poster

Marihuana
Director: Dwain Esper
Year: 1936
TRT: 57 min

Reviewed: 3/24/2024
VIDEO REVIEW

NOTE: Due to the perceived evil of The Reefer, only safe and effective and possibly liver-smushing alcohol was consumed during the entirety of this totally not exploitation film. In All seriousnesses, per the opening credits, it states this story is DRAWN from an ACTUAL case history ON FILE in the police records of one of our Large Cities. No shit! This be REAL. Because the opening credits said so, in a very 1930s Star Wars opening credit sequence kinda way, but lamer. This “narcotic menace” has Youthful Criminals indulging in the Devil’s Lettuce, sometimes known as the Hashish of the Orient, and Fires the User to Extreme Cruelty and License. This may or may not be total for real, but viewers beware!

There’s a beer party. 5 cent beers and a band. People go drunkardly. Good on em, I won’t judge, just don’t drive home that way, ok? But there is something else going on heres. Something more nefarious. And wouldn’t you know it, chicks smoke some of the weird cigarettes left out and next thing you know they’re gigglin, skinny dippin and one, maybe, even drowns. The two hosts of this cabin shindig are suspect, and the resulting ramifications of this soiree have devastating effects on not only some of the participants, but on you, sad bastard of a viewer, who sit there and witness it on a black and white television in 4x3 aspect ratio.

There is a story here that is so incredible I cannot believe it is not shown on film-reels to all students with the same bad audio and overexposure of poorly shot pictures that I did. Well, at least YouTube vids to all kids, because, this is IMPORTANT. Maybe not as important as Idiocracy, but pretty damn messagelogical to be worth mentioning. Because drugs are bad, m’kay? This isn’t a good movie. It’s not even a long movie. But for some reason I wrote a lot of notes to it. It’s mesmerizing, like watching a hooligan picking up a person’s severed leg after a tragic train incident, who then scampers off with it and gives it the ole ‘bite test’ to see if it’s edible or not. You can’t not watch that horror unfold.


This is a strange film. Weird propaganda with long-shot poorly lit nudity for the deviants, and a strange adoption subplot with syringe injections thrown in for good measure because that’s what the high folks do? But when I realized the main character’s name was Burma? Damn, she fucked no matter how you approach this. Don’t name your kid Burma, there is only one plausible outcome, in becoming a drug queen to highify the masses. That is a strong message, noted, thank you.


Great Scene: The odd shower of joints on the main character at the end. It makes me wonder if that is the Willy Wonka death we all deserve?

Media Notes: Even if this wasn’t shot in the 30s, 50s, 40s, 60s, 20s I don’t care. I could’ve done better with a VHS camcorder and a spotlight. I know. I tried. Just with a much lamer story but still better than this crapfest.


STORY

beer

LOOK

beer



THE DMR