100 Years Ago: The Delicate Subject

Newspaper advertisement for Fit to Win.

Few film screenings in Lethbridge history attracted as much attention as the 1920 screening of Fit to Win. The War Department of the United States commissioned the film, which was promoted as “the first motion picture to tell the truth about the cause and effect of venereal diseases.” Fit to Win tells the stories of two young soldiers; one sets out to “go to the limit,” the other decides “to tread the straight and narrow.” New York State and other areas censored the film, declaring it obscene in 1919 despite its educational and public health purpose. 

Alberta’s Provincial Board of Health requested that local theatres across the province screen Fit to Win as a public health campaign against the spread of venereal diseases. The provincial authorities suggested that the film should be shown “to audiences which are requested to be composed of men only.” Still, they did indicate that exclusively female audiences could also view the film “if satisfactory arrangements can be made.”

A Lethbridge Herald headline painted the film as a “sex picture.” The article itself described the film as “vivid to say the least.” An editorial that also ran in the Lethbridge Herald encouraged tackling the subject head-on, without “too much prudery,” which was a duty in “the days of plain speaking.” Ironically, the writer never plainly named the subject of the film—sexually transmitted diseases—preferring euphemisms such as “social evil” and “hidden scourge.” The author might as well have been talking about bad grammar. 

Despite the suggestion of the provincial authorities that the screenings be segregated to “audiences of men only,” a short article in the Lethbridge Herald reported that a young woman was discovered leaving the theatre dressed in men’s clothing after the film had ended. Fit to Win was screened to a female audience in Lethbridge two months later.