NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Reefer Madness

Reefer Madness is a 1936 drama film revolving around the tragic events that follow when high school students are lured by pushers to try "marihuana": a hit and run accident, manslaughter, suicide, rape, and descent into madness all ensue. The film was directed by Louis Gasnier and starred a cast composed of mostly unknown bit actors. It was financed by a church group and made under the title Tell Your Children. Image File history File links ReeferMadnessPoster. ... Dwain Esper (October 7, 1892â€”October 18, 1982) is a director and producer of exploitation films (some of which were written by Espers wife, Hildegarde Stadie). ... Thelma White (December 4, 1910-January 11, 2005) was an American actress. ... Carleton Young (born October 21, 1905, died November 7, 1994) was an American character actor, known for his deep voice. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... A drama film is a film that depends mostly on in-depth character development, interaction, and highly emotional themes. ... Main article: Secondary education High school is a name used in some parts of the world, and particularly in North America, to describe the last segment of compulsory education. ... Cannabis sativa Look up marijuana in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Hit-and-run is the crime of colliding with a person, their personal property (including their motor vehicle), or a fixture, and failing to stop and identify oneself afterwards. ... Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the willful act of killing oneself. ...

The film was intended to be shown to parents as a morality tale attempting to teach them about the dangers of cannabis use.^[1] However, soon after the film was shot, it was purchased by producer Dwain Esper, who recut the film for distribution on the exploitation circuit.^[1] The film never gained an audience until it was rediscovered in the 1970s and gained new life as a piece of unintentional comedy among cannabis smokers.^[1]^[2] Today, it is considered a cult film. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Dwain Esper (October 7, 1892â€”October 18, 1982) is a director and producer of exploitation films (some of which were written by Espers wife, Hildegarde Stadie). ... Cult film is a colloquial term for a film that has accrued a highly devoted group of fans. ...

Plot

The film begins with a high school lecture at a PTA meeting. The principal, Dr. Carroll, is attempting to warn parents about the dangers of marijuana. To illustrate his point, he tells the group the story of a group of innocent teenagers whose downfall was supposedly caused by cannabis, saying that he'll give his audience "the real facts" about the case. Image File history File links ReeferMadness_03. ... Image File history File links ReeferMadness_03. ... Main article: Secondary education High school is a name used in some parts of the world, and particularly in North America, to describe the last segment of compulsory education. ... PTA may refer to: Parent-Teacher Association, a voluntary organisation bringing together parents and teachers plasma thromboplastin antecedent, another name for Factor XI Preferential Trade Arrangement This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

At an apartment owned by Mae Coleman, and Jack Perry, her lover (supposedly, the couple is "living in sin," yet they sleep in separate beds as do all married couples depicted in films of the era), the duo sells marijuana. Mae prefers to sell reefer to customers her own age, whereas Jack sells the drug to young teenagers. Ralph, a former college student turned fellow dealer (and "addict," according to the film), and Blanche help Jack sell cannabis to young students.

Young students Bill and Jimmy are invited to Mae and Jack's apartment by Blanche and Ralph. Jimmy takes Bill to the party. There, Jack runs out of reefer. Jimmy, who has a car, drives him to pick up some more. Arriving at Jack's boss's "headquarters," he gets out and Jimmy asks him for a cigarette. Jack gives him a joint. Later, when Jack comes back down and gets into the car, Jimmy drives off dangerously, along the way running over a pedestrian with his car (though the actor can clearly be seen jumping out of the way before the car hits him). Jack agrees to keep Jimmy's name out of the case.

Bill begins an affair with Blanche. Mary, Bill's girlfriend, goes to Mae's apartment looking for Jimmy, and accepts a joint from Ralph, thinking it to be a normal cigarette. When she refuses Ralph's advances, he tries to rape her. Bill comes out of the bedroom after having sex with Blanche, and hallucinates that Mary strips for Ralph. He attacks Ralph, and as the two are fighting, Jack tries to break it up by hitting Bill with the butt of his gun. The gun goes off, and Mary is killed (though in one of the camera shots taking place before it is revealed that Mary has been "shot in the back," the gun is aimed at the floor, one of the film's most revealing mistakes).

Jack puts the gun in the hand of an unconscious Bill, and wakes him up. Bill sees the gun in his hand, and is led to believe that he has killed Mary. Bill is sent to prison. The group of dealers lie low for a while in Blanche's apartment while Bill's trial takes place. Ralph, losing his sanity, wants to tell the police who is actually responsible for the death of Mary. The film attributes Ralph's insanity to marijuana use.

Seeking advice from his boss, Jack is told to shoot Ralph so he keeps his mouth shut. Meanwhile, at the apartment, Blanche offers to play some piano music for Ralph to keep his mind off things. They are both very high, and Ralph tells her to play faster. She increases her playing speed to a downright cartoon-like speed in one of the film's most famous and over-the-top sequences. Image File history File links ReeferMadness_10. ... Image File history File links ReeferMadness_10. ...

Jack shows up and Ralph immediately senses that Jack wants to kill him, so he kills Jack by beating him to death (with an object that is clearly no heavier than a plant leaf). The police arrest Ralph, Mae, and Blanche. Mae talks, and the criminal gang is rounded up. Blanche explains that Bill was innocent, and he is released.

Blanche is then held as a material witness for the case against Ralph, but rather than testify against him, Blanche jumps out a window and falls to her death (a notable goof is that the window is clearly a painting in one shot, and when you see Blanche's dead body on the steps of the building, it is clearly a mannequin) and Ralph is put in an asylum for the criminally insane "for the rest of his natural life." Image File history File links ReeferMadness_12. ... Image File history File links ReeferMadness_12. ...

The film ends with Dr. Carrol warning the parents he has been talking to that this scenario is likely to happen again, and then points to random parents in the audience and warns that "the next tragedy may be that of your daughter's... or your son's... or yours, or yours..." before pointing straight at the camera and saying emphatically "...or YOURS!" as the words "TELL YOUR CHILDREN" flash on the screen.

History

Tell Your Children was financed 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. Soon after the film was shot, however, it was purchased by notorious exploitation filmmaker Dwain Esper, who took the liberty of cutting in salacious insert shots and applying the more scandalous title of Reefer Madness, before distributing it on the exploitation circuit.^[1] Image File history File links ReeferMadness_06. ... Image File history File links ReeferMadness_06. ... Morality plays are a type of theatrical allegory in which the protagonist is met by personifications of various moral attributes who try to prompt him to choose a Godly life over one of evil. ... Grindhouse redirects here. ... Dwain Esper (October 7, 1892â€”October 18, 1982) is a director and producer of exploitation films (some of which were written by Espers wife, Hildegarde Stadie). ...

Some sources have also claimed that the film was financed by Harry Anslinger's Federal Bureau of Narcotics, or even by anti-hemp interests such as DuPont or William Randolph Hearst. Such education-exploitation films were common in the years following adoption of the Code, such as Esper's own Marihuana and Elmer Clifton's Assassin of Youth, and the subject of cannabis was particularly popular in the hysteria surrounding Anslinger's 1937 Marihuana Tax Act. Harry J. Anslinger (1892-1975) is widely considered to be The first United States drug czar. Currently, many firmly oppose Anslinger for his rhetoric-based crusade against marijuana, fueling decades of misinformation about the drug based on racism and fear. ... Amid evidence of corruption in 1929, the US Treasury Departments Narcotics Division collapsed and the following year Congress created the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN), still under the Treasury Deparment. ... U.S. Marihuana production permit, from the film Hemp for Victory. ... This article is about the DuPont company. ... William Randolph Hearst (April 29, 1863 â€“ August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper magnate. ... Marihuana is a 1936 exploitation film directed by Dwain Esper, and written by Espers wife, Hildegarde Stadie. ... Assassin of Youth (1937) is a exploitation film directed by Elmer Clifton, which is a pre-WWII movie about the ill effects of marijuana. ... In the United States, the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act was one of the cornerstone bills that led to the criminalization of cannabis. ...

After a brief run, the film lay forgotten for several decades. There had not yet developed a concept of after-market in film distribution, especially for films that existed outside the confines of the studio system, and were therefore considered "forbidden fruit." For this reason, neither Esper nor the original filmmakers bothered to copyright the film, and it eventually fell into the public domain.^[1] After-market refers to any market where the customers who implement one product or service are likely to purchase a related, follow-on product. ... A Film distributor is an independent company, a subsidiary company or occasionally an individual, which acts as the final agent between a film production company or some intermediary agent, and a film exhibitor, to the end of securing placement of the producers film on the exhibitors screen. ... A film studio is a controlled environment for the making of a film. ... Copyright symbol Copyright is a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

In 1971, Reefer Madness was discovered in the Library of Congress archives by NORML founder Keith Stroup, who bought a print for $297, and made it the darling of pot smokers and college campuses. For this modern audience the poor production values and overacting create an uproarious comedy that provides perspective on the current "War on Drugs". Stroup is also responsible for the notion that the film was originally created as a propaganda piece. Distributing Reefer Madness to college campuses of the 1970s helped bankroll the burgeoning film company New Line Cinema.^[1]^[2] The Great Hall interior. ... The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws or NORML (pronounced normal) is a US-based non-profit corporation founded in 1970 to, according to their most recent mission statement, move public opinion sufficiently to achieve the repeal of marijuana prohibition so that the responsible use of cannabis by... Keith Stroup. ... Production values is a media euphemism for production cost. ... Massive mark-ups for drugs, UK Govt report Prevalance of drug use 1991-2002 The War on Drugs is an initiative undertaken by the United States with the assistance of participating countries, which is ostensibly intended to combat the illegal drug trade â€”to curb supply and diminish demand for certain... New Line Cinema logo New Line Cinema, founded in 1967, is one of the major American film studios. ...

Today, Reefer Madness is considered to be a cult classic, and one of the best examples of a midnight movie. Its fans enjoy the film for the same unintentionally campy production values that made it a hit in the 1970s.^[2] The film was spoofed in a musical of the same name, which was later made into a made-for-television film in 2005.^[3] Cult film is a colloquial term for a film that has accrued a highly devoted group of fans. ... Midnight movies are a once popular phenomenon that started in the early 1970s and largely faded with advent of the VCR in the 1980s. ... For the the baseball player Bert Campaneris, see Bert Campaneris Camp is an aesthetic in which something has appeal because of its bad taste or ironic value. ... Reefer Madness (2004) is a musical satire of the 1936 cult classic Reefer Madness. ... Reefer Madness: The Musical! The film version of the musical Reefer Madness premiered on April 16, 2005, on the Showtime cable network. ...

The colorized version

In 2004, 20th Century Fox, in collaboration with Legend Films, released a colorized version of the film on DVD.^[4] The original release date was April 20, 2004, a reference to the drug slang term "420." The term is also flashed briefly during the film, which is an effect added by Legend Films. The color version features intentionally unrealistic color schemes that add to the film's unintentionally campy humor. The smoke from the "marijuana" was made to appear green, red, blue, orange, and purple, each person's colored smoke representing their mood and the different "levels of 'addiction'".^[5] Image File history File links Reefer_(color)_01. ... Image File history File links Reefer_(color)_01. ... Fox Plaza, the company headquarters. ... Legend Films, a San Diego-based company, was founded in August 2001. ... Colorization in Sin City Film Colorization is a film alteration process that involves adding color to a black and white film. ... A Cannabis sativa plant 420 (pronounced four-twenty) is a term used in Cannabis culture to describe the use of cannabis, and elements of its associated culture. ... For the the baseball player Bert Campaneris, see Bert Campaneris Camp is an aesthetic in which something has appeal because of its bad taste or ironic value. ...

Comedian and former Mystery Science Theater 3000 host Mike Nelson provided an audio commentary track. Other DVD extras included a short film called Grandpa's Marijuana Handbook, and a new trailer for Reefer Madness, produced by Legend Films. Legend Films also provided their own color design commentary. Legend Films owns the copyright to the colorized version of Reefer Madness. While most have praised the new color version for its campy treatment of the cult film, some viewers claimed that the color choices would better suit a film about LSD than a film about cannabis.^[6] The colorized DVD was a major success, mainly due to the inclusion of Nelson's audio commentary track. Mystery Science Theater 3000, often abbreviated MST3K, is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc. ... Mystery Science Theater 3000s Mike Nelson (left) and Kevin Wagner Murphy, at Exoticon 1 convention panel in Metairie, Louisiana, November, 1998. ... A major selling point of DVD video is that its storage capacity allows for a wide variety of extra features in addition to the feature film itself. ... Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly called LSD, LSD-25, or acid. ...

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Murphy, Kevin and Studney, Dan. The history of Reefer Madness. Archived from the original on 2005-10-28. Retrieved on 2006-11-07.
^ ^a ^b ^c Peary, Danny (1981). Cult Movies. New York: Delacorte Press, pages 203-205. ISBN 0-440-01626-6.
^ Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.
^ ASIN: B00018D3XM. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.
^ Sandrew, Barry and Horvath, Rosemary. Reefer Madness DVD, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2004, DVD commentary. ASIN: B00018D3XM
^ Hoover, Travis Mackenzie. Reefer Madness DVD review. Film Freak Central. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.

2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... October 28 is the 301st day of the year (302nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 64 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... November 7 is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 54 days remaining. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about motion pictures, actors, movie stars, TV shows, TV stars, production crew personnel, movie pictures, cast, crew as well as video games. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... December 23 is the 357th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (358th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... December 23 is the 357th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (358th in leap years). ... 20th Century Fox logo Fox Plaza, the company headquarters. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... December 23 is the 357th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (358th in leap years). ...

External links

Categories: 1936 films | American propaganda films | American social guidence and drug education films | Black and white films that have been colorized | Cannabis culture | Cult films | Drug-related films | English-language films | Exploitation films | Moral panics | New Line Cinema films | Public domain films | Social guidance films Image File history File links Wikiquote-logo-en. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about motion pictures, actors, movie stars, TV shows, TV stars, production crew personnel, movie pictures, cast, crew as well as video games. ... Google Video is a free Google service that allows anyone to upload video clips to Googles web servers as well as make their own media available free of charge or through Google Video Store for a cost that they can set. ... Internet Archive headquarters. ...