Customer Reviews

Reefer Madness

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The original title is "Tell Your Children." aka Dope Addict (1938), aka Doped Youth (1938), aka Love Madness (1938), aka Burning Question, The (1939), aka Reefer Madness (1947).

This is an educational movie that shows you what they do not want you to know about the seamy side of burning hemp.

A tale by Dr. Carroll (Joseph Forte) of May Colman (Thelma White) and Jack Perry (Carleton Young) distributors. Their dealings with high school students that look like they flunked a few grades. There are many overlapping scenarios; one is which Ralph, under the influence, helps Mary with her inhabitations towards disrobing. Some time during this trying evening Mary is all shot. Others are rundown and some Grin and grin and grin and bear it.

A side note Mary and Ralph (Dorothy Short and Dave O'Brien) in real life were married to each other at the time of the movie.

Being a cult classic does not give it any better production rating.
You may just want rent this film first as it is not really one for re-watching.

Reefer Madness is a propaganda film filled with lies and the twisting of the truth about the harmfulness of marijuana. It was a film obviously made to deceive the public about what the use of marijuana ("the real public enemy number one!") can cause people to do, which in turn caused many strict laws to prohibit the drug. Showing the public that the use of marijuana caused people to do irrational and immoral things, such as having pre-marital sex, getting violently paranoid, acting crazy, and even becoming a murderer, made the people respond. It is so obviously an inaccurate portrayal of people under the influence of the narcotic that it cannot be thought of as anything else but a hilariously ridiculous propaganda film, and in today's sense, a cult film (which can also be related to the short film "Duck and Cover," as getting under a desk and covering your neck and head would not help during the explosion of the atomic bomb. However, I think that film was made just to make people feel more secure).

The film depicts the "evil" marijuana dealers as normal people who lure children into their homes and sell them the "devil's drug." These children were ordinary, happy people, who get their lives completely ruined by this drug. It's actually very funny that anyone ever took this film seriously, as it is so ridiculous.