Subject: Narcotics (1951)
1951 · Ephemeral film · 21 min · dir. Terry Sanders
- Crime
Synopsis
This film, which was actually made for narcotics officers and was not meant to be seen by the general public, shows the destructive effects of marijuana, which produces "unpredictable emotional results", and shows a (phony) round-up of drug addicts in downtown L.A.--the implication being, of course, that they all started out using marijuana.
Synopsis from OMDb
Details
- Director
- Terry Sanders
- Released
- 1951-01-01
- Running time
- 21 minutes
Cast & crew
Terry Sanders Director
Richard Elliot
Wes Robinson
John Young
Reviews on the Internet Archive
★★★★★ · Actually well done · Dan L. · 2009-11-01
For it's time this is actually quite well done. Compared with most stuff I've seen on this topic this isn't overly melodramatic. It's rather realistic actually. Medically and chemically, I believe it has a few errors but it's a frank discussion of the dangers. They discuss marijuana as non addictive and just 'habituating' but not leading to withdrawal for example. Fairly nuanced for that time when all was doom and gloom in these movies. They also accurately depict that it is mild and the problem is really the 'gateway' nature of it. Nuanced again if not exaggerated slightly. While it's true…
★★★★ · A couple of goofballs for me please.. · Spuzz · 2004-11-25
Very weird piece about addiction. I think much of this holds up today, well, mayb the slang has changed.. "Goofballs?" What I liked about this one is the 2 toned narration. You had the serious narrator type, then off and on, this whiny one comes on to ask a stupid question. Very odd, and quite funny.
