Sex Madness (1938)

Director:

Dwain Esper

Writers:

Joseph Seiden (writer)
Vincent Valentini (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Protect your daughters!

Plot:

This sex exploitation film includes wild parties, sex out of wedlock, lesbianism, etc. After going to a "casting couch"...

Plot Keywords:

Sex | Syphilis | Exploitation | Costume Party | Public Domain

Cast

Vivian McGill	...	Millicent Hamilton
Rose Tapley	...	Mrs. Hamilton
Al Rigali	...	Mr. Hamilton
Mark Daniels	...	Wendel Hope (as Stanley Barton)
Linda Lee Hill	...	Sheila Wayne
Ruth Edell	...	Mrs. Fay
Charles Olcott	...	Paul Lorenz
Ed Redding	...	Dr. Hampton
Pat Lawrence	...	Tom Lorenz
Allen Tower	...	Dr. Harris (as Allan Tower)
Richard Bengali	...	Mr. Maynard
W. Blake	...	Dr. Grenoble
Frank Howsen	...	Dr. Bayard
Allan Lee	...	Mr. Winthrop
Jean Temple	...	Mrs. Winthrop

Also Known As:

Human Wreckage (USA) (reissue title)
Human Wreckage: They Must Be Told (USA) (long title)
They Must Be Told (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

57 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Cinema Service Corp.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Millicent is talking to her landlady, the window in the background falls shut. This distracts the actress, who nearly flubs her line.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Muchachada nui: (#2.5)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Wedding March

Sex Crazy Talk with a Purpose

Another cautionary propaganda film. This one is not good so much as hilariously and purposefully bad.

Films like Sex Madness are early-middle 20th Century examples of Abstinence-Only sex education. In other words, the message really is, "Don't have sex because scary things can happen. Yes, those urges are natural, but only a person with low self-esteem would want to engage in intercourse before marriage. And, anyway, you might catch a deadly disease to boot."

Though these films typically portray the problem for both men and women, the message is really about women and their bodies as baby-delivery devices. I love the assumption abstinence-only supporters make: that when you're married, you won't catch STDs. OKEY DOKEY.

Sex Madness is worth watching especially if you are coming to terms with why the white-American-middle-class vision of the world has always lacked any real intelligence. Its mission has always been white people pro-creating. The film's message need not be smartly portrayed; rather, it should be portrayed repeatedly and simply for mass consumption.

I do get a kick out of the comments left for these films by IMDBers who take these genre films seriously and are shocked after watching them. Of course they are wrong. They are tools of oppression.

Finally, it's worth the purchase of the DVD for the two US Navy hygiene films that come as bonus features on an Alpha Films copy. Cocaine Fiends is my favorite of the bunch.