1930’s…
DISSOLVE TO: SEPARATE NARRATOR. BG MUSIC AND SFX.
7. ARTWORK–MAP OF SWITZERLAND
Camera zeros in on the Loetschental Valley. This will be a slow movement.7A. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY Several views of the Valley. |
NARRATOR (VO): He visited Switzerland to study whether greater nutrition could be obtained from Foods produced at higher altitudes. He discovered the isolated Loetschental Valley–a community compelled by its very isolation to eat locally produced foods. |
7B. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Pictures of Loetschental Valley, people, the land, and the animals. |
Here he made physical exams of teeth, recorded data, collected menus and made photographs of the people. Samples of food and saliva were taken for later analysis in his laboratory. |
7C. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Photographs of the people of the Valley showing faces, teeth, general health. |
The people had well-formed teeth, good physiques, and an apparent immunity to disease and dental problems. |
7D. ARTWORK–FOODS
Montage of individual foods, to include cheese, milk, rye bread, and plant foods. |
They ate mainly dairy products, whole-rye bread, and plant foods. Meat was served only once a week. |
7E. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Photographs of Swiss showing tooth decay and deformities. |
In contrast, Swiss living in modernized districts had widespread tooth decay, facial and dental arch deformities, and susceptibility to disease. Their diet: refined flours, a high intake of sweets, chocolate, sweetened fruits, and reduced use of dairy products. |
8. ARTWORK–MAP OF SCOTLAND
Showing the Outer Hebrides as camera moves in closer favoring islands. |
Dr. Price made similar studies among the Gaelic people that inhabit the isolated Outer Hebrides off the coast of Scotland. |
9. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Photographs of healthy, Gaelic people. |
Where the people ate good food indigenous to the area, they were healthy and robust. |
9A. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Photographs of people showing dental deformities. |
But, when they were exposed to “so-called” modern food, it was a sad repeat of what was found in Switzerland. |
10. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Photograph of two brothers–one obviously healthy. The other with tooth decay. Start with full two shot. CUT to CLOSE-UP of man with good teeth. Then CLOSE-UP of other man with bad teeth. Pull back slightly to again favor both brothers. |
These two brothers were from the same household– eating at the same table. The older boy enjoyed such primitive foods as oat cakes, sea foods, and dairy products. The younger insisted on eating white bread, jam, sweetened coffee, and sweet chocolate. He had extensive tooth decay.
His brother had excellent teeth. |
11. ARTWORK–MAP OF ALASKA
Camera moves in slowly on Arctic area of Alaska. |
Dr. Price visited Alaska in 1933 to study the Eskimos, a last example of a Stone-Age people. |
11A. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Photographs of eskimos. |
HOST (VO): Here he discovered examples of physical excellence and dental perfection seldom found anywhere in the world. |
11B. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Series of shots showing Eskimos in various aspects of their lives. |
Living in isolated districts on native foods, they had uniformly broad dental arches and typical Eskimo facial patterns. Their general health was excellent. |
12. ARTWORK–FOOD OF ESKIMOS
Montage of food to include: caribou, nuts, kelp, berries, blossoms, fish, seal oil. |
The Eskimos ate foods rich in minerals and vitamins; mainly caribou, ground nuts, kelp, berries, flower blossoms preserved in seal oil, sorrel grass, frozen fish, organs of large sea animals, and seal oil. |
13. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY | When exposed to the foods of civilization, the Eskimos showed a marked rise in dental caries and changes in facial and dental arch formation. |
DISSOLVE TO:
14. INT–LIBRARY/STUDY
HOST continues on camera.
HOST
Dr. Price continued his studies with Indians in Northern Canada. Although they were in close contact with civilization, they still lived much as their ancestors had.
DISSOLVE TO:
15. ARTWORK–MAP OF NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA AND YUKON TERRITORY
Camera slowly moves in on this area. |
NARRATOR (VO): These Indians inhabited Northern British Columbia and the Yukon Territory, an area inside the Rocky Mountain Range. |
15A. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Photographs of Indians living in this area. Healthy people. |
Long ago they discovered that the White Man got scurvy when forced to live for long periods of time in this area where fresh fruits and vegetables were not available. |
15B. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Photographs of animals they hunted. (NOTE: Depending on available photos from Price slides or condition, we will use new pictures of animals possibly from animal books.) |
To avoid this disease, the Indians ate the adrenal gland and organs of animals, such as the Moose. This gave them Vitamin C… the vitamin that cures scurvy. |
15C. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Pictures of Indians with good teeth. |
Primitive groups of Indians consistently had well-formed facial and dental arches that represented the tribal pattern. |
15D. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Pictures of Indians with degenerating teeth. |
But new generations, exposed to the foods of civilization, obtained at trading posts or through government agencies, showed marked changes in facial and dental arch forms. |
DISSOLVE TO:
16. INT.–LIBRARY/STUDY
HOST is standing, holding Dr. Price’s book.
HOST
(Reading from book) Dr. Price wrote: “The Indians, like several primitive races I have studied, are aware of the fact that their degeneration is in some way brought about by their contact with the White Man.” (HOST looks up at camera)
These primitive people had the wisdom to realize that their natural diet would give them good health.
DISSOLVE TO:
17. ARTWORK–MAP OF MELANESIA
Camera moves slowly to single out islands of the Pacific known as Oceania, picking out the Solomons, Admiralty, New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Fiji, the Bismarck Archipelago. |
NARRATOR (VO): By 1934 Dr. Price decided to study the Melanesians, the people who inhabit the islands of the Pacific, North-East of Australia–the area known as Oceania. |
17A. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Photographs show Dr. Price with Melanesians. |
Dr. Price lived with these people, collecting and studying data about their living conditions. |
17B. ARTWORK–FOOD OF MELANESIANS
Montage of food to include: shell and scale fish, plant roots and fruit. |
Not surprisingly, he found that people who ate the foods of the area…shell and scale fish, plant roots, and fruits, had developed a very high immunity to dental caries. |
17C. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Healthy Melanesians. |
Also, they had well formed faces and good dental arches. In their primitive state only 0.42 per cent of their teeth were attacked by tooth decay. |
17D. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Photographs of unhealthy Melanesians. |
But, as though echoing a warning from nature, herself, the message was clear. Those people who ate foods outside their natural diets had a rise and tooth decay of over 29 per cent. |
DISSOLVE TO:
18. ARTWORK–ANIMATION
Map of Africa. Start with full view, then gradually come down to area Price visited. Animate a broken line to cover entire area he visited. |
By 1935 Dr. Price went on one of his longest trips; some 6,000 miles to study thirty different African groups. |
19. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Photographs of African area visited by Price. Photos also show primitive methods of travel and difficult terrain. |
Africa was a fertile field for studying primitive peoples. It was the last of the large continents to be invaded and explored by civilized man, and it had one of the largest native populations still living under primitive conditions. |
19A. ARTWORK–FOOD OF AFRICANS
Montage of shots to include: fish, vegetables, eggs, and milk. |
These were healthy, robust people. They ate mainly dairy products, marine life, vegetables, insects, and eggs of certain species. They knew that these were valuable foods. |
19B. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Photography shows unhealthy people. (Show slides or use artwork to illustrate teeth deformity.) |
Yet for those who ignored tribal nutrition laws, characteristic types of deformity frequently developed in the children. One of the simplest forms of deformity, and one also common in the United States, involves the dropping inward of the lateral teeth with a narrowing of the upper arch. This makes the incisors appear abnormally prominent and crowds the cuspids outside the line of the arch. |
DISSOLVE TO:
20. INT.–LIBRARY/STUDY
HOST
Once more Dr. Price found that when primitive people ignored their natural foods and ate the foods of civilization, they paid the cost of poor health. And so, Dr. Price continued his travels.
He visited Polynesia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Torres Straits. At each, he found the same warnings.
When the people ignored nature’s laws of life, the result was dental decay and disease.
DISSOLVE TO:
21. ARTWORK–MAP OF PERU
Slow movement onto the map of Peru. |
NARRATOR (VO): One of Dr. Price’s last journeys was to Peru. Here he compared modern Peruvian society with the ancient Incas and Tihuanacans. (Note: Tihanuaco had a high degree of civilization and was a flourishing metropolis of some ten or more millions of inhabitants about 20 thousand years BC. Today only a few relics of the ruins remain.) |
22. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Pictures of human skulls. |
This was done by examining 1,226 human skulls of the Ancients. He did not find one significant deformity of the dental arches. The land was hard, the altitude high, but the Ancients had survived. |
22A. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Photographs of unhealthy Peruvians. |
But their descendants were degenerating and dying rapidly. This was another warning…another indication to obey nature’s laws. |
DISSOLVE TO:
23. INT.–LIBRARY/STUDY
CU of HOST speaking directly to the camera.
HOST
Most primitive societies were originally able to avoid physical degeneration and tooth decay so general in many communities today, because of the nutritionally balanced foods that were readily available to them.
(As HOST speaks next line, camera pulls back to reveal Dr. Joseph Connolly, Jr., seated beside him.)
Dr. Joseph Connolly, Jr. has studied the effects of nutrition on the development of the teeth, over a period of many years. Dr. Connolly, would you comment on some of the things we have seen and talked about?
(SUPERIMPOSE “Dr. Joseph Connolly, Jr., DDS over shot as he speaks.)
DR. CONNOLLY
Well, since the teeth are the only visible part of the skeleton, they are the first visible indicators of degeneration and deformity.
Two serious defects many people in our society suffer from our impacted teeth and the absence of teeth due to their failure to develop. I think that it is significant that in the arches of primitive peoples practically all teeth formed and erupted normally, including third molars.
(Dr. Connolly holds some plaster cast of teeth in his hand. We cut to inserts of these as he speaks.)
Dr. Price’s studies are filled with evidence that poor foods caused dental decay and poor health.
DISSOLVE TO:
24. MONTAGE–MODERN FOODS
A series of shots showing a variety of junk foods with people eating the foods. Light-hearted, humorous examples, to include: Child eating ice cream cone Fat girl reaching for candy in a dish Teenage boy eating french fries Hand filling coffee cup with white sugar Hand spreading jam on white bread Child pouring soda into glass |
DR. CONNOLLY (VO): Modern society eats all the types of foods that Dr. Price identified as non-foods or “dead foods.” He labeled refined carbohydrates as “the white plague,” and included in this group all sugar and white starch flour products.
I think the term “junk food” is pretty accurate for this kind of food. Today we are at a great disadvantage in the selection of foods because we seem to have lost a “sixth sense” to recognize a specific need for special food. |
DISSOLVE TO:
25. INT.–LIBRARY/STUDY
CU Dr. Connolly as he continues speaking to HOST. Intercut reactions of HOST to what Dr. Connolly says.
DR. CONNOLLY
Many primitive peoples and most animals retain the capacity to satisfy the body needs by choosing the foods that will provide minerals and vitamins. Most of the foods available to us today on the shelves of our supermarkets, invariably failed to provide even the minimum requirements necessary to good health.
DISSOLVE TO:
26. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Slides showing people with signs of degeneration, especially in teeth and dental arches, due to poor nutrition. |
DR. CONNOLLY (VO): Dr. Price discovered that with individuals undergoing a degenerative process, a chemical analysis of the food disclosed a marked reduction in the intake of some of the importance of vitamins and minerals.
Even primitive societies share our blight when they eat our food. |
DISSOLVE TO:
27. INT.–LIBRARY/STUDY
Dr. Connolly continues to talk to the HOST.
DR. CONNOLLY
Dr. Price discovered a substance he called “Activator X.” It belongs in the fat-soluble group. He recognized that the fat-soluble vitamins of A, D, and E have been deficient in practically every case of active tooth decay.
DISSOLVE TO:
26. ARTWORK–FOODS WITH ACTIVATOR X COMPONENTS
Montage of CLOSE-UPS showing various foods eaten by primitives with high quotients of Activator X. |
DR. CONNOLLY (VO): He found that an essential characteristic of the successful dietary programs of primitive societies related to a liberal source of the fat-soluble activator group.
He also found that Activator X assisted in the absorption of other vitamins and minerals in the diet. |
DISSOLVE TO:
29. INT.–LIBRARY/STUDY
Dr. Connolly and HOST.
DR. CONNOLLY
Even though the diets of primitive people differed markedly, all diets provided a large increase in water soluble factors over modern diets by at least a factor of four. Since these foods were unrefined they also supplied from two to eight times the minimum daily requirements of calcium and phosphorus and twenty-eight times that of magnesium.
Camera moves in closer to favor the HOST.
HOST
Thank you, Dr. Connolly.
HOST faces camera. Dr. Connolly is off camera.
HOST (cont.)
In their own ways primitive societies exercised a population control of physically healthy people. They also, somehow knew that their civilization depended upon the soil their food came from.
DISSOLVE TO:
30. EXT.–FARMERS CULTIVATING SOIL
Montage of scenes showing farmers at work; cultivating, harvesting, planting. If possible use stock footage of natives cultivating crops. |
NARRATOR (VO): The entire treatment of food, from planting to preparing, was important. Dr. Price believed that changes in nutrition could occur with a change in agricultural methods. And there was a direct relationship between poor quality foods and the depletion of the minerals in the soil. |
DISSOLVE TO:
31. ARTWORK–FOODS EATEN BY PRIMITIVE PEOPLES
Series of CLOSE-UPS of foods expectant mothers might eat in various parts of the world. |
Primitive societies were aware of the relationship between what they ate and their own reproduction, so nutrition was carefully planned for expectant mothers. |
DISSOLVE TO:
32. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
People with elongated faces, badly aligned teeth, and low foreheads. |
When the food of modern society was substituted for their natural diet, there was evidence of abnormal facial patterns and susceptibility to certain diseases. |
DISSOLVE TO:
33. PRICE SLIDES–FILMOGRAPHY
Healthy parents followed by pictures of children showing signs of physical deformation. |
It apparently took only one generation of wrong eating to destroy a family heritage of perfect teeth and bone structure, jaw alignment, and dental arches. |
DISSOLVE TO:
34. INT.–LIBRARY/STUDY
HOST
Dr. Price’s book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration gives us a graphic account of how our society has degenerated because of poor diet.
He found that skeletal remains revealed that there had been more dental caries in the last one hundred years than at any previous time. Startling, but true.
Dr. Price wrote that Nature’s laws must be obeyed. Apparently primitive people understood that better than we moderns.
Today, the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation is carrying on the work begun by Dr. price.
His international study was just the beginning. From his research we know that we have available all the foods we need to be healthy. All we have to do is look.
MUSIC UP.
DISSOLVE TO:
35. PICTURE OF DR. PRICE
This is blow-up of a CU we saw in the motion picture footage of him.
SUPERIMPOSED over this picture of Dr. Price we read:
“Life in all its fullness is Mother Nature obeyed.”
–Weston A. Price, DDS
FADE OUT AND IN:
TITLE: Produced by the PRICE-POTTENGER NUTRITION FOUNDATION, INC.
DISSOLVE TO:
TITLE: Credits
Editor’s note: Since the era in which this article was written, society’s understanding of respectful terminology when referring to ethnic and cultural groups has evolved, and some readers may be offended by references to “primitive” people and other out-of-date terminology. However, this article has been archived as a historical document, and so we have chosen to use the author’s exact words in the interest of authenticity. No disrespect to any cultural or ethnic group is intended.