1917 Fire-Safety Film Found in Libraries, Newly Restored, to Debut

A 1917 film dramatizing the importance of fire safety that was discovered in the University of Maryland Libraries archives has been restored and will officially premiere Aug. 25 at the Chicago History Museum.

“An Unbeliever Convinced” is a silent, 20-minute PSA created by the National Fire Protection Association, the Bureau of Fire Prevention and Public Safety of the city of Chicago, the Chicago Fire Department and the Chicago Police Department. It was produced by the standards and safety organization Underwriters Laboratories (UL), which had been searching for the film for decades. It was found only recently in UMD Libraries’ Special Collections. 

“To the best of my knowledge, the only copy that existed is the one we had,” said Mark Coulbourne, UMD Libraries’ head of preservation. 

In the film, a wealthy real estate owner named E.H. Simpson thoughtlessly disregards orders from Chicago’s fire chief to make sure one of his buildings is up to code. Workers go about their business there until an errant cigarette in the basement starts a fire. As the fire spreads and panic ensues, the film ironically juxtaposes excerpts from the chief’s neglected instructions: Section 321: Remove all rubbish from basement. Section 24: Install an approved system of automatic sprinklers in basement.

The film shows the Chicago firefighters arriving and gallantly saving as many people as possible from the fire, but the film ends with a body in the morgue: that of Simpson’s daughter, Dorothy. “Convinced—but too late,” the title card reads.

Ironically, the film came to light because of fire prevention. Libraries staffers were checking its holdings to ensure that they don’t contain nitrate film, a popular but flammable film base used until about 1951. Mike Henry, mass media and culture coordinator in Special Collections, plucked out “An Unbeliever Convinced” and another film labeled as using nitrate.

Part of a 1991 donation from the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, it was extremely old and brittle. But “An Unbeliever Convinced” wasn’t filmed on nitrate at all, but instead 28mm, a nonflammable material used early in the 20th century before other technological innovations overtook it. 

Thanks to Coulbourne, partnerships with Periscope Films, the University of Southern California and UL led to the professional and lengthy restoration and digitization. A screening was held in May at UMD’s Hornbake Library.

The upcoming showing of the restored film, which includes a newly commissioned score, will kick off the Chicago History Museum’s exhibit, “The Symbol of Safety: The Story of Underwriters Laboratories and the Creation of Safety Science.”