Reefer Madness (1936) - a cult classic / midnight movie скачать в хорошем качестве

Reefer Madness (1936) - a cult classic / midnight movie

The film's story is told in bracketing sequences at a lecture given at a PTA meeting by pompous, self-righteous, High School Principal Dr. Alfred Carroll (Joseph Forte). Mae Coleman (Thelma White) and Jack Perry (Carleton Young) are a cohabitating couple who sell marijuana. Over Mae's objections, Jack unscrupulously sells reefer to teenagers. Mae would rather only deal to adults. Ralph Wiley (Dave O'Brien), a sociopathic college dropout turned dealer, and siren Blanche (Lillian Miles) help Jack recruit new customers. Ralph and Jack lure high school student Bill Harper (Kenneth Craig) and college student Jimmy Lane (Warren McCollum) to Mae and Jack's apartment. Jimmy drives Bill to a party where Jack runs out of reefer. Jimmy drives Jack to pick up more at Jack's boss' (Walter McGrail) "headquarters". Jack gets gives Jimmy a joint. Jimmy, unknowingly high, drives recklessly and kills a pedestrian. Jack agrees to keep Jimmy's name out of the case if Jimmy agrees to forget he was ever in Mae's apartment. The police don't have enough to go on, and Jimmy escapes punishment. Bill, whose once-pristine record at school has rapidly declined, has a fling with Blanche while high. Mary, Jimmy's sister and Bill's girlfriend, goes to Mae's apartment looking for Jimmy and accepts a joint from Ralph, thinking it's a regular cigarette. When she refuses Ralph's advances, he tries to rape her. Bill comes out of the bedroom and, still high, hallucinates that Mary is willingly offering herself to Ralph and attacks the latter. As the two are fighting, Jack knocks Bill unconscious with the butt of his gun, which inadvertently fires, killing Mary. Jack puts the gun in Bill's hand, framing him for Mary's death by claiming he blacked out. The dealers lie low for a while in Blanche's apartment while Bill's trial takes place. Over the objections of a skeptical juror, Bill is found guilty. The boss tells Jack to shoot Ralph to prevent him from confessing. But, Ralph beats Jack to death as Blanche laughs uncontrollably in terror. The police arrest Ralph, Mae, Blanche, the boss and other gang members. Blanche jumps out of a window and falls to her death. Bill's conviction is overturned, and Ralph, now nearly catatonic, is sent to an asylum for the criminally insane for the rest of his natural life. The principal tells the parents that events similar to these are likely to happen again, and the words "TELL YOUR CHILDREN" appear on the screen. A 1936 American propaganda film (a/k/a "Tell Your Children", "The Burning Question", "Dope Addict", "Doped Youth", and "Love Madness") directed by Louis J. Gasnier, produced by George Hirliman, screenplay by Arthur Hoerl, story by Lawrence Meade, cinematography by Jack Greenhalgh, starring Dorothy Short, Kenneth Craig, Lillian Miles, Dave O'Brien, Thelma White, Warren McCollum, and Carleton Young. In 1936 "Tell Your Children" was financed and made by a church group and intended to be shown to parents as a morality tale attempting to teach them about the dangers of cannabis use.It was originally produced by George Hirliman; however, some time after the film was made, it was purchased by exploitation filmmaker Dwain Esper, who inserted salacious shots. In 1938 Esper began distributing it on the exploitation circuit where it was originally released in at least four territories, each with its own title for the film. The first territory to screen it was the South, where it went by "Tell Your Children" (1938). West of Denver, Colorado, the film was generally known as "Doped Youth" (1940). In New England, it was known as "Reefer Madness" (1940), while in the Pennsylvania/West Virginia territory it was called "The Burning Question" (1940). The film was then screened all over the country during the 1940s under these various titles and Albert Dezel of Detroit eventually bought all rights in 1951 for use in roadshow screenings throughout the 1950s. Such education-exploitation films were common in the years following adoption of the stricter version of the Production Code in 1934. Other films included Esper's own earlier "Marihuana" (1936) and Elmer Clifton's "Assassin of Youth" (1937) and the subject of cannabis was particularly popular in the hysteria surrounding Anslinger's 1937 Marihuana Tax Act. The film was "rediscovered" in the early 1970s and gained new life as an unintentional satire among advocates of cannabis policy reform. Critics have called it one of the worst films ever made and has gained a cult following within cannabis culture. Considered a cult classic and one of the most popular examples of a midnight movie. In spite of its awfulness, the movie takes itself so seriously. Originally intended for post-war generation parents as an educational video against the dangers of marijuana, to capitalize on the public's fear of drugs. This incredible period piece is no masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. Watch one viewing of this campy, neurotic cult film just for the fun of it.