Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

gavin6942 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.

zardoz-13 Notorious exploitation film producer Dwain Esper of "Sex Madness" infamy helmed this anti-marihuana propaganda epic with a modicum of finesse. The Hildegarde Stadie screenplay chronicles a clueless young girl's downward spiral into a vortex of crime and narcotics trafficking because she inhaled the wicked demon weed. Indeed, grass emerges as a gateway drug in "Marihuana," but this low-budget melodrama lacks the campy quality of "Reefer Madness." Although both films pontificate about the perils of getting high, "Marihuana" adopts a more straightforward approach, and the consequences of abusing this drug proves far more dangerous for our heroine. Furthermore, the drug dealers here are more sinister individuals. "Marihuana" boasts better than average production values, particularly in its opening bar sequence. Mind you, nothing here which was reportedly based on police files has a puff of credibility. The teenagers who succumb to the scourge of marihuana are led down a path of deception by natty, well-heeled mobsters who resemble Italians. Once these objectionable individuals latch their tentacles onto somebody like our impressionable leading lady, the end is a foregone conclusion. What sets "Marihuana" apart from other drugs-ploitation drivel is one scene where a group of delirious dames disrobe after toking, scramble down to the beach at night, and go for a swim. Esper treats us to some nudity, something almost unheard of in mainstream 1930s cinema. Predictably, our unfortunate heroine lowers her guard among other things with her boyfriend in his convertible and winds up pregnant. Just to exacerbate matters, the boyfriend dies when the authorities catch him toting a bag of marihuana. The gangsters convince our heroine to have her child and then give it up for adoption. Throughout the action, she is jealous of her other sister and eventually, she persuades the two mobsters to kidnap her sister's little girl and hold her for ransom. Our heroine receives the shock of her life when she learns more about his sister's child."Marihuana" opens with this cautionary preamble. "Foreword. For centuries the world has been aware of the narcotic menace. We have complacently watched Asiatic countries attempt to rid themselves of DRUGS CURSE, and attributed their failure to lack of education. We consider ourselves enlightened and think that never could we succumb to such a fare. But--did you know that--the use of marihuana is steadily increasing among the youth of this country? Did you know that--the youthful criminal is our greatest problem today? And that--Marihuana gives the user false courage, and destroys conscience thereby making crime alluring, smart? That is the price we are paying for our lack of interest in the narcotic situation. This story is drawn from an actual case history on file in the police records of one of our large cities. Note: MARIHUANA, Hashish of the Orient, is commonly distributed as a doped cigarette. Its most terrifying effect is that it fires the user to extreme cruelty and license."Burma Roberts (Harley Wood of "Valley of Terror") is jealous of her older sister Elaine (Dorothy Dehn of "Madame Satan") because her mother lavishes more attention on Elaine. Consequently, Burma prefers to party with her boyfriend Dick Collier (Hugh McArthur of "Panama Patrol") and sometimes they park and make out. Eventually, Burma encounters two shady but suave strangers, Tony (Paul Ellis of "Ninotchka") and Nick (Pat Carlyle of "The Irish Gringo"), in a night club. Tony invites Burma and her friends over to his place for drinks next Saturday night. After the party at the nightclub, Dick and Burma park on a hillside overlooking the city in his Ford Model A Roadster,and Dick gets fresh with Burma. She storms off on foot, but doesn't get far before Dick picks up and takes her home. She gets in at 11 PM and asks her mother why she cannot have an evening gown like all the other girls. "Everything that I have is Elaine's," Burma complains. "Why can't I have one of my very own." Her mom asks about her homework and Burma lies that she has finished it.Later, at the party, the guys guzzle alcohol while the gals fire up some marijuana cigarettes. They laugh uproariously and then go skinny-dipping in the surf. As it turns out, one of the girls who went skinny-dipping party--Joan Marsh--swims out too far and dies. When Burma informs her boyfriend about her pregnancy, she bugs him to marry her. Dick assures her everything will be okay and Tony and Nick give him a job. Unfortunately, Dick is helping unload smuggled marihuana when the authorities strike. He dies in his alacrity to escape their clutches. When Burma hears about this news, she leaves home, gives birth to the child and then puts it up for adoption. Burma plunges into harder drugs) and uses needles to inject heroin into herself. During the film's finale, Burma concocts a scheme to abduct her sister's adopted daughter for $50,000. Imagine Burma's surprise later when she finds out that the child is, in fact, her own.

gt65-799-292643 Not badly made for a low budget film of 1936. This is not propaganda, as others have termed it, but it actually has a plot and even a bit of a twist. Somewhat "shocking" for a film of this era, it has sex, nudity, unwanted pregnancy, and alcohol/drug abuse. Interestingly, this film is not about substance abuse in the ghetto but in more affluent households.The plot follows a purported teenager (although she is the oldest looking teenager I have ever seen in film) as she progresses from drinking to marijuana use, to heroin use. The symptoms of narcotic use are either exaggerated or ignored (with marijuana use people giggle non-stop while with heroin use there is no depressant effect) but the process of progressing from alcohol and marijuana to serious drug use and even drug dealing is accurate to this day.Contrary to the title, don't expect it to be about marijuana, but about drug use in general and you will enjoy it.

preppy-3 Camp classic by exploitation master Dwain Esper. A clean cut bunch of obviously over-age "kids" become addicted to marijuana after one puff! They giggle uncontrollably, engage in nude skinny-dipping (mild female nudity), sex and it all leads to a drowning, alcoholism, heroin addiction, kidnapping, pregnancy and death. This is a very silly movie--another one of those ones where the people making it had no idea what they were doing. Most of the acting is terrible and the story is downright ridiculous at times (and hard to follow--the surviving prints are in terrible shape). Still it's not worthless. It moves quickly (only 57 minutes), there were actually some pretty clever directorial touches and Harley Wood was pretty good in her lead role. So it's worth a look if you're curious. On par with "Reefer Madness".