REEFER MADNESS (1936) Dorothy Short, Kenneth Craig & Lillian Miles | Comedy, Crime, Drama | B&W

Reefer Madness (originally made as Tell Your Children and sometimes titled The Burning Question, Dope Addict, Doped Youth, and Love Madness) is a 1936 American propaganda film about drugs, revolving around the melodramatic events that ensue when high school students are lured by pushers to try marijuana – upon trying it, they become addicted, eventually leading them to become involved in various crimes such as a hit and run accident, manslaughter, murder, conspiracy to murder and attempted rape. While all this is happening, they suffer hallucinations, descend into insanity, associate with organized crime and (in one character's case) commit suicide. The film was directed by Louis J. Gasnier and featured a cast of mainly little-known actors.

Originally financed by a church group under the title Tell Your Children, the film was intended to be shown to parents as a morality tale attempting to teach them about the dangers of cannabis use. Soon after the film was shot, it was purchased by producer Dwain Esper, who re-cut the film for distribution on the exploitation film circuit, exploiting vulgar interest while escaping censorship under the guise of moral guidance, beginning in 1938–1939 through the 1940s and 1950s.

The film was "rediscovered" in the early 1970s and gained new life as an unintentional satire among advocates of cannabis policy reform.[6][7] Critics have called it one of the worst films ever made and has gained a cult following within cannabis culture. Today, it is in the public domain in the United States.

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

CAST & CREW
Dorothy Short as Mary Lane
Kenneth Craig as Bill Harper
Lillian Miles as Blanche
Dave O'Brien as Ralph Wiley
Thelma White as Mae Coleman
Carleton Young as Jack Perry
Warren McCollum as Jimmy Lane
Pat Royale as Agnes
Josef Forte as Dr. Alfred Carroll
Harry Harvey Jr. as Junior Harper

Directed by Louis J. Gasnier
Screenplay by Arthur Hoerl, Story by Lawrence Meade
Produced by George Hirliman (1936 film), Dwain Esper (1938–39 release)
Cinematography Jack Greenhalgh
Edited by Carl Pierson
Music by Abe Meyer
Production company G&H Productions
Distributed by Motion Picture Ventures
Release dates 1936 (original release), 1938–1939 (re-issue)
Running time 68 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $100,000
Box office $1,443,000 (1970 reissue)

NOTES
In 1936 or 1938, 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 or 1939, Esper began distributing it on the exploitation circuit where it was originally released in at least four territories, each with their own title for the film: the first territory to screen it was the South, where it went by Tell Your Children (1938 or 1939). West of Denver, Colorado, the film was generally known as Doped Youth (1940). In New England, it was known as Reefer Madness (1940 or 1947), 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, a year after Reefer Madness.