Marihuana

Plot synopsis:
Burma is a confused girl who likes to party. One day she meets some strangers in a bar who invite her and her group to a party. She goes to the party with her friends, they all drink alcohol, only the girls at the party smoke marijuana unknowingly, and keep on laughing. Burma and her boyfriend have sex on the beach while her friends go skinny-dipping.
One of the girls drowns at the skinny-dipping party and the rest of the friends must keep the details of the party a secret. When Burma tells her boyfriend she is pregnant (from their beach encounter), she pressures him to marry her. He says everything will be fine and turns to the strangers who threw the party for a job to support his family-to-be. The stranger gives him a job unloading smuggled drugs from a secret shipment to the docks. The police find out about this shipment, chase the smugglers, and shoot and kill Burma's boyfriend.
After Burma finds out about this news, she runs away from home, is forced to give her child up for adoption, and becomes a drug dealer. Burma moves on to harder drugs injecting heroin into herself. In the film's ending, Burma hatches a plan to kidnap and ransom her sister's adopted daughter for $50,000, but she later finds out that the child is, in fact, her own.

Tags: violence

Review:
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.
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.
It moves quickly (only 57 minutes), there were actually some pretty clever directorial touches and Harley Wood was pretty good in her lead role.
This is a bad movie that purports to be an educational film designed to warn America about the menace of marijuana use.
Such films as CHILD BRIDE, MAD YOUTH, REEFER MADNESS and SEX MADNESS were all schlocky trash that skirted past the boards because they were supposedly educational.
Many will no doubt watch this film because they are hoping for a similar film to REEFER MADNESS (one of the most laughably bad anti-drug films of all time).
While it isn't quite as dopey and unintentionally funny, MARIJUANA is probably a worse film when it comes to being exploitational all in the name of educating our parents.
While on drugs, the characters don't madly play the piano or run amok quite as much as they do in REEFER MADNESS--but they DO run amok in the most ridiculous manner.
This film would probably receive an R-rating today if shown in the theaters because of the nudity--and this must have been VERY shocking to audiences of the day.
Dwain Esper, the man who makes Ed Wood look like Orson Wells, came out with this movie around 1935 or so.
(Judging by the clothing, I'd say it was filmed about a year earlier.)  Films like this were made perporting to show the evils of the world but instead showcased rough acting, stilted writing, sparce sets, bad lighting, static camerawork and starlets lifting their skirts and disrobing in doctors offices.
More money was spent and more creative energy invested into hyping the films when they played in rural towns with a public eager to see any film that would show them skin and insanity to take the edge off their boring lives.Harlene Wood gives an uneaven proformance as Burma Roberts, the central character.
The other actors, all complete unknowns both then and now, lend even worse acting to their roles as cops, drug addicts, gangsters and teenage girls who look like thirty-five-year-old stag film actresses.
It's amusing, fairly inventive at times (that scene with the drunk spilling his beer at the beginning), and the scene with the girls stripping down and running around on the beach is still hard to beleave (it's certainly not arousing in the least bit, though).
**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.
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.
The budget was so low that the producers used classical music clips instead of a real soundtrack, so the dangers of dope are underscored by Strauss, Liszt, and others.This is just a nasty little low-budget exploitation film, using the dope scare as an excuse to titillate the audience..
So is the moral of the 1936 exploitation film "Marihuana".
:) I enjoyed watching Burma (Harlene Wood) go from happy go lucky teenager -to pregnant misfit- to "Blondie" the drug dealer, all in less than an hour!A fun little film and certainly a time capsule of days long past!
An Innocent young woman is seduced into pot parties,a wedlock baby, and eventually, into pushing drugs for a professional ring.Naturally, no one expects artistry from these exploitation flicks.
Instead, Dwain Esper's mid-1930's production has more peek-a-boo than usual, with a lot of nude scampering and uplifted skirts.Surprisingly, however, it's a better movie than at least I expected.
Except for the exaggerated pot party, it plays pretty much like a standard Hollywood cheapie of the time.
Actress Wood does a good job going from innocent fun-loving teen to hardened drug pusher.
At the same time, director Esper adds some nice unexpected touches, such as Burma's descent reflected in her choice of shoes, a bad guy joining the innocence of the little girl, plus the final symbolic shot of the door closing.
Much better than the more famous "Reefer Madness" - naive teenagers smoke marihuana, attend a beach party and take off their clothes.
One girl drowns at a beach party and shorty afterwards the leading character discovers that she is pregnant...most likely having gotten that way at one of the pot parties her new "friends" (insert dope dealer here) have generously provided for one and all.Her boyfriend vows to take care of her and get a job.
Its also a pretty accurate take on the drug culture...I know, I've been there.Its really not a silly film at all but a pretty stark example of the hell that your life will become if the party doesn't end in a timely fashion.
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.
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.
The Other One. 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.
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..
All of the films are for adults only - I think it gave the adults something to watch and maybe even get curious enough to try, and I'm sure the kids saw this advertised somewhere and became more curious about the drugs - especially since the films were adult only (talk about peeking teen interest!).I just watched Reefer Madness (1936) and The Pace That Kills (1935) earlier -- the last thing I wanted to watch or see was this movie...
but hey it came in the same Mill Creek 50-pack, Midnight Movie Madness.I am NOT interested in these types of films...
Badly acted, slowly paced propaganda film....
1st watched 1/7/2007 - 2 out of 10(Dir-Dwain Esper): Badly acted, slowly paced propaganda film on the horrors of marihuana and drugs and they're effect of life.
This movie is not quite as over-the-top as "Reefer Madness" but the theme is basically the same -- don't get involved with marihuana, it will ruin your life.
This movie adds heroin and alcohol use, skinny-dipping(which definitely puts this film under the Adult status for back then), kidnapping, drowning and gangster connections to the mix.
It pretty much over exaggerates how marijuana (or marihuana) can ruin lives and cause kids to do all sorts of lewd things.
This film came at a time when the federal government was looking for something else to blame the problems of the country on, so they picked marijuana.
Also, this film plays like a bad version of Stella Dallas when Burma has to give up her daughter to give her a better life.
Marihuana (1936) BOMB (out of 4) Silly exploitation film in the same boat as Reefer Madness.
Director Esper is the same man who previously brought up Maniac and he would go on to do Sex Madness so he was an expert at this type of film but this movie is pretty much awful from start to finish and sadly it doesn't deliver too many laughs.
I advise all concerned citizens to watch it twice and show it to their friends and teen-age children.A delightful film, the nude midnight bathing scene is worth the price of admission You really have to feel sorry for the lead character, Burma.
Her friend dies drowning, her boyfriend gets shot, she gives up the baby she wants to keep (I'm not sure why), and when she kidnaps her sister's kid for ransom, it turns out to be her own child.
Marihuana is a far better movie than the more well known Reefer Madness.
Dwain Esper was bringing his A-game this time around.The film follows a young woman gulled into attending marijuana party.
What follows is a descent into crime and degeneracy.Marihuana succeeds on a number of levels, with a far more compelling story and better acting than its counterpart.
Although both films were labeled "Adults only" in their time, Marihuana actually delivers with some nudity and graphic (for its time) violence.
Just on the level of exploitation, it does better.Furthermore, the film is reasonably well acted.
For example, the drug dealers, while falling into ethnic stereotypes, actually come across as more human than the hardened protagonist or her family.
In a scene involving a kidnapping, they actually try to make the child happy, while the child's "upright" family refuse to pay her ransom because she's adopted.
For the first 10 minutes of this film about the "dangers" of pot- smoking, we see a group of fun-loving white kids in a tavern, getting drunk.
A justifiably angry Burma storms out of the car and starts to walk home, but soon gets back in and snuggles up to her smug, entitled, pussy-grabber of a Dick.The next night, Burma and company discover "giggle weed," the smoking of which causes them to make out with strange men at a party, then strip naked and go swimming in the ocean, laughing uproariously the whole time.
Desperate for a job to support his soon-to-be family, Dick goes to work for the local crime boss as a marihuana dealer and is shot to death on his first run.
After that, things pretty much go to hell for Burma.Made the same year as the much better-known REEFER MADNESS, but without half its camp value, MARIHUANA takes a darker turn in which smoking a joint or two leads to sexual promiscuity, alcoholism, heroin addiction, unwanted pregnancy, and ultimately a gun battle with the cops.
Just about everyone's heard of the film "Reefer Madness", but back in the Thirties there was a whole slew of these 'educational' drug flicks - "The Marijuana Menace", "She Shoulda' Said No", "Cocaine Fiends", and this one - "Marihuana".
Sometimes you know, it takes a little longer.The hook for this flick without question is the unrestricted nudity by the giggle girls who take it all off and go for a midnight swim at the beach.
In this case, teenager Burma Roberts (Harley Wood) smokes a joint, gets pregnant, suffers her best friend's death by drowning, gets married, gives up her baby for adoption, starts dealing dope and eventually gets hooked on heroin herself.
One guess who that adopted daughter really is.Well the opening narrative states that this story was drawn from an 'actual case history', and if it was, fine, but I get the impression that all of these exploitation flicks were made on the fly without too much thought to get in the way.
Notorious exploitation film producer Dwain Esper of "Sex Madness" infamy helmed this anti-marihuana propaganda epic with a modicum of finesse.
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.
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.
Our heroine receives the shock of her life when she learns more about his sister's child."Marihuana" opens with this cautionary preamble.
"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.
As it turns out, one of the girls who went skinny-dipping party--Joan Marsh--swims out too far and dies.
During the film's finale, Burma concocts a scheme to abduct her sister's adopted daughter for $50,000.
Somewhat "shocking" for a film of this era, it has sex, nudity, unwanted pregnancy, and alcohol/drug abuse.
Marihuana or: How I Learned to Start Worrying and Hate the Drug.
Later I bought the book "Film Posters: Exploitation", a very recommended series of books by the way, and the poster of Marihuana not only appears inside it, with the information and stuff, but also illustrates the back cover of it.
When the protagonist girl smokes marihuana and after that she laughs to the camera a couple of times is when the beginning of the end is.
We watch the consequences and I'm pretty much agreed with user planktonrules about the things that happen once on drugs, about the naked ladies running in the beach.
Coming back to those consequences in short, that girl ends as a drug dealer after her boyfriend gets killed during his first job for the same man who gave the drugs to his friends and girlfriend and who will be the boss of his girlfriend.
A film that goes straight to its point, during only one hour we watch many consequences of the use of drugs like some deaths.
A film that took advantage of the times and wanted to give its damn message, and with a title like that, is a film to make us laugh.
We really can have fun with this cult film and in its own craziness (ridiculousness) I wanted more crazy (ridiculous) stuff like that scene of the pay of the kidnapping.
So is like they don't f****** care about the little girl who lives with them and who thinks they are her parents!!!!!
And that mentioned "strong" message ends with the fact that our drug dealer protagonist kidnapped the little girl who was the daughter of her sister but actually the little girl was her daughter.