"Dr. Wise on Influenza" is a fascinating public-information film on the 1918-1920 influenza pandemic (also known by the misnomer of "the Spanish flu," a term never actually stated in this film). From the Local Government Board (subsequently known as the Ministry of Health), the film directly addresses the British public on the epidemic, with a "Dr. Wise" speaking--via silent-film intertitles--to spectators on the dangers of the flu and of some precautions to take against being infected. Ever timely, this film has recently been posted online by the British Film Institute, including on their website and on their YouTube channel, and so may now be viewed by another generation, 100 years later, experiencing another pandemic.
One wonders what our ancestors did when movie theatres showing films such as this, along with other public spaces, were closed (I've suspected that 1918, in particular, has fewer films that survive today even compared to the great loss of silent films in general because not as many were released--just as in 2020 there have been few theatrically-released movies), and they stayed at home in quarantine without such modern technologies as the internet, computers, mobile phones and television. I suppose they read those books made on paper or something. Indeed, there's a scene in the drama part of this picture that does a lot of the heavy lifting for the plot through a character's reading of a newspaper, telegram and letters. In this drama illustrating the points made by Dr. Wise, a gross Mr. Brown sneezes or coughs on every one he runs into--infecting at least one of his co-workers as well as, perhaps, many other bystanders he comes in contact with.
Dr. Wise's advice will sound mostly familiar to a modern viewer. He says that those sick like Mr. Brown should stay home and away from others, although one scene's idea of social distancing seems insufficient--not even precluding a hand shake. Hand washing is also never mentioned, although Dr. Wise does instruct gargling and douching of the nose with "lotion of potassium permanganate and common salt," which is something I've never otherwise heard of, but what do I know; I'm not a doctor, let alone a wise one. He's also particular about breathing "through the nostrils with the mouth shut." More familiar advice, besides isolating the sick and general social distancing, or sneezing and coughing into a handkerchief instead of people's faces, include warning against crowding into ill-ventilated places and for cleaning to disinfect them, and a demonstration on mask wearing, including a nurse making her own personal protection equipment. He says it's important to keep fit, too, which is good advice in general. Dr. Wise also shows off a view of the the microbes behind the flu; "generally thin worm-like bodies," as he describes it.
It's also interesting to see how early this structure for public-information, or public service announcement, films existed--at a time when newsreels and modern documentaries had only recently been invented--whereby an expert lectures directly to, more or less, the camera and spectator on a subject, which is edited together with a dramatic enactment of a fictional scenario demonstrating the lecture, along with, perhaps, some documentary footage (such as the footage of nurses at a hospital here). The same style has been carried over for several generations of educational and documentary films now and may have only become less common since being parodied, including in exploitation cinema such as with "Reefer Madness" (1936). Although the tens of millions who died from the 1918 pandemic and the political and misinformational controversies of today might suggest otherwise, this public-service format survived because it was an effective means of storytelling and disseminating knowledge. Film, or wise doctors for that matter, can only do so much, though, especially when there are Mr. Browns about.