Reefer Madness (1936)
"Tell Your Children" (original title)

Cautionary tale features a fictionalized and highly exaggerated take on the use of marijuana. A trio of drug dealers lead innocent teenagers to become addicted to "reefer" cigarettes by holding wild parties with jazz music.

Director:

Louis J. Gasnier

Writers:

Lawrence Meade (original story), Arthur Hoerl (screenplay),

Stars:

Dorothy Short, Kenneth Craig, Lillian Miles

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Dorothy Short	...	Mary
Kenneth Craig	...	Bill
Lillian Miles	...	Blanche
Dave O'Brien	...	Ralph
Thelma White	...	Mae
Carleton Young	...	Jack
Warren McCollum	...	Jimmy (as Warren McCullom)
Patricia Royale	...	Agnes (as Pat Royale)
Joseph Forte	...	Dr. Carroll (as Josef Forte)
Harry Harvey Jr.	...	Junior

Storyline

Propaganda film that relates the story, as told by high school principal Dr. Carroll to parents at a PTA meeting, of the scourge of marijuana. The tale revolves around Mae and Jack, accomplices in the distribution of marijuana, who manage to entice the local high school kids to stop by Mae's apartment to smoke reefer. The lives of all who are involved with this menace are inevitably shattered. One man becomes so addicted to the killer weed that the guilt over framing a teen for murder causes a judge to order him to be committed for life to a mental hospital! Dr. Carroll closes by advising us to not incur the same tragedy.

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Plot Keywords:

marijuana | high school | wild party | propaganda | murder | 

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Taglines:

Adults Only!

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1938 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dope Addict

Filming Locations:

Grand National Studios - 7250 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

George A. Hirliman Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

66 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film became one of the earliest cult comedy hits during the golden age of the "midnight movie" in which theaters, especially those near colleges, would run the film at special screenings late at night during weekends.

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Goofs

In the close-up of Mary lying dead on the couch, a shadow of the camera's barn doors falls on the arm rest just above her head.

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Quotes

Bureau Official: Here is an example: A fifteen-year-old lad apprehended in the act of staging a holdup - fifteen years old and a marijuana addict. Here is a most tragic case.
Dr. Carroll: Yes. I remember. Just a young boy... under the influence of drugs... who killed his entire family with an axe.

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Crazy Credits

FOREWORD: 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! Its 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 extravagances - followed by emotional disturbances, the total inability to direct thoughts, the loss of all power to resist physical emotions... 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 fictionized for the purposes of this story, are based upon actual research into the results of Marihuana addiction. If their stark reality will make you think, will make you aware that something must be 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 next for your son or daughter....or yours....or YOURS!

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Connections

Featured in Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream (2005)

User Reviews

The Gone with the Wind of 30's Exploitation Films

Because of 70's NORML propaganda falsely claiming that the FBI sponsored Reefer Madness, most viewers believe that this Exploitation classic was meant to be taken seriously. Not so! Thelma White (Mae) has noted in interviews that the producers and director Louis Gasnier asked the cast to "hoke it up." The famous "Faster, Faster" scene is, in fact, a direct parody of a similar scene in the classic musical 42nd Street (a scene in which Dave O'Brien--Ralph in Reefer Madness--played a chorus boy).

So why make a cautionary tale, but do so tongue-in-cheek? Simple. To get around the Hays Code and show more skin than the Code allowed...but also to capitalize on the public's fear of drugs. Either way, the producers made a ton of money on the Exploitation circuit--more than covering their costs for this relatively expensive sub-Poverty Row production.

Made over the course of 3 weeks (most Exploitation films were shot in a few days), using an experienced director and a couple of talented actors who went on to have respectable careers in Hollywood, Reefer Madness is quite simply the finest Exploitation film to come out of the 30's.

The film's funny, is it? Well, the folks who made it thought so too. And they laughed all the way to the bank.