Marihuana

One of several anti-marijuana/drug propaganda films of the 1930's with over- reactive screen narratives, over-dramatized screen-writing and acting...that is completely inaccurate in the depiction of marijuana usage.

Over-excessive to the point, in light of what is known about marijuana today and effects upon the average marijuana user, it's almost comedic by today's standards and realistic knowledge of this drug.

Burma, an 'innocent' but unhappy youth clashes at home and hangs out with a 'wild' crowd..to the point the laughing makes my head ache with high- pitched, giggling, silly girls. Solely because of using marijuana, according to the film, she indulges in a series of immoral acts, becomes pregnant out of wedlock, and two friends are killed (as if one was not enough in a one- hour film). Her response is to become a hotshot dealer herself....leading to deeper crime (with an ironic twist to boot) & yes, another tragedy.

Way over-the-top, inaccurate, but entertaining to watch and thus what is known as a 'cult classic' in today's world. One of a series of anti-drug, specifically anti-marijuana films aimed to exaggerate & allegedly decry the horrors of marijuana usage.

A young woman slowly becomes a dope pusher.

Most people have heard of "Reefer Madness". But if you wanted to see another film that was anti-marijuana in 1936, look no further than "Marihuana", which (not surprisingly) was made by some of the same people.

This film is not the cult classic of its step-brother, and with good reason. It is far less humorous, with the only really notable thing about it being a nude swimming scene that never would have passed the censorship code. In fact, the film is not even really about marijuana so much as a drinking party gone wrong and the bad choices made after the fact.

Beating the more famous "Reefer Madness" into the theaters by all of about 15 minutes, "Marihuana" is yet another morality play whose producer tries to pass off a warning about the evils of marijuana use as an excuse for the picture's real reason for being: a nude swim scene (shot so darkly that the participants can barely even be seen). A group of the oldest-looking teenagers you've ever seen (and don't you just love movies with teenagers being played by actors old enough to be the PARENTS of teenagers) fall in with the wrong crowd, and soon there's a drowning, a shooting, an unwanted pregnancy, a kidnapping (of a child you just know was supposed to be the next Shirley Temple, at least in the minds of her parents), and an ending that has to be seen to be disbelieved. All in all, a truly mind-bending experience that would rival any that could come from the actual use of marijuana.

**SPOILERS** One of the many exploitation movies made in the 1930's about weed pot or marijuana the film "Marihuana" is mostly about a sibling rivalry between two young sisters Berma and Eline who come from one of the towns most upright and blue blood families.

Eline is engaged and to be married to local rich well connected and also blue blood Morgan Stuart while Berma is in love with a local boy who's both poor and out of work Dick Collier. With Eline being her moms favorite Berma rebells by partying and going out with the wild crowd who drink and do pot and have naked sex parties at night.

One Saturday evening after having a wienie roast on the beach the roast turns deadly when one of the girls Joann, Berma's best friend, who was drunk and butt naked runs into the ocean and drowns. Meanwhile back at the beach house the rest of the girls at the party undress and run naked out on the beach skinny dipping into the cold waters with their boyfriends, fully dressed, chasing them. Alone and by themselves both Dick and Berma has a sexual tryst which later results in Berma getting pregnant.

With the news of Joann's tragic death the local pot dealer Tony Sentello tells the young people at the party, who looked like they were in their early twenties at the least, to keep their mouths shut if they don't want to be taken away from their parents and put into a local orphanage.

Dick wanting to get married to Berma and give their expecting child a proper name as well as a family gets a job working for Tony as a drug runner. On Dick's first day on the job he's shot and killed by the police as he picked up some pot from Tony's sidekick Nickie Romero, who's a dead ringer for actor Andy Garcia,on the waterfront. The very day that Dick was shot and killed Eline and Morgan were happily married at the town church.

Giving her baby up for adoption Berma went to work with Tony and Nickie in their pot selling racket and later even went into selling the hard stuff, heroin, which she herself soon got addicted to. Leaving an apartment house after selling some heroin to a desperate woman, who gave up her engagement ring for the dope, Berma sees her Sister Elaine with her husband Morgan and their little girl Gloria. Berma gets this idea to kidnap Gloria and hold her for a ransom of $50,000.00 from her rich parents knowing that both Eline and Morgan wouldn't want this to become public with the person responsible for the kidnapping being a close family member.

Going to get in touch with Morgan to get the ransom money Berma get the startling news from her brother-in-law that Gloria is not his and Eline's real child but she was adopted from an underground baby selling mill and she's really Berma's child that she gave up for adoption some three years ago.In a state of shock and emotionally destroyed Berma realizes that the one thing that she had over her hated sister Eline, a child of her own, she unwittingly gave away to her.

Going back to the apartment hideout where her partners in crime, Tony & Nickie, were holding her daughter Gloria hostage Berma gives herself a "hot Load" injection in her leg. As she enters the apartment Berma finds that the police raided it, and arrested both Tony and Nikie, and rescued Gloria. With the drugs taking affect Brma slowly goes into shock and collapses and overdoses from "the hit" that she just gave herself.

I love these 30s exploitation flicks! This one definitely builds on the stereotypes of marihuana and its evil effects. Victims under the influence of this terrible narcotic wear menacing smiles and blank eyed stares. They gad about and jiggle in nightclubs while intoxicating themselves on copious amounts of alcohol as if mesmerized by the music. You will love how a couple of puffs/tokes/hits turn a group of young women into hysterical, sex crazed floozies! Man, that scene was funny.

On the down note, Burma (nice to be named after an aftershave) spirals downward into destruction and despair. Hey, don't blame the pot, it didn't make her become a heroin dealer! Very poor gateway drug reference they were trying to get across.

There seems to be a plot, but don't bother following. Dialogue is lame, muffled, and you'll be saying the phrase "who are you?" quite frequently throughout the film. I don't think that guy's spanish accent was authentic either. Doesn't top the all-time kampy 'Reefer Madness ', but it's a load of hoots.