Stoned On Screen: Drugs In The Movies (Part 1)
Human Wreckage poster (1923)
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Since the dawn of motion pictures, the portrayal of illegal drug use or even at times any references to drugs at all has been a controversial one in the United States. However authorities have attempted over the years to suppress artistic freedoms when it comes to cinematic representations of drug culture in society, eventually film-makers have always found ways of making movies with drug themes. Whether they titillating peaks or all out exploitation exposes, film-makers have always known that showing someone stoned on screen sells seats.
The earliest known example of drugs use in cinema is the 1894 silent short produced by Thomas Edison called Chinese Opium Den (also known as Opium Joint). Little is known about the film, as no known prints exist. Only one single frame of the film remains. 10 years later the earliest remaining short containing drug use came out, Rube In The Opium Joint (1905). Hapless hick Rube stumbles into the seedier side of turn of the century life finding himself in an opium den in Chinatown. Another turn of the century example is the 1908 French movie, The Dream Of An Opium Den (original French title Le Rêve D'un Fumeur D'opium). The movie was by Georges Méliès, of Trip To the Moon (1902) fame, and features the same face in the moon trick used in the earlier movie. |
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Some early movies pulled no punches when it came to blatant drug referencing and themes. In 1916 silent film heartthrob Douglas Fairbanks starred in comedy The Mystery Of The Leaping Fish. Fairbanks played a coke fiend detective called "Coke Ennyday", who spends his time between four activities, sleeping, eating, drinking, and taking dope. The movie was parodying Sherlock Holmes, and his literary coke habit. Shooting-up from a syringe filled bandoleer strapped across his chest, and snorting copious amounts white power from a big box on his desk marked COCAINE, he laughs heartily. At one point the detective catches some drug-dealers and consumes most of their stash himself.
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In 1919, infamous director of Birth Of A Nation (1915) D.W. Griffith made Broken Blossoms (also called The Yellow Man And The Girl), adapted from a 1916 short story entitled The Chick And The Child. This was at the height of American distrust for Chinese immigrants, which newspapers of the time often referred to as the "Yellow Peril". The movie featured silent screen legend Lillian Gish as Lucy, and actor Richard Barthelmess as the "Chinaman" Cheng. Cheng's world, that he introduces Lucy to after escaping from her brutal alcoholic father, is a Chinatown replete with opium dens. By 1921, producers were already concerned about the power of cinema and the portrayal of drug use on screen. The National Association of the Motion Picture Industry (NAMPI) brought out its Thirteen Points advising against movies that were “stories which make gambling and drunkenness attractive or of scenes which show the use of narcotics and other unnatural practices dangerous to social morality.”
By 1922 the NAMPI was finished, as Will H. Hays was appointed president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), replacing the ineffective and defunct MAMPI. In 1923 film star Wallace Reid died aged 31 as a result of morphine addiction and heavy drinking. His widow, Florence Reid went on an anti-drug crusade, the result being the production of the anti-drug melodrama Human Wreckage (1924). The movie was a hit, despite going against Hays' recently introduced what was called The Formula, the precursor to 1930's Hays Code (officially known as the Motion picture Production Code). Human Wreckage was banned in the UK, and is credited as being an early example of a roadshow or what later became known as grindhouse exploitation movie. Also in 1924 two Western's were released that featured marijuana smoking. Weed Of Death (also known as Death Weed) and Notch Number One. Weed Of Death starred famed silent era actor and stuntman Yakima Canutt, and told the story of two cowboys who get stoned smoking reefers and end up shooting each other.
By 1922 the NAMPI was finished, as Will H. Hays was appointed president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), replacing the ineffective and defunct MAMPI. In 1923 film star Wallace Reid died aged 31 as a result of morphine addiction and heavy drinking. His widow, Florence Reid went on an anti-drug crusade, the result being the production of the anti-drug melodrama Human Wreckage (1924). The movie was a hit, despite going against Hays' recently introduced what was called The Formula, the precursor to 1930's Hays Code (officially known as the Motion picture Production Code). Human Wreckage was banned in the UK, and is credited as being an early example of a roadshow or what later became known as grindhouse exploitation movie. Also in 1924 two Western's were released that featured marijuana smoking. Weed Of Death (also known as Death Weed) and Notch Number One. Weed Of Death starred famed silent era actor and stuntman Yakima Canutt, and told the story of two cowboys who get stoned smoking reefers and end up shooting each other.
Cartoon characters weren't immune from the inclusion of drugs in their animation movies, in Felix the Cat Woos Whoopee (1928) the plot involves Felix partying until the early hours at the Whoopee Club, drinking large amounts of booze, and taking anything else he can lay his hands on. Eventually heading home smashed, Felix has fearful hallucinations featuring all forms of weird characters. The 1933 Chinaman's Chance featuring the character Flip the Frog in hot pursuit of escaped convict Chow Mein, chasing him into an opium den. In the den Flip has hallucinations after smoking an opium pipe.
The same year the Hays Code came into effect, Dwain Esper made his first movie Sinister Menace (1930). One of the first ever shockumentaries, the movie showed opium dens and users in Egypt. Esper's would go on the produce a number early classics of what would become known as exploitation cinema. Notable movies he produced are the quite literally insane Maniac (1934) featuring drugs, nudity and necrophilia, Narcotic (1933) and Marihuana (1936). Narcotic from 1933, told the story of a naive medical students descent into drug abuse. In Marihuana (sometimes subtitled "the Devil's Weed" or "the Weed With Roots In Hell!") a young girl is turned to the dark-side after smoking marijuana. Her downward spiral involves sex, pregnancy and eventual drug pushing. All of these movies flouted the Hays Code, which is why they ended up on the grindhouse circuit playing outside of the motion picture mainstream.
The same year the Hays Code came into effect, Dwain Esper made his first movie Sinister Menace (1930). One of the first ever shockumentaries, the movie showed opium dens and users in Egypt. Esper's would go on the produce a number early classics of what would become known as exploitation cinema. Notable movies he produced are the quite literally insane Maniac (1934) featuring drugs, nudity and necrophilia, Narcotic (1933) and Marihuana (1936). Narcotic from 1933, told the story of a naive medical students descent into drug abuse. In Marihuana (sometimes subtitled "the Devil's Weed" or "the Weed With Roots In Hell!") a young girl is turned to the dark-side after smoking marijuana. Her downward spiral involves sex, pregnancy and eventual drug pushing. All of these movies flouted the Hays Code, which is why they ended up on the grindhouse circuit playing outside of the motion picture mainstream.
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1936 also saw the release of probably one of the most famous drug related cult films of all time, Reefer Madness (originally entitled Tell Your Children). Originally financed by a church group, the movie was made as a warning to young people of the dangers of marijuana. However Dwain Esper bought the rights to the movie, re-edited the movie, added some racy footage and by 1938 was touting in on the exploitation circuit as Reefer Madness. As with many movies that were toured around the country Esper's changed the name of the movie, variously calling it The Burning Question, Dope Addict, Doped Youth and Love Madness. Other movies that appeared around that time were The Cocaine Fiends (also known as The Pace That Kills) in 1936, and in 1937 Marihuana Menace and Assassin Of Youth.
Movies like Reefer Madness and the ones mentioned became particularly popular around this time, with the hysteria surrounding the introduction of the Marihuana Tax Act in 1937, which brought the production, distribution and sale of not just marijuana but hemp under government control through taxation legislation. |
By 1934, a much stricter version of the Hays Code had been introduced so nearly all movies that dared to portray drug use or culture in any way were bound for the grindhouse / exploitation circuit. However in the late 1930's there were a couple of mainstream exceptions to the strict rules. Charlie Chaplin's comedy classic Modern Times from 1936 featured our hero accidentally pouring cocaine all over his food, which had been hidden in a salt cellar. At the end of the decade in 1939, as World War II drew near Basil Rathbone first appeared as Sherlock Holmes in The Hound Of The Baskervilles. The movie made reference to the famous fictional detective's cocaine habit, but wnet too far for audiences of the time that found it a bit too much. Sherlock's cocaine habit wasn't mentioned again in any of the thirteen subsequent movies Rathbone played the detective right through until 1946.
Stoned On Screen: Drugs In The Movies (Part 2) - A trip through the drug culture of cinema from the 1950s to the almost ubiquitous use of drugs in late 60s counter-culture cinema.
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The Naked Screen: Sex & Nudity In Cinema (Part 1) - Since the first movie cameras were cranked into action, sex & nudity has been a provocative subject for film-makers.
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DC Comics 60s Hippy Hero: Brother Power The Geek - Lasting only two issues, Brother Power was a hero for the flower power generation. A peace and love raggedy-man with super-powers.
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Users Are Losers: A History Of Drugs In Comic Books - From the Weird Retro archive, a list of some of the best and worst of comic books about the dangers of drugs on the youth of America.
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