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The Online Reefer Madness Teaching Museum
Reefer
Madness
Movies, Film
Index:
Notes taken from the American Film
Institute
Catalog:
Museum Index of short
film(s) -- Reefer Madness era:
NOTCH NUMBER ONE: (1924)
AKA: The First Notch
Ben
Wilson Productions. Dist Arrow Film
Corp. 13 Sep 1924 [cl4 Apr 1924;
LP200761. Si; b&w. 35mm. 5
reels, 4,746 ft.
Story
Daniel F. Whitcomb.
Cast:
Ben Wilson, Marjorie Daw.
Western
melodrama. Tom Watson, foreman
of the Moore Ranch, is silently in love with Dorothy, the owner's daughter, who
is engaged to Dave Leonard. One
night Dave becomes violent after smoking some marihuana
(loco weed) given him by Pete, a ranch hand recently fired by Tom.
Moore
tries to restrain Dave. Pete,
seeking revenge, shoots
Moore
. Tom, believing Dave guilty, takes
the blame and becomes a fugitive. He
is captured after rescuing 6-year-old Dickie Moore, who had become lost on the
desert. Pete is found dead, but with
a confession that frees Tom.
Jewel
Robbery (1932)
As
the dapper criminal known simply as "The Robber," William Powell
requires no machine guns to hold up a plush
Vienna
jewelry shop. Plying his victims with marijuana cigarettes and the police with
blonde female witnesses, he gingerly relieves the shop of its diamonds; it's as
easy as slipping a bracelet off a woman's wrist while kissing her hand. Kay
Francis stars with Powell as Baroness Teri, who comes to realize that the love
of a jewel thief is even more exciting than the jewels themselves. A
sophisticated, Lubitsch-like caper, Jewel Robbery was called in the original New
York Times review, "nervous, brittle comedy.... The situation is as
capricious, the dialogue as sprightly and the settings as sinfully luxurious as
they ought to be."
Directed
by William Dieterle. Written by Erwin Gelsey from the play by Laszlo Fodor. With
William Powell, Kay Francis, Hardie Albright. (1932, 68 mins, Print from
MGM/United Artists)
Narcotic
(1933)
Runtime:
57 minutes - .VHS $16.99
Director: Dwain
Esper
Summary:
The road from respected MD to opium-addicted carnie huckster is
merely a puff away, according to Dwain Esper, the notorious exploitation auteur
of the 1930s. Vival Sodar't is credited as director, but Esper takes top billing
as "interpreter" of this salacious, hypocritical morality tale.
Ostensibly based on the true story of snake-oil salesman William Davies, the
uncle of Esper's wife Hildegarde, the film uses a veil of medical quotes and
moralizing slogans to frame this sensationalistic story of drug addiction,
depravity, and the road to spiritual ruin. The film lurches from scene to scene
more like a demolition derby than a movie, but Esper knows how to keep an
audience engaged: one highlight features a hopped-up taxi driver turning into a
drooling maniac and steering smack into an oncoming train. It's scratchy old
silent footage clumsily intercut with new close-ups, but the sheer
outrageousness overcomes such details. Other scenes, however, suffer from wooden
acting, clumsy transitions, and sheer directorial incompetence. Narcotic
is a sensationalistic zero-budget mess, not a good film by anyone's standard,
but the mix of hokey melodramatics, bargain-basement sets, eager scenes of
depravity, and preachy moralizing creates an atmosphere of unintentional
surrealism that is often impossible to follow but stupefying entertaining. --Sean Axmaker
Distributor:
Movies Unlimited
John Wayne in
*Marijuana* Movie Poster
John
Wayne stars in this classic film Titled "Marijuana"
in Italy. but "Big Jim Mclain" everywhere else. for more
info on this move see this link http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044418/
HARLEM
AFTER MIDNIGHT – (1934)
Micheaux
Pictures Corp. Dist Micheaux Pictures Corp. 1934? [ãMicheaux
Pictures Corp.; 12 Mar 1935; LP5399]. Sd:
b&w. 8 reels.
Dir
Oscar Micheaux. Wrt Oscar Micheaux.
Black,
Gangster, Drama. [Not viewed]. After
her gangster husband Jerry Martin was sent to prison three years earlier, Vivian
Poret began dating Nelson Gentry, the son of her employer, Charley, Nelson urges
Vivian to get an annulment so that they can be married.
When Jerry, known as Jerry "The Snitch," because he snitched on
his gang, escapes from prison, he learns that Vivian is living well in Harlem
and decides to visit her. Although
Vivian offers Jerry Five hundred dollars, her life savings, to grant her a
divorce, he refuses to cooperate and demands ten times that amount, which he
tells her to get from the Gentrys. Meanwhile,
Nelson ends his affair with Kate Elkins, a kept woman, and she determines to
take revenge on him. Kate soon finds
an opportunity to get her revenge when Vivian's younger sister, Sacha, comes to
New York in the hope of becoming an entertainer.
Kate and Jerry, united in their animosity towards Vivian, decide to have
Jerry's pal Harold Stokes befriend Sacha and lead her astray.
After gaining Vivian's trust, Harold takes Sacha out and offers to help
further her career if she promises to keep subsequent meetings with him a secret
from her sister. Harold is actually
planning to sell her to an old man for his pleasure, but Sacha realizes her
error in time and confesses to Vivian that she has learned her lesson.
Kate knows that Jerrv siylokes marijuana
and is a "reefer addict," and eventually becomes nervous when she
learns that a man he informed on years earlier is now after him.
The police are tipped off to raid Kate's, where Jerry has hidden Razoff,
a wealthy Jew whom he kidnapped to collect it $10,000
reward. Jerry manages to avoid
capture in the raid and tries, once again, to get money from Vivian, but she
refuses.
Note:
Although the film was copyrighted in 1935, records from the New York
Censor Board indicate that it was submitted for approval in Apr 1934.
At that time, the Board approved the film "with elimination’s.”
The exact date of the picture's release is not known.
According to modern sources, the film was made early in 1933 and released
in 1934, and the cast included Lorenzo Tucker as a gangster, Lionel Monagos,
"Slick" Chester and possibly
Dorothy Van Engle.
Murder At The Vanities
"Kitty Carlisle and Carl Brisson are co-starring in
'Earl Carroll Vanities,' and plan to get married after the opening night
performance. Brisson's old flame, Gertrude Michael, makes him postpone the
marriage by threatening to expose the fact that the wardrobe woman is actually
Brisson's mother who is wanted for a 30-year-old murder. Lights and sandbags
start falling from the catwalks, barely missing Carlisle, and stage manager Jack
Oakie calls gruff police sergeant Victor McLaglen in to investigate. Murder At
The Vanities was a combination murder mystery and spectacular musical which
pushed the limits of bawdiness and nudity farther than they would go in any
American film until the 1960s.... The film's most famous number, 'Sweet
Marijuana,' features Gertrude Michael moaning a lament about a lost lover and
the marijuana that will 'bring him back to me although it's just a fantasy,' in
front of a line of chorus boys in sombreros." --David Chierichetti
Directed by Mitchell Leisen. Screenplay by Carey Wilson,
Joseph Gollomb, Sam Hellman. Based on the play by Earl Carroll and Rufus King.
With Carl Brisson, Gertrude Michael, Victor McLaglen, Jack Oakie, Kitty
Carlisle, the Duke Ellington Orchestra. (1934, 89 mins, 35mm Nitrate Print from
UCLA Archives, Courtesy of Universal Pictures)
MARIJUANA
(1935)
Category:
Documentary Cast:
Hartley
Wood
Distributor:
Sinister Cinema - info@sinistercinema.com
Summary:
Good girls go bad after smoking the
devil's weed. A great campy classic from the "Reefer Madness" era.
Click The Above Photo
To Watch The Movie
MARIJUANA: ASSASSIN
OF YOUTH (1935)
AKA: MARIJUANA:
ASSASSIN OF YOUTH (1936)
AKA: - ASSASSIN OF
YOUTH."
Cast:
Luana Walters
Distributor:
Movies Unlimited
Running
Time: 1 hr 13 mins Distributor:
Movies Unlimited
Summary:
Hilarious exploitation scare film
showing good girls turning into fiends after smoking wacky weed.
Some versions had the moonlight nude scenes cut.
In the mold of "Reefer Madness" this campy
"I Told You So" expose shows what can--and will--happen when a girl
smokes weed: her life goes down the tubes
ASSASSIN OF YOUTH
BCM
Productions. 1937; Prod: ended late Sep 1937 at Grand National Studios [ãLeo
J. McCarthy; 15 Nov 1937; LP7582]. Sd
(An R.C.A. Victor High-Fidelity Recording); b&w. 8 reels, 6737 ft. 70 or 73
min. Passed by the National Board of
Review.
Prod Leo J. McCarthy.
Assoc prod Charles A, Browne. Dir
Elmer Clifton. Scr Charles A. Browne
and Elmer Cliftcn. Orig story Elmer
Clifton and Leo J. McCarthy. Photog
Edward Linden. Art dir Fred Preble.
Filrn ed Rose Loewinger. Mus supv
Abe Meyer. Rec dir Corson Jowett.
CAST:
Luana Walters (Joan Barrie), Arthur Gardner (Art Brighton), Dorothy
Short (Marjorie Barrie), Earl Dwire (Henry "Pop" Brady), Fern Emmett
(Henrietta Frisbie), Henry Roquemore (Judge [George] Herbert), Fay McKenzie
(Linda Clayton), Michael Owen (Jack Howard), Dorothy Vaughan (Mrs. [Mary]
Barrie), Hudson Faussett (Otto), Gaye Sheridan (Edith), Edwin Johnson (Charlie).
Social,
Youth, Exploitation, Drama. [Print viewed].
After an aged woman, Elizabeth Barrie, is killed in an automobile
accident by a car driven by a youth under the influence of marijuana and kissing
a girl, a newspaper editor learns that the woman's will includes a moral clause
that her granddaughter Joan will receive her money only if she proves worthy in
her standards of morality when she reaches the age of maturity.
The editor sends cub reporter Art Brighton to the town where Joan lives
to mix with the youth there. Linda
Clayton, Joan's cousin who is secretly married to Jack Howard, plots to have
Jack compromise Joan so that Linda will get the inheritance. Jack invites Joan
to an evening "weenie bake," with other youths, and while he flirts
with her, she slips and falls into a lake.
As
her clothes dry by a campfire, Linda puts her dress close to the fire and it
burns up. Joan is wearing only a
coat over her underwear when Linda drives her car and hits a sign on the lawn of
town gossip Henrietta Frisbie. The
next day, Frisbie's tale of Ioan's "nudity" fails to influence Judge
George Herbert, who will decide the outcome of the Barrie will.
Art, who has gotten a job as a sodajerk at a fountain run by Henry
"Pop" Brady, reports the gossip that Joan took off her clothes and
danced the hula, but his editor is unimpressed.
After screening for Art a film entitled The Marijuana
Menace, the editor shows Art pictures of marijuana peddlers and sends him
back to investigate the part the drug plays in the lives of the young people.
After Linda receives drugs hidden in a flashlight at an out-of-the-way
service station, she distributes marijuana to her eager girl friends at a party
and gives Joan's younger sister Marjorie some pills.
The party suddenly becomes raucous, and Jack gets Joan intoxicated.
When Joan, who wants to go home, asks Art, whom she earlier rebuffed, to
find Marjorie, he locates her about to go to bed with a man and brings her back
to the party. Joan passes out and
returns home very late. The next
day, after Frisbie spreads the gossip that Joan spent the night with Jack,
Marjorie, jealous of her sister, says that she too is going in for "free
love." Hurt by the rumors, Joan cries to her understanding mother, who says
that she doesn't care about the money. At
the fountain, when Art sees Jack flirt with Joan, he throws Jack out and takes
Joan for a drive.
After running out
of gas, they walk to the service station and see Linda with two men, one of whom
Art recognizes from the photographs his editor showed him.
Art goes to a party at Linda's and purchases marijuana from her.
Mrs. Barrie and Joan go to look for Marjorie at Linda's and find her
about to stab a girl for kissing a boy she likes.
After a doctor diagnoses Marjorie as being on the verge of insanity and
says he suspects she has been using marijuana, Art reveals that he is a reporter
and enlists Joan's help to get evidence against Linda.
She calls Jack and, saying that she now wants to live up to her "bad
reputation," makes a date. Jack
throws a party in honor of her decision, and during it, Linda, suspicious of
Jack's interest in Joan, puts pills into a piece of cake she serves to Joan, who
has already smoked some of Jack's marijuana.
Jack proposes marriage and takes Joan to a hotel, supposedly to
straighten up first, and they are followed first by Linda and then by Art.
Art overhears the two drug peddlers in one of the hotel rooms and after a
struggle, disarms them. The police,
whom Linda called, arrest Jack and Joan on a morals charge.
At the trial, Joan refuses to implicate Linda until Art arrives.
Pop Brady stalls, revealing that Judge Herbert once spent the night in a
barn with Henrietta Frisbic, and Art Finally enters with the peddlers and
accuses Linda of selling drugs. Later,
Frisbie announces from her scooter the news that Joan and Art are going to be
married.
Note:
According to a Aug 1937 HR news item, BCM Pictures was organized by
Charles A. Browne, Elmer Clifton and Leo J. McCarthy "to produce their
anti-dope picture." This Film was rejected by the New York censors in 1937.
B.x 9 Oct 1937. Exh
I Jul 1938. FD 22 Sep 1937, p. 8. HR
16 Aug 1937, p. 2.
Click above photo to
watch the movie
MARIHUANA
-- (1936)
AKA:
MARIJUANA - THE DEVIL'S WEED
AKA:
- THE DEVIL'S WEED
AKA
THE WEED WITH ROOTS
IN HELL,” MARIJUANA – THE DEVIL’S WEED.”
Directed by
Dwayne Esper
Cast: - Marley
Wood, Hugh Mc Arthur, and Pat Carlyle
Rated:
N/A - - Category:
Documentary
Running Time:
57 mins Distributor:
Video Yesteryear / Movies
Unlimited/
Summary:
Marley Wood, Hugh Mc Arthur, and Pat
Carlyle host this 1930's propaganda film, depicting the horrors of marijuana
use. A high school girl is led to
ruin after befriending a drug dealer who invites her to a party at his beach
house. This companion to
Reefer Madness is an early anti-weed faux documentary which chronicles one
girl's descent into crime and prostitution, the result of her marijuana
dependency. A
crazed melodrama produced by the government to convince the public that
shifty-eyed foreigners are doping our teenaged girls. In one sequence the girls
run nude on a beach in speeded up motion laughing maniacally.
Road
Show Attractions, Inc, Dwain Esper. Dist
Road Show Attractions, Inc. 1936 [ãRoad
Show Attractions, Inc.; 17 May 1936;LP63821.
Sd; b&w- 6 reels. Dir Dwain Esper.
Dial dir Alexander Leftwich. Story
Hildagarde Stadic. Cont Rex Elgin. Photog
Roland Price. Ed Carl Himm.
Cast:
Harley Wood, Hugh McArthur, Pat Carlyle, Paul Ellis, Dorothy Dehn,
Richard Erskine, Juanita Crosland, Hal Taggart, Gloria Brown.
Social,
Exploitation, Drama. [Print viewed]. Teen-ager
Burma Roberts, in order to defy her sister Elaine, who is doted on by their
mother, spends her evenings at beer halls with her boyfriend, Dick Collier.
While the couple is out drinking one night, narcotics peddlers Tony and
Nick befriend Burma's group of friends, hoping to create a market for heroin.
At his beachhouse the next weekend, Tony introduces the unsuspecting
girls to marijuana and, in a frenzy
of giggles, they undress and run into the ocean in their underwear.
One of them, Joan Marsh, swims too far out and is drowned.
When the girls return to shore, they discover that she is missing.
Burma, meanwhile, is so intoxicated that she becomes sexually aggressive
with Dick and they spend time on the beach alone.
Following the party, headlines announce Joan's death and the community is
outraged. Elaine, in order to
protect the reputation of her wealthy Fiancé, Morgan Stuart, manages to keep
Burma's name out of the scandal. Burma's
trouble begins, however, when she learns she is pregnant as a result of her
intoxicated behavior at Tony's party and she asks Dick to marry her.
Desperate for a job, Dick agrees to meet Tony's drug shipment but is
killed during a police raid. Burma
then threatens to expose Tony, but he convinces her to stay with him until her
baby is born. Following the birth,
he puts the baby up for adoption and fashions Burma into Biondie, "queen of
the snow peddlers." Soon Burma is a heroin addict.
Hoping to procure some of her sister's wealth and determined to make
Elaine "suffer the torments of bell," Burma kidnaps the Stuarts'
daughter. When she goes to collect
the $50,000 ransom, however, Morgan refuses to pay, saying the baby is Elaine's
sister's and was adopted when her mother disappeared three years before.
Meanwhile, the husband of one of Burma's customers discovers a ring
missing and calls the police on "Biondie." When the police search
Tony's apartment, they find dope and the Stuart child.
When Burma returns home to face her own child, she gives herself an extra
dose of heroin and, opening the door, sees Nick and Tony handcuffed and the
police waiting. Burma collapses on
the floor as she sees her daughter's face for the last time, and marijuana
cigarettes fall about her head.
Note:
Although no contemporary reviews were found for this film, records of the
New York State Censor Board state that it was rejected for exhibition in New
York in Dec 1936 under the titles Pitfalls of Youth and Sinister Weed.
The credits roll in front of drawings of naked women holding marijuana
cigarettes surrounded by clouds of marijuana smoke.
The foreword states, "For centuries the world has been aware of the
narcotic menace. We have
complacently watched Asiatic countries attempt to rid themselves of DRUGS CURSE,
and attributed their failure to lack of education.
We consider ourselves enlightened, and think that never could we succumb
to such a fate. But--did you know
that-the use of Marihuana is steadily
increasing among the youth of this country?
Did you know that-the youthful criminal is our greatest problem today?
And that-Marihuana gives the
user false courage and destroys conscience, thereby making crime alluring,
smart? That is the price we are
paying for our lack of interest in the narcotic situation.
This story is drawn from an actual case history on file in the police
records of one of our large cities. Note:
MARIHUANA, Hashish of the Orient, is
commonly distributed as a doped cigarette. Its
most terrifying effect is that it fires the user to extreme cruelty and"
[the film's story is apparently the "foreword's" conclusion].
The viewed print states, "Research with the help of Federal, State
and police narcotic officials." The film's later narrative expresses the
U.S. federal enforcement’s futile attempts to suppress increased marijuana
traffic. A modern source lists this
film's title as Marijuana, Devil's
Weed and gives a release year of 1939. The
modern source describes the First reel of this film as consisting of
"dancehall mania, sex-laden dope parties emphasized with bobbing breasts
and nude beach scenes, and hilarious inhaling."
A Mexican film entitled Marihuana, El Monstruo Verde (Marihuana. the
Green Monster) was released in Jun 1936 and is unrelated to this film.
The 1950 film Marihuana made in Argentina by Sono Films is also unrelated
to this film.
HR
I I Jun 1936, p. 6. Var 8 No@ 1950, p. 18.
A
Mexican film entitled Marihuana,
El Monstruo Verde (Marihuana. the Green Monster) was released in Jun
1936
REEFER
MADNESS (1938) or (1937)
AKA:
TELL YOUR CHILDREN:
Director: Louis
Gasnier Starring:
Dave
O'Brien, Dorothy
Short
Runtime: 67
minutes - Color:
B&W Take One video:
Featured:
Dorothy Short, Kenneth Craig, Lillian Miles, Dave O'Brien, Thelma White
Summary:
Cult
hit is a 1930s propaganda film about how "worse than heroin" marijuana
turns teens into homicidal maniacs.
Notes: The
prologue to the film states: "Marihuana is... an unspeakable scourge--the
Real Public Enemy Number One! Its first effect is sudden violent, uncontrollable
laughter, then come dangerous hallucinations,... the loss of all power to resist
physical emotions, leading finally to acts of shocking violence,... ending often
in incurable insanity."
The most famous exploitation film ever! A hilariously campy
classic about the dangers of the devil's weed. You know, marijuana. Originally
titled: "Tell Your Children." Educator Dr. Carroll warns parents about
the dangers of the scourge of marijuana usage by schoolchildren. A group of
college students have their lives turned upside down as they get hooked on dope
and descend into a world of wild parties, car accidents, rape, murder and
suicide. "[Business] is getting better every day. These kids sure go for
it." (Dope peddler Jack Perry) "I recall distinctly a few weeks ago.
It was during a class on English literature.
There was a serious discussion of Shakespeare's "Romeo and
Juliet," when he suddenly burst into an uncontrollable fit of hysterical
laughter." (Dr. Carroll, describing the behavior of Billy Harper) The
prologue to the film states: "Marihuana is... an unspeakable scourge--the
Real Public Enemy Number One! Its first effect is sudden violent, uncontrollable
laughter, then come dangerous hallucinations,... the loss of all power to resist
physical emotions, leading finally to acts of shocking violence,... ending often
in incurable insanity." Although production values for this cult-film are
okay for a crime melodrama of its type, "Reefer Madness" is about as
subtle as a brick. In its treatment of marijuana as a drug that brings complete
ruin on all who sample it, and more dangerous a narcotic than heroin, the film
manages to lose whatever edge it may have had in its time. And when those
college kids light up, they all get evil gleams in their eyes and dance with
abandon.
TELL YOUR CHILDREN:
G
and H Productions. 1938.
Sd: b&w. 7 reels, 5,844 ft. 62 min.
Prod
George A. Hirliman. Assoc prod Sam
Diege. Dir Iouis Gasnier. Asst dir
Ray Nazzaro [sic]. Scr Arthur Hoerl.
Orig story Lawrence Meade. Chief cam Jack Greenhalgh.
Art dir Robert Priesley. Ed
Carl Pierson. Mus dir Abe Meyer.
Props Louis Diege.
Cast:
Dorothv Short (Mary [Lane]), Kenneth Craig (Bill [Harper]), Lillian
Miles (Blanche). Dave O'Brian (Ralph
[Wiley]), Thelma White (Mae [CoIman]), Carleton Young (Jack [Perry]), Warren
McCollum (Jimmy [Lane]), Pat Royale (Agnes), Josef Forte (Dr. [Alfred] Carroll),
Harry Harvev, Jr. (Junior), [Joe Forte], [William Royal), [Walter McGrail],
[Edward Earle], [Frank O'Connor], [Ted Wraye], [Mary McLaren], [Ed Mortimer],
[Marin Sais], [Edward Le Saint], [Dan Wolheim]. [Lester Dorr], [Phil Dunham],
[Bill Franey].
Social,
Teenage, Melodrama. [Print viewed].
Newspaper headlines report on the police war against drugs, and the
infiltration of drugs into the lives of students.
At a School-Parent Association meeting at Truman High School, principal
Dr. Alfred Carroll warns parents of the dangers of marijuana to their children.
He informs them that the fight against drug traffic is directed by the
Department of Narcotics in Washington, D.C., and that an official of that
department has sent him a letter stating that the suppression of marijuana is
the department's most important objective, and that parent-school organizations
are effective educational deterrents. Carroll
recalls a recent incident involving students at Truman to illustrate the deadly
effects of marijuana: Mae Colman is awakened in her apartment. which she runs as
an open house for marijuana users, by Jack Perry, her supplier, who advises her
that he will be bringing more young people from the high school that afternoon.
Mae protests selling drugs to children, noting that her clients are older
and can make decisions for themselves, but Jack is indifferent.
In town, Jack encounters Ralph Wiley, an older student who frequents
Mae's, and they invite Jimmy and Mary Lane to join them at Joe's soda shop.
Although Mary declines, her younger brother eagerly joins them.
They meet Mae at the soda shop, and later reconvene at Mae's apartment.
One day when Mary has lent her car to Jimmy, he invites Bill Harper,
Mary's boyfriend, to join him at Joe's. where they meet Blanche, Ralph's
sometime girl friend and an habitue of Mae's.
They bring Bill to Mae's apartment, where he is appalled at the
licentious behavior and wild dancing that he sees.
Blanche takes an interest in Bill and she goads him into smoking one of
her "cigarettes." That day Jimmy drives Jack to pick up more marijuana
from Jack's boss, and Jimmy smokes a "reefer" while waiting in the car
for Jack. When they leave, Jimmy is
so intoxicated that he drives wildly and runs down a pedestrian, but does not
stay to assess the damage. The next
morning at breakfast, Mary acknowledges to her mother that she has not seen much
of Bill lately. Carroll, meanwhile,
is at the Federal Bureau of investigation demanding they do something to bring
in the organized gangs selling dope to his students.
The FBI official informs him that while in 1930, the records on marijuana
scarcely filled one small folder, today they fill cabinets.
As the plant grows wild in almost every state, he explains, there is
virtually no interstate commerce in the drug, and it is therefore difficult to
trace. Carroll leaves equipped with
case histories with which to inform his pupils and their parents.
Back at school, Carroll meets privately with Jimmy to determine why his
grades have plummeted. Jimmy denies
acquiring an "undesirable habit," and Carroll lets him leave, telling
him that he is available if Jimmy should ever wish to confide in him.
That day, Mary becomes angry when she discovers Bill has not been
attending his tennis lessons. Meanwhile,
Blanche lures Bill into Mae's bedroom, where, high on drugs, they have sex.
A police investigation of Jimmy's hit-and-run accident leads them to the
Lane home. Mary is shocked to hear
of the accident and affirms that she was driving the car that day.
After the police leave, Mary looks for Jimmy and is directed to Mae's
apartment by Joe. There Ralph
informs her that Jimmy has gone out. While
Mary awaits Jimmy, Ralph tricks her into smoking a reefer.
Mary becomes intoxicated and, Ralph, insane because of the drug, sexually
assaults her, despite her cries of protest.
Bill emerges from the bedroom and, shocked by what he sees, becomes
enraged and attacks Ralph. Jack
rushes in from the kitchen and attempts to hit Bill on the head with the handle
of his gun, but Bill struggles with him for control of the weapon and a shot is
fired, which accidentally kills Mary. Jack
knocks Bill unconscious, puts his gun in Bill's hand and urges Ralph and Blanche
to leave the apartment and forget they were ever there.
When Bill revives, he becomes hysterical over Mary's death, and Jack
informs him that he is responsible. Jack
quickly leaves, and on his instructions, Mae calls the police and tells them
that she was alone in the kitchen while Bill and Mary had a rendezvous in the
living room. Bill is arrested and
brought to trial, where the evidence and his own admission of guilt prompts the
jury to find him guilty of Mary's murder. During
the trial, Blanche and Ralph are kept under the watchful eyes of Jack and Mac,
although Ralph has become increasingly irrational and is difficult to control.
Jack gets permission from his boss to get rid of Ralph because they’re
afraid he will reveal the truth, but when Jack returns that afternoon, Ralph
suspects his intent and beats Jack with a rod.
A tenant in the apartment building calls the police, and Ralph, Mae and
Blanche arc arrested. Based on
information given by Mae during her interrogation, police raid the drug houses,
and the gang leaders are captured. In
the judge's chambers, Blanche confesses that she is responsible for introducing
her friends to Mae, and that she was a witness to Mary's murder, which was
perpetrated by Jack. Based on her
testimony, the judge orders the ruling against Bill set aside and while keeping
Blanche as a material witness, also holds her culpable for fostering moral
delinquency. As she is being led
away by the matron, Blanche recalls the sordid events that led her to this point
and, breaking away from the matron, leaps out of the window to her death.
The judge forces Bill to stay and witness Ralph's trial so he will know
from what he has been saved. The
state and Ralph's defense both waive his right to a trial due to insanity, and
the judge consents to have Ralph placed in an institution for the criminally
insane. At the end of his story,
Carroll reminds the parents that with education, they can avert future tragedies
such as these.
Note:
The following written foreword opens the film: "The motion picture
you are about to witness may startle you. It
would not have been possible, otherwise, to sufficiently emphasize the frightful
toll of the new drug menace which is destroying the youth of America in
alarmingly increasing numbers. Marihuana
is that drug-a violent narcotic-an unspeakable scourge The Real Public Enemy
Number One! It's first effect is
sudden, violent, uncontrollable laughter, then come dangerous
hallucinations---space expands---time slows down-almost stands still ... fixed
ideas come next, conjuring up monstrous extravagance---followed by emotional
disturbances, the total inability to direct thought-the loss of all power to
resist physical conditions ... leading finally to acts of shocking
violence…ending often in incurable insanity.
In picturing its soul destroying effects no attempt was made to
equivocate. The scenes and
incidents, while fictionalized for the purposes of this story, are based on
actual research into the result of Marihuana addiction.
If this stark reality will make you think, will make you aware that
something must he done to wipe out this ghastly menace, then the picture will
not have failed in its purpose... Because the dread Marihuana may be reaching
forth for your son or daughter ... or - yours ... or YOURS."
Although an unspecified copyright statement appears on the screen, the
film is not listed in copyright records.
In the onscreen credits, the name of assistant director Ray Nazarro is
spelled "Nazzaro." In 1938 New York State censors rejected this film
for exhibition. The film was
re-released in 1939 as The Burning
Question. and in 1947 as Reefer
Madness. A modern source notes
that Paul Franklin contributed additional dialogue.
According to a modern interview with Thelma White in the LAT, she earned
approximately $2.500 per week from RKO for this film, which was produced in
three weeks by a religious group. Although
George A. Hirliman was associated with RKO, it has not been determined if RKO
contributed to the production of this film.
Exh 13 Dec 1939. p 433. LAT
15 Feb 1987.
PAROLED FROM THE BIG HOUSE: (1938)
Jay
Dee Kay Productions. Dist State
Rights. 15 Aug 1938 [ãJay
Dee Kay Productions: 20 Jun 1938; LP8088]. Sd;
b&w. 7 reels, 5,600 ft. 57 or 60 min. PCA
cert no. 4414.
Prod
J. D. Kendis. Dir Elmer Clifton.
Orig scr George Plympton.
Cam Eddie Linden.
Cast:
Jean Carmen (Pat Malloy), Richard
Adams ("Slicker" Nixon),
George Eldredge ("Red"
Heron), Gwen Lee (Binnie Bell),
Milburn Stone (Distrrict Attorney Downell,),
Walter Anthony (Joe "Killer"
Britt), Ole Olson ("Torchy"), Earl Douglas (Hoke Curtis, alias "The Duke"),
Eddie Kaye ("Gunner"
Garson), Joe Devlin (Jed Cross),
Eleanor De Van (Rita).
Gangster,
Drama. [Not
viewed]. District Attorney
Downey tries unsuccessfully to convince parole board chairman Jed Cross that
certain vicious criminals should not be released on parole.
Meanwhile, cop killer "Slicker" Nixon and his men, recently
paroled from prison where they were serving time for minor offenses, plot to
start a new racket disguised as a legitimate business.
Because store owner Mallory refuses to go along with the business,
actually a "protection" racket, he is killed.
Although Mallory's daughter Pat witnesses the crime, Nixon's airtight
alibi keeps him from being convicted. Pat
then decides to catch and kill Nixon herself while Nixon and some of his former
prison mates work on further schemes. As
she hides to listen to Nixon's plans, she is discovered by "Red"
Herron, a member of the gang, who lets her go.
After being evicted by her landlady, Pat wanders the streets carrying a
gun concealed in her purse, then falls asleep among the hoboes.
A kind policeman awakens her and takes her for some food at the police
station, where she encounters Binnie Bell, a marijuana user who is friendly with Nixon's gang.
Binnie convinces Pat to take a job at the, Castle Inn, a gangster
hangout, where she sees Nixon. Jed
Cross is also at the Castle Inn, meeting with several criminals.
Unknown to Pat, Nixon plans to murder Joe "Killer" Britt, who
served time in prison for the murder that Nixon actually committed.
Before Britt is killed, however, Nixon sees members of a rival gang
arrive and realizes that Britt has joined them.
As shooting starts, Red rushes Pat out of the way.
Later, at the police station, all of the criminals are arrested except
for Red, who turns out to be an undercover police lieutenant and the friend of
the policeman killed by Nixon. Hearing
that Red is actually not a gangster, Pat faints into his arms.
Note:
According to information found in the copyright file on this film, its
working title was Girl of the Streets. - Box 20 Aug 1938, FD 29 Jul 1938, p. I 1. ka, 12
Oct 1938, p. 19.
The
WAGES OF SIN (1938)
Real
Life Dramas. 1938? [(ãReal
Life Dramas; 14 Jul 1939; LP8177). Sd;
b&w. 8 reels. 65 min.
Dir
Herman E. Webber.
Asst dir Charles Wasserman. Pholog
Harvey Gould. Ed Robert .Jahns. Sd
tech Hans Weeren.
Song(s):
"Listen to the Mocking Bird," music and lyrics by Alice
Hawthorne; "Minnie the Moocher," music
and lyrics by Cab Calloway and Irving Mills; "Dreaming on the Silvery
Colorado" and "Sea Shells," composer unknown.
Cast:
CONSTANCE WORTH [(Marjorie)], Willy Costello [(Tony Kilonis)],
Blanche Melaffey [(Florence)], Clara Kimball Young [(Fat Pearl)], Carleton
Young, Paula Bromleigh, Frank La Rue, Rose Plummer, Bryant Washburn, Betty
Wonder, Jim Duggan, Edward Argyle,
Martha Chapin, Dave Daggett, Ed Cassidy, Rose La Rose, Jack Salling, Frank Wayne, Willa Curtis, Hal Mead, Eve Lynn, [Kenneth
Harlan (Marjorie's father)), [Horace Murphy (Jury foreman)].
Exploitation,
Melodrama, with songs. (Print viewed].
Marjorie, a poor girl who works in a large laundry, is shunned by her co-workers because of her unkempt
appearance. Her parents and older brother :are all lazy and out of work and live
off Marjorie's meager earnings. Marjorie
tries to care for her little brother, who shares her philosophy of hard work,
but she is frustrated that her business college education is of no use to them
because she looks too disheveled to get an office job.
When Florence, a girl more experienced in the world than Marjorie, invites her on a
double date. Marjorie borrows
clothes and has her hair done, hoping for a swell night on the town.
Florence's companions take then) to a cafe where liquor, drugs and anything else goes.
Despite Florcnce's attempts to shelter Marjorie, she becomes drunk, tries
a marijuana cigarette and becomes
attracted to Tony Kilonis, whom Florence tells her is bad.
Because she passes out at Florence's apartment and does not go home until
morning, Marjorie's parents throw her out, preferring to live on relief than
accept money from her. With nowhere
else to go, she turns to Florence, who invites her to stay because Tony has
ordered her to get Marjorie to come back--or else.
The next day, Tony intimidates the owner of the laundry into firing the
girls, and for the next two weeks they try unsuccessfully to get new jobs.
When they are at the point of desperation, Florence suggests getting
money from men, but Marjorie begs her not to do anything rash.
Tony then takes Marjorie with him, promising to marry her.
They go to his apartment instead of a justice of the peace, because it is
late, and Marjorie spends the night, believing that they will be married the
next day.
She soon finds out he has
been lying, though, and three months later they, are still not married.
Using threats, Tony now turns Marjorie into a hotel call girl.
After a few months, the house detective has become suspicious of
Marjorie, who goes by the name "Judy," and after an incident in which
a customer calls the detective to arrest her for stealing his money, she can no
longer go back. Tony now promises to
take Marjorie up the coast "for a rest," but upon their arrival, they
are greeted by Fat Pearl, the madame of a brothel, and Marjorie learns why Tony
has taken her away. Because she is
now pregnant, Marjorie refuses to work, so Pearl withholds food from her after
Tony leaves. One of the older girls,
Roz, takes pity on Marjorie, however, and lets her out of the house to hitchhike
back to the city. Back at Tony's
apartment, Marjorie hides when he arrives and hears him promise another girl the
same things that he had promised her months before.
When she sneaks into the living room and sees them making love on the
couch, she is shocked and goes back into the bedroom where she takes Tony's gun
out of a drawer. She then shoots
them both and calls the police, hysterical over what has just happened.
At her trial, which becomes a headline-grabbing sensation, Marjorie
retells her story, and her attorney places a photograph into evidence that shows
the compromising position of the bodies when they were shot.
He asks them to find Marjorie not guilty because she was Tony's common
law wife. During deliberations, the
jury becomes hopelessly deadlocked, unable to decide whether Marjorie committed
murder, whether it was justifiable homicide, or whether she is not guilty by
reason of insanity.
Note:
At the end of the film, just after the jury takes another vote, a picture of
"Marjorie" is shown on the screen and the following appears,
superimposed over her face: "The jury is still out.
What will the verdict be'? What
would ' your verdict be'? $100.00 in cash prizes will be given for the best
answer contest open to all. Win a
prize. Mail your opinion in not over
300 words to Real Life Dramas, 4376 Sunset Drive, Hollywood California." No
information has been uncovered to determine if there was a winner to the Real
Life Drama contest. Only one review
was located for the film, and it was not listed on available release charts.
It is possible that the film did not have a national release, although,
according to information contained in the file on the film
in the MPPA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, several censorship boards
throughout the United States accepted the film for distribution after
eliminating "objectionable" scenes.
The
Devil's Harvest (1942)
High school kids sure are the wildest.
Witness the ones depicted in this movie: they purchase reefer from a hot dog
vendor across the street from school; they get high on booze and pot at a party;
two guys square off over a girl and accidentally kill her; and one gal goes
undercover as a showgirl to get the goods on racketeers. High school kids sure
are the wildest. June Doyle, Leo Anthony star.
Distributor:
Movies Unlimited
DEVIL'S
HARVEST: (1942)
Continental
Pictures, Inc. Dist Continental
Pictures, Inc. 1942. Sd: b&w. 52
min. Prod Ralph Cushman.
Dir Ray Test. Story, Edward
Clark. Photog Phil Cantonwine.
Cast:
June Doyle (Kay O’Farrell), Leo Anthony (Larry McGuire), George Graham
(Sam), Ben Barlow (Captain Hillburn), Ed Murray (Lieutenant Williams), Flovd
Hermann (Snuffy [Baker!], Charles David (Cliff Dennis) John Clayton (Tom Daley),
Tom Leffing (Oliver), Sally Barton (Helen Thomas), Lloyd Reed (Al), Clare
Richards (Dolly Wilson).
Exploitation.
Teenage, Drama. [Print viewed]. Across
the street from the local high school, Oliver, the proprietor of a hot dog
stand, sells marijuana to the
vulnerable students. Regretting his
alliance with the drug pushers, Oliver tells Sam, the henchman of gang lord
Larry McGuire, that he intends to stop dispensing drugs.
Later, Cliff Dennis, one of the gang members, asks Kay O'Farrell, a naive
young high school student and amateur dancer, to entertain at his new night
club. Cliffs request alarms Tom
Daley, Kay's high school sweetheart. That
night. Kay lies to her trusting parents that she is going to a dance recital and
then heads to Cliff’s club where she is met by Tom, who is determined to
protect her innocence. There, Helen
Thomas, Cliffs jealous girl friend, warms Tom that the club is a front for the
mob. When Tom confronts Cliff, a
fight breaks out and in the melee, Helen is accidentally killed.
Tom helps Kay escape, and upon returning home, she admits to her parents
that she lied about her destination. Captain
Hillburn and Lieutenant William of the police department are assigned to
investigate Helen s death and assemble the teenagers at headquarters to question
them.
When Tom tells them of Ccliffs
involvement, Hillburn decides to use Cliff as bait to catch the rest of the
gang. Hillburn then visits the
O'Farrell house Hand enlists Kay's help in setting a trip.
Following Hillburn's instructions, Kay starts dating Cliff.
While at his apartment one day, Kay overhears Cliff discussing a drug
deal with Oliver over the phone, and soon after, the police arrive to arrest
Cliff'. Oliver is Kay’s next
target, and the following day. she searches his hot dog stand when he leaves to
make a phone call. When Sam appears
to collect his money, he begins flirting with Kay and invites her to audition to
be a show girl at Larry’s club. At
the club that night, Larry’s headliner calls in sick and Larry offers Kay her
job. Some time later, Snuffy Baker,
Larry’s gangland rival, is paroled from prison and returns to town to assume
his position in the rackets. .
At Larry's club, Snuffy and his henchman Al demand a kick-back from all
illegal activities. When Snuffy
leers licentiously at Kay. Larry,
who has fallen in love with her, offers to set her up in a fancy apartment.
Larry takes Kay to her new apartment, and as he attempts to get her
drunk. Snuffy knocks at the door,
sneers at Kay’ s innocence and warns her that Larry is a crook.
After Snuffy leaves, Larry remorsefully confesses to Kay that his
upbringing in the gutter lead him to a life of crime, and then asserts that he
wants to reform. The next day, Kay
informs Hillburn of Snuffy’s visit. Later,
Kay withnesses Larry receive a large shipment of drugs and phones Hillburn about
the delivery. As Hillburn outlines
his plan to trap the gang at the nightclub that evening.
Larry overhears the phone call. Concerned
for Kay’s safety, Hillburn arranges for Tom to meet him at the club.
That night, Snuffy and his thugs, having learned of Larry’s drug cache,
burst into Larry’s office and demand the “dope.”
When Snuffy accuses Kay of betraying Larry, a fight ensues and the police
break down the door to arrest the criminals.
In the chaos, Larry is killed. Kay,
safely hidden in a corner. then emerges from her hiding place and is kissed on
the cheek by, both Tom and Hillburn.
Note:
This films opens with the voice of an offscreen narrator, who describes
the public school as “one of the greatest symbols of american democracy…”
The narrator continues that “[as] the school day comes to a close,
young America leaves the portals of learning… there is a shadow of a lurking
evil which takes place in many guises…”
Although onscreen credits contain a copyright statement no copyright for
this picture was found in the Copyright Catalog.
No. reviews or release information were found for the file.
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/history/rootsinhell.htm
WILD
WEED (1949)
AKA
- “ THE DEVIL’S WEED; SHE SHOULDA SAID NO
Franklin
Productions, Inc. Dist State Rights,
Jul 1949: World premiere in Chicago:
14 Jul 1949; Prod: mid
May—late May 1949 at Hal Roach Studios, Sd; b&w. 69 72 min.
Prod Richard Kay. Dir Sherman
Scott. Dial dir Richard H. Landau.
Scr Richard H. Landau. Story
Arthur Hoerl. Dir of photog Jack
Greenhalgh. Art dir Eugene Lourie.
Film ed Richard Currier and Seth Larson.
Set eec Joseph Kish. Ward
Rudy Harrington and Michael Meyers. Mus
Raoul Krausharr. Theremin eff Dr.
Samuel Hoffman. Ballet staged by
Alicia Adams. Sd William Randall,
Makeup supv Daid Newell. Hair
stylist Irene Beshon.
Cast:
With an All-Star Hollywood cast including Alan Baxter (Markey), Lyle
Talbot (Captain Hayes), Lila Leeds (Ann [Lester]).
Michael Whelan [sic] (Jonathan] Treanor), Mary Ellen Popel (Rita), Doug
Blackley (Lieut. Mason), David Holt (Bob Lester), Don Harvey (Lieut. Tyne),
David Gorcey (Ricky), Jack Elam (Raymond), Dick Cogan (Edmunds), Rudolph Friml,
Jr. (Piano soloist), Knox Manning (Narrator).
Exploitation.
Drama, [Print viewed]. The Narcotic
Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, headed by Captain Hayes, battles
the evil menace of marihuana, which they characterize as a killer because
heroin, cocaine and opium addictions follow upon its use.
After Markey, a notorious dope dealer, sells marihuana cigarettes to
several teenagers, they smoke them and become involved in a car crash in which
tree are killed and one girl loses both of her legs.
Hayes assigns Lieutenants Tyne and Mason to go undercover and pose as a
high school student and bartender, respectively, in order to find the peddler.
At the club St. Pierre, Markey sells marihuana to Rita, a chorus girl,
and expresses an interest in a new girl, Ann Lester, telling Rita to arrange to
have Ann come to a party. As Ann is
expecting her brother Bob home on a visit from college, she agrees to hold the
party at her house. During the
party, Markey makes a pass at Ann and gives her a marihuana cigarette.
After a few puffs, she fall prey to hid dubious charms.
When bob gets home, having missed the party, he finds the house in a mess
and a man passed out on the sofa. Upstairs,
Ann is asleep.
Later, bob tells Ann
that he feels guilty that she is paying his way through college, but she wants
to continue and has realized that she can earn more money by becoming involved
in Markey’s operations. One day,
while Markey is visiting his supplier, Jonathan Treanor, Treanor receives a
phone call informing him that a load of marihuana has been hijacked on its way
into California from Arizona. He
suspects one of his men of double-crossing him and instructs his henchman,
Raymond, to kill him Meanwhile, Ann becomes involved in a cycle of parties,
smoking and drinking, while earning lots of money.
At one party, a pianist plays "Chopsticks," but hallucinates
that he is performing a classical piece at the Hollywood Bowl.
Another man under the influence of the weed, thinks that he is dying and
thrusts his hand through window panes. Eventually,
Hugo, the club’s boss, fires Ann and Rita because their dancing has greatly
deteriorated. One night, while Ann is selling marihuana
at a party and saying that it is financing her brother’s education. Bob comes in
and is horrified by her behavior. The
next day, Ann discovers that Bob has hanged himself in the garage.
Hugo decides to go to the police and tells them about Ann's involvement
with Markey, whom Mason and Tyne then place under constant surveillance.
Ann has gone to pieces following Bob's death and is arrested by Mason and Tyne when they break up another marihuana party at her house.
Captain
Hayes interrogates Ann, but she denies knowing Markey and his associates, so he
introduces her to three prisoners who are severely addicted.
Hayes and Ann also visit the morgue and view a body, a
suicide resulting from addiction. However,
Ann does not break and still refuses to talk.
Sentenced to serve sixty days in the County jail, she suffers great
remorse for having caused Bob's death and experiences Hallucinations.
Realizing that none of her friends have come to visit her, she is cool
toward Markey when she is released and decides to cooperate with the police.
After she tells Markey that she has been approached by the head of
another dope syndicate, Markey and Treanor request to meet him.
Posing as the syndicate boss, Mason offers Treanor $75.000 to deliver
some "merchandise," but as Treanor does not have enough marihuana
on hand, Mason agrees to wait. Later,
while Markey and Ann drive to Arizona to pick up
more marihuana, Mason waits with Treanor for them to return.
However, Treanor has checked on Mason's story and, aware that he is a
police officer, holds him at gunpoint. When
Markey slaps Ann. Mason jumps
Treanor, then goes after Markey. Police
reinforcements arrive and Treanor and Markey are arrested.
Later, Hayes thanks Ann for her cooperation, and she, in turn, thanks
him, Mason and Tyne.
Note:
This film's working title was The
Devil’s Weed. The film was
exhibited in certain areas under his title, The viewed print was from a reissue
prepared by Kroger Babb, in the early 1950s, under his Hallmark Productions
banner. Titled She Shoulda Said
“No”!, this version included a prologue added by J. S. Jossev and Babb in
which “the nation's Narcotic experts and Government departments” are
acknowledged. The prologue claims
that if the film "saves but one young girl or boy from becoming a 'dope
fiend'--then its story has been well told."
The closing titles include the following written statement: "No one
seeing this film could be easily tempted to so-wreck their mind and body.
But millions won't see it. To
enlighten them—is your job." The
closing titles are superimposed over a shot of "Ann" talking directly
to the camera, but her words were not audible in the reissue version.
Actor Michael Whalen’s name is misspelled "Whelan" in the
opening titles.
Actress
Lila Leeds was arrested with Robert Mitchum in a notorious 1948 marihuana
party raid and some of the incidents in tile film resemble events in her life.
Leeds appeared on stage with the films initial bookings and. according to
a LAT article, spoke following the film, warning, "Don t ever take the
first puff!” According, to
information in the MPAA/PCA Collection in the AMPAS Library, producer Richard
Kay's Franklin Productions appealed the PCA's initial denial of a
certificate for the film and
lost. PCA director Joseph I. Breen
wrote to Kay on 20.Jul 1949 that the film was denied a seal because
"illegal drug traffic Must not be portrayed in such a way as to stimulate
curiosity concerning the use of, or traffic in, such drugs."
Box
10 Sep 1949. Chicago Tribune 14 Jul
1949. DV'2 Sep 1949. p. 4. ,exb 3
Aug 1949, HR 11 May 1949. p. 6. LAT 10 Feb 1949.
LAT 2 Sep 1949, LAT27 Sep 1949 MPHPD 30.Jul
1949. p. 4698. Var 24 Aug
1949 p. 22.
The
1950 film Marihuana made in Argentina by Sono Films:
BORDERLINE
(1950)
This has to be one of the first undercover narcotic agent
movies. Two undercover agents,
including Johnny Macklin (Fred MacMurray) infiltrate a marijuana smuggling ring
in Mexico. Source Marijuana in the
Movies.
THE
MARIJUANA STORY (1951)
Directed
by Leon Klimovsky Cast:
Pedro
Lopez
Summary:
The title may lead you to believe this is an exploitation
item, but it's not. In fact, this Latin American import tells of a man's
struggle against drugs, which claimed his wife's life.
The further he gets involved with drugs, the more apparent it be comes
that he will be a victim, too. Pedro
Lopez Lagier stars. In Spanish with
English subtitles.
Teenage Devil Dolls (1952)
Starring: -Barbara Marks, Robert A Sherry, Robert Norman
Director: -Lawrence Price Jr.
Synopsis: One toke and you're a gonner!
tale of woe as mild mannered teen goes astray.
The film is narrated all the way,
enough to drive any teenage doll to drugs in itself!. There are no dialogues,
just a jangling keyboard score and this typically patronizing Uncle Jim kind of
voice doing the narration - a story of sordid destruction and doom. The narrator
is supposedly the policeman who was in charge of tracking down the filthy drug
dealers. He presents Cassandra's tale of woe as a case study for others to learn
from.
The object of the film like the infamous Reefer Madness before it is to warn
innocent and impressionable teenagers about the horrors of drug addiction, and
just what a deadly sociopolitical threat it is!
The film has quite the opposite effect it is meant to and is annoying enough to
drive most viewers to substance abuse. The portrayal of drug addicts ought to
have been seriously handled yet here it is a bagful of laughs.....viewers will
be chuckling for all the wrong reasons.!
Yet there is the wonderful cheesy
charm to proceedings precisely because of the sheer ineptitude of the exercise
and how tragically it backfires. It is a vintage classic of its kind and one of
the great JD (Juvenile Delinquent!) movies we are proud to have in our
collection. This was supposed to be educational, instead its a laugh riot all
the way. Not to be missed by purveyors of trash and z grade movies.
HIGH
SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL (1958)
Director:
Jack Arnold
-- Cast:
Russ Tamblyn, Jan
Sterling
Summary::
Campy "shocker" film digs deep into 50s high school drug
scene. Scored big with original teen
audiences, though critics sneered. Another
campy anti-marijuana film holds similar midnight movie appeal.
Producer Albert Zugsmith serves up another all-star expose
with High School Confidential. Delivering a superb performance under the
circumstances, Russ Tamblyn heads the cast as "typical" high-schooler
Tony Baker. Usually seen in the company of his voluptuous "aunt" Gwen
Dulaine (the truly impressive Mamie Van Doren), Tony convinces one and all that
he's looking for kicks of the controlled-substance kind. In truth, however, our
hero is really an undercover narcotics agent named Mike Wilson, bound and
determined to smash the operation of drug lord Mr. A. (Jackie Coogan). The
once-in-a-lifetime cast includes such worthies as John Drew Barrymore (Drew
Barrymore's daddy), Ray Anthony (then married to Mamie Van Doren), Charles
Chaplin Jr., Michael Landon and Jerry Lee Lewis as "Himself." This
updated Reefer Madness is not to be missed!
Runtime:
85 minutes
Sound Track:
- High School Confidential - Lewis, Jerry
Lee Great
Balls of Fire
Playing Time: 34' 58" Record
Label: POLYGRAM RECORDS
THE COOL
AND THE CRAZY (1958)
Actors:
Scott Marlowe,
Dick
Bakalyan, Dick
Jones, Shelby
Storck
Director: William
Witney
Running
Time: 78 minutes
Summary:
This over-the-top 50's juvenile delinquency melodrama has
developed a cult following for its rabid anti-marijuana message and a thoroughly
enjoyable performance by teen pic icon Dick Bakalyan as one of the teen-agers
gone bad. A reform-school graduate
turns some long-in-the-tooth high schoolers on to the loco weed; before long,
they're hopelessly addicted, with crime, insanity and death the inevitable
results. The Cool and the Crazy was shot on location in Kansas City, where Dick
Bakalyan actually spent a few hours in jail when local cops thought he was a for
real bad guy and not just acting.
The Cool and the Crazy
William Witney (USA, 1958)
"Seven savage punks on a binge of violence!" the
ads promised. Can you dig it? Released in a double bill with Dragstrip Riot, The
Cool and the Crazy has since become a genuine cult film, treating as it does the
subject of marijuana leading to the harder stuff: armed robbery, murder. The
Variety reviewer, perhaps high on something else, commented that the film
"has the irritating itch of reality about it" and also compared the
film to Italian neorealism. (This wasn't far off; during filming in Kansas City,
two of the actors were supposedly arrested as "delinquents.") Cool is
a typical example of AIP going all out on a subject more sensible studios
wouldn't touch. Sam Arkoff writes, "Marijuana was treated as such a taboo
in the movie that it was referred to only as 'M.' No one would dare actually say
the word!"
Written by
Richard C. Sarafian. Photographed by Harry Birch. With Scott Marlowe, Gigi
Perreau, Dick Bakalyan, Dick Jones. (78 mins, B&W, 35mm, From Kit Parker
Films)
GENE
KRUPA STORY, THE: (1959)
After
a gig, Gen Krupa (Sal Mineo) is confronted by a guy with a cigarette case full
of reefers. “Reefers?” he asks.
“Wheat, the tender weed.” The guy says.
“So that’s what they look like.” Responds Gene.
Later, after a party, a singer corrupts Gene by slipping him a reefer
when he asks for a cigarette. He
takes a drag and realizing what it is takes another.
“Don’t diddle it.” The lady says.
At the end of a concert, Gene is greeted by detectives in his dressing
room. “These two envelopes, one of
them contains 37 marijuana cigarettes, reefers.
The other containing two, one half smoked, found in your coat pocket.”
Gene is arrested, jailed and black booked in the jazz world.
There are also some great classic newspaper headlines in this movie.
Source Marijuana in the Movies.
FIEND
OF DOPE ISLAND: (1961)
Harold
Odell Productions. Dist Essanjay
Films. Mar 1961 [Los Angeles showing]. Sd.
b&w. 35mm. 76 min. Pres by David
F. Friedman, Irwin S. Joseph. A J.
Harold Odell Production. Prod J. Harold Odell.
Exec Prod Lawrence Rapport, David S. Odell.
Assoc Prod Victor Carrady. Dir-Story
Nate Watt. Screenplay Bruce Bennett.
Mark Carabel. Dir Photog
Gayne Rescher. Lighting Frank
Leonetti. Camera Jaime Alvarez.
Asst Camera Antonio Betancourt. Ed
James Gaffney. A4us James Peterson.
Song: "Hold Me Forever" Ken Darby.
Sd Engr Rose Raul Ramirez. Sd Ed Patrick Slattery. Asst
Dir Robert Beche. Prod A4gr
Harold Winston. Alakeup Mary Mayer.
Cast:
Bruce Bennett (Charlie Davis), Robert Bray (David), Tania Velia
(Glory La Verne), Ralph Rodriguez (Naru), Miguel Angel Alvarez (Captain Fred),
Edmundo Rivera Alvarez (Paco). Ruth
Fernandez (Tula), Molly Odell (Mahla), Milton Steifel, Yvonne Peck, Tito
Erfrfquez, Eddie Ortiz, Baby Gonzalez, Russel Torres, Amos Rivera.
Action
melodrama. Charlie Davis,
self-proclaimed "baron" of a Caribbean island, wields his whip freely
as he exploits the natives, paying slave wages and charging inflated prices at
his canteen. His illegal sidelines
include growing marijuana and
smuggling firearms. Charlie arranges
for his chief gun runner, Captain Fred, to import an "entertainer" to
the island. Lured by a $500 advance
and the promise of a nightclub engagement, Glory La Verne comes to the island,
but she soon becomes suspicious and discovers Charlie's illegal activities.
She falls in love with David, Charlie's assistant, and the two make plans
to sabotage Charlie's operation. They
blow up his ammunition dump and trap Charlie in the canteen under rifle fire.
Charlie escapes and radios Captain Fred for aid.
As Charlie and David struggle on the dock they fall into the water, and
Charlie is killed by sharks as David makes his escape.
With the island freed from Charlie's tyranny.
David and Glory look forward to a brighter future.
Note: The following while marihuana related, are not reefer Madness
articles
·
“MARIJUANA FILM
BARRED”
June 14, 1938
pg.17:4
Board of Regents Refuses to License ‘Assassin of Youth’
A license to show the mother
picture “Assassin of Youth,” intended to portray the detrimental effects of
the use of the drug marijuana, has been denied by the Board of Regents.
However, the regents said
that an educational or a scientific permit is available to the owner of the
picture, provided that it is not shown at any place of amusement.
The
committee noted that the same recommendation had been made recently to the
owners of the picture, “The Birth of a Baby.”
The appeal was brought by Leo
J. McCarthy, owner of the picture “Assassin of Youth,” after a license had
been twice refused by the Motion Picture Division.
Senator John J. McNaboe, as attorney for Mr. McCarthy, called it “an
educational picture.”
·
“WPA Uproots
Marijuana”
June 17, 1938
pg. 8
Fifty WPA employees started today to uproot and burn several
acres of marijuana weed which had been found growing about 200 feet from county
Road, west of
Tonnel Avenue
, here. the discovery was made
yesterday by Dennis Sullivan, chief Health Officer of
Jersey City
, and William Schlossberg, Federal narcotics agent.
NEWSREELS:
http://orion2pub.library.ucla.edu/web2/tramp2.exe/form/A2ld0lcd.000
Title: [Detectives find
marijuana growing in
Brooklyn
--
New York City
. Hearst production footage, HCOc24r2, X671].
Published/distributed: [1934]
Notes:
Excludes some released
sequences which had been removed and used in an unidentified Hearst Metrotone
news issue.
Contents/description:
Captain Mooney of narcotic squad and detectives looking over field of marijuana
(long shot). Captain Mooney looking over large bush of marijuana. Captain
Moooney explaining use of drug (close-up). Captain Mooney with weed and
cigarette made from drug (close-up). Full field of marijuana (long shot) (Hearst
index card). Probable date based on
Hearst index card file date (
October 25, 1934
).
Rights held by UCLA Film and
Television Archive.
Subject's): Mooney, John J.
Outtakes.
Newsreels-Unedited footage.
-Genre/form: Outtakes.- Database control #: 04-AAD-1821
- - - - -
Title:
- Hearst Metrotone news. [Vol. 4, no. 237--excerpt. 500 dollar pipe dream
goes up in smoke--
New York City
].
Published/distributed:
United States
: [Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
1933-02-01]
Notes:
Released sound track version.
Summary:
"Huge dope seizures made by
New York
cops are consigned to flames in police furnace.
Opium, heroin, hashish and other dangerous drugs up in smoke they
go"--Hearst index card. Includes footage of dope, marijuana, furance oven,
pipes.
Contents:
Shot description: Various scenes of narcotic equipment.
Cigarettes (narcotic). Various scenes of burning narcotics and equipment
in fire by shovel into furnace (Hearst index card). Hearst dupe filed at
HVMc5746r5.
Rights held by UCLA Film and
Television Archive.
PRESERVATION HISTORY:
Preserved at UCLA.
Subject(s): Newsreels
Shorts.
UCLA preservation. -
Genre/form: Newsreels Shorts.
Other Entries:
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Database control #:
04-AAE-8220
-
- = = = =
Title: Hearst Metrotone
news. [Vol. 5, no. 284--excerpt. 250,000 dollars in narcotics seized by the
New York
police goes up in smoke--
New York City
].
Published/distributed:
[1934-07-14]
Series:
- Metrotone snapshots Notes:
Released sound track
version.
Summary:
Includes footage of opium, marijuana, pipes, furnace oven.
Rights held by UCLA Film and
Television Archive.
Newsreels. Shorts. Database
control #: 04-AAE-8487
=
= = =
Title: Hearst Metrotone
news. [Vol. 6, no. 209--excerpt].
Brooklyn
,
N.Y.--
[dope garden in city backyard.
New York
police make startling discovery after peddler's
arrest for selling dangerous marijuana to soldiers at Governor's
Island
,
New York
].
Published/distributed:
United States
: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, [1934-10-22] Series:
Metrotone snapshots Notes:
Released sound track
version. -
Newsreel story.
Originally issued as seventh
story in: Hearst Metrotone news. Vol. 6, no.
209.
Cataloged from copy lacking head logo; title from
intertitles, except bracketed portions, which are transcribed from Hearst
synopsis sheet. Summary: A view of
the backyard, showing marijuana plants. Officers examine the plants. Captain
John J. Mooney of the narcotics squad explains that the weed is made into
cigarettes called "sticks" or "reefers," and that "the
constant juice of these cigarettes causes temporary insanity."
Shot by Bockhorst and Peden, according to Hearst index card. Distributor
name from tail logo; release date (date of distribution to theater) from index
cards. Outtakes for this story (if
held) are filed at HCOc24r2, X671 (negative, 500 ft.).
Rights held by UCLA Film and Television Archive. PRESERVATION HISTORY:
Preserved at UCLA.
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