| View Larger Image | Nova: Typhoid Mary [VHS] | VHS TapeStarring: Nova
| List Price: | $19.95 | |
| | Binding: | VHS Tape | | Rating: |  | | Run Time: | 60 minutes | | Format: | Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC | | Studio: | Wgbh Boston | | Number of Discs: | 1 | | Release Date: | January 04, 2005 | | Sales Rank: | 37,186th |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Description
The notorious life of "Typhoid Mary." When six members of a wealthy family contracted typhoid fever in posh Oyster Bay, Long Island, in August 1906, one question puzzled everyone: how could such an upscale summer enclave become infected with this highly contagious "slum disease"? Hired to perform the bacterial detective work, George Soper soon discovered the source of the outbreak was Mary Mallon, a 37-year-old Irish immigrant cook he feared was a "walking typhoid fever factory." But how could this seemingly healthy woman, with no outward symptoms, infect so many people? At a time when the concept of communicable diseases was not widely understood, the story of "Typhoid Mary" pitted the new science of bacteriology against ancient terrors. Mary’s banishment to a quarantine island off Manhattan against her will also revealed the newfound power of health officials who protected the masses while violating individual liberties. Today, with the presence of SARS, HIV-AIDS, influenza, and ebola, public health policies continue to search for the proper balance of protection and freedom. With stirring dramatizations featuring Marian Tomas Griffin (As the World Turns) and Tony Award-nominee Jere Shea (Guys and Dolls), NOVA shares Mary Mallon’s dangerous tale, based on the acclaimed book Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public’s Health by Judith Walzer Leavitt. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 7 reviews)
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Great movie, I am using for high school students by D. Block (Pearland, Texas)  4 Stars
June 17, 2009
This was an interesting account of typhoid Mary. It gives both sides of her story. I teach a high school health class and we cover the history of medicine. I enjoyed the movie and plan on showing it next fall.
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A glitzy production. by Tom Brody (Berkeley, CA)  5 Stars
November 02, 2007
The picture on the disc's case is a plain drawing, in brown and white. But what we find on the disc is a glitzy, professional production. Roughly equal amounts of time are spent showing these three things:
(1) Two actors, representing Typhoid Mary and George Soper, giving monologues, (2) Archival generic black and white motion pictures and stills showing squalid living conditions in New York City or Ireland, and (3) Interviews with present-day academics filmed in color.
Usually, Typhoid Mary and George Soper are shown filmed in color, where the backdrop is a tinted photograph from the early 1900s. There are a few scenes taking place in real rooms (not just with a photo for a backdrop), for example a kitchen where Typhoid Mary is cooking, an apartment building where a group of actors dressed as policemen are hunting for Miss Typhoid Mary, and a bathroom where a man with typhoid fever is being treated with an ice bath. The main point of the movie is that Typhoid Mary was not able to understand, or accept, the concept of a "carrier." A "carrier" is a human host who shows little or no sign of a disease, but sheds bacteria causing other people to get sick and die. The disc lists a number of extra features: Printable materials for educators, cloased captions, and described video for the visually impaired.
I have two criticisms. First, the disc should have spent at least one minute showing a drawing of Salmonella typhi, that is, a drawing depicting the flagella, plasma membrane, bacterial chromosome, and so on. The disc shows a movie of bacteria busy with cell division, but it is not a very detailed movie, and it serves merely as an amusing thing to look at (and not particularly informative to anyone). Second, the film fails to disclose, in any detail, the mechanisms by which S. typhi makes people sick.
I found the following information from the published literature, regarding these mechanisms. Salmonella typhi pentetrates the ileum and enters the macrophages. The macrophages then carry the bacterium to the spleen, liver, and other organs. Also, in the ileum, the bacterium causes perforation, where the perforation occurs during the second week of infection. Intestinal performation, which results in bleeding ulcers, is one of the most serious complications in typhoid fever (see, e.g., Nguyen, et al. (2004) Clin. Infect. Dis. 39:61-67; Huang, et al. (1998) Infection Immunity 66:2928-2937; Lee, et al. (2004) Dig. Liver Dis. 36:141-146).
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Typhoid Mary Comes Alive by Stephan Bullard (Hartford, CT USA) 4 Stars
August 06, 2007
This is a solid film about Mary Mallon (aka Typhoid Mary) and the efforts of the New York Board of Health to prevent her from spreading typhoid fever. Mary's is an interesting story. She was a poor Irish immigrant who worked as a cook for upper class New Yorkers in the early 1900s. Although she was a carrier for typhoid fever, she was not herself sick. Over the course of her career she gave a total of 47 people typhoid fever, 3 of whom died. Although she was identified as a potential carrier early on, she was never sick and did not accept the idea that she was the cause of typhoid outbreaks. Eventually forced quarantine was required to keep her from cooking and spreading the disease.
NOVA does a commendable job of telling Mary's story. It uses still photos (Ken Burns fashion) and enacted dramatizations to provide a balanced view of Mary's case. Viewers gain insight into to probable viewpoints of all concerned parties including Mary and the various involved doctors. The video also raises the interesting question of the value of an individual rights compared to public good in the face of a public health crisis. This DVD be good for the classroom - probably high school or college level - although it's a bit slow for the first ~15 minutes. Those looking for videos about infectious diseases in general, or who are interested in the real work effects of disease outbreaks, may be more interested in Ebola: The Plague Fighters, also produced by NOVA.
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Be Careful With That Home Made Peach Ice Cream! by Susan Y. Schoonover (Boulder, CO) 4 Stars
March 10, 2007
This is another well produced NOVA offering that this time centers on the infamous "Typhoid Mary!" I've heard the name/ phrase all my life but never really knew it referred to a real person with a real story until viewing this DVD. Her story is well told through dramatic reenactments supposedly using the character's real words, vintage photos, and modern day health and historical experts. And whether Mary was an unknowing victim or a vindictive villain is given fair coverage without reaching a real conclusion.
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Mary, Mary, quite contrary (spolier warning) by Harley Quinn (New York) 4 Stars
November 03, 2006
Mary Mallon was an Irish immigrant who worked as a cook to several wealthy families. Unfortunately, she was also a healthy carrier of typhoid and most of the families she worked for became sick, some people actually died. As a result she was quarantined twice on an island for individuals similar to herself, the second time was for the remainder of her life.
This was a good documentary: it interweaved re-enactments, interviews from historians, mock interviews from the character actors as the real life participants, and photos from the actual participants and time period covered.
The documentary not only covered the life of Mary Mallon but the social and economic issues of the time that affected the outcome of her life so dramatically. For example, attitudes towards Irish immigrants at the time are examined, advances in medicine, class relations and biases, sexism, urbanization, etc Had any number of these factors been different the legend of "Typhoid Mary" may not have existed or may have been significantly altered.
One problem I had with the documentary was that it was biased and not objective for the most part. I agree that Ms.Mallon was subjected to prejudices which were exacerbated by her being a typhoid carrier, but as another reviewer commented it was hard to sympathize with her on some levels and in many ways she was not a victim but contributed to her own persecution. She refused to acknowledge she was a carrier of the disease in the face of overwhelming evidence which resulted in more people getting sick and in some cases dying. She may have refused to acknowledge this for many reasons, indeed perhaps its what kept her from giving up on life.
At the end of the day it will all boil down to one question for many viewers:is it right to deny a person their civil liberties in order to protect the general public? For many people I think the answer will be yes when that person refuses or is unable to acknowledge the consequences of their actions (although unintentional)resulting in more people getting hurt. The story of "Typhoid Mary" is tragic in that she was not just a captive of the Health Department, but of her own self denial.
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