This is a humorous film made by the women members of Leeds Cine Club. This film gives an example of what life would be like had they traded domestic roles with their husbands. Title: Liberated films presents, 'If You Can't Beat 'Em' The film begins with a woman chopping vegetables in a kitchen. The woman narrator says that, "The wife of a cine enthusiast must have many qualities, including patience and tolerance, but above all a sense of humour." As she goes to...

This is a humorous film made by the women members of Leeds Cine Club. This film gives an example of what life would be like had they traded domestic roles with their husbands. Title: Liberated films presents, 'If You Can't Beat 'Em' The film begins with a woman chopping vegetables in a kitchen. The woman narrator says that, "The wife of a cine enthusiast must have many qualities, including patience and tolerance, but above all a sense of humour." As she goes to use the blender she finds that the plug has been taken off, and so too with the sandwich maker, the hair dryer and the iron. She goes to berate her husband as he works editing a film, with loads of electrical equipment plugged into the wall sockets. In another house a couple sit looking, ostensibly, at holiday brochures. But the woman discovers that her husband is really reading 'Movie Maker' behind his brochure. Intertitle: 'meanwhile . . ' A couple are out window shopping on the streets of Leeds, but as the woman stops to look at things she is interested in her husband pulls her away, until they come to a camera shop. Here they enter and come out of with a bag of items, only to turn and go back in again. Intertitle: 'two feints later . . ' They emerge from the shop again with the man holding a large parcel. At another house a man is dosing on the settee. His wife comes in to see that all her crockery has been taken out of the cabinet and replaced with camera equipment. At this point the woman narrator says, "Our husbands suggest that we take up a hobby, but do they really mean it?" Then the first wife gets into a car with a camera stand and says goodbye to her husband holding the baby. She is followed by one of the other wives leaving the house, carrying a camera stand, and waving goodbye to her husband and two children. Back home the second husband is getting all flustered doing the housework and looking after his two children. Another husband is hanging out the washing. A third husband is in the kitchen and wearing an apron that states, 'Britain's Number One Dad'. He is listening to the Jimmy Young show on Radio Two, "what's the recipe today, Jim?" whilst trying to mix something and burning himself getting a casserole from out of the oven. A third husband paces up and down trying to pacify his crying baby. He ends up putting on a record, putting headphones on himself and the baby, and has a beer. Intertitle: 'group meeting' One of the husbands is preparing a buffet in the kitchen, with the wives arriving one at a time. The four wives sit around the table and, as he bends over to put the food out, one of the wives pinches him on the bottom and winks at the camera. The End - written on a bra that is hanging up on a wall, which then goes up in flames. End Credits: Thanks to our lovely husbands for being such good sports. Liberated wives: Tania, Joan, Doris, Mary. Domesticated husbands: Sid, Jim, Paul, Arthur. Directed and Bullied by Doreen Wood and Doris Lythe