Tell Your Children (1936)

Director:

Louis J. Gasnier

Writers:

Lawrence Meade (original story)
Arthur Hoerl (screenplay)

Release Date:

1938 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

SEE youthful marijuana victims - what actually happens!

Plot:

Cautionary tale features a fictionalized and highly exaggerated take on the use of marijuana. A trio of drug dealers lead innocent teenagers to become addicted to "reefer" cigarettes by holding wild parties with jazz music.

Plot Keywords:

Marijuana | High School | Reefer | Scourge | Guilt

Cast

Dorothy Short	...	Mary
Kenneth Craig	...	Bill
Lillian Miles	...	Blanche
Dave O'Brien	...	Ralph
Thelma White	...	Mae
Carleton Young	...	Jack
Warren McCollum	...	Jimmy (as Warren McCullom)
Patricia Royale	...	Agnes (as Pat Royale)
Joseph Forte	...	Dr. Carroll (as Josef Forte)
Harry Harvey Jr.	...	Junior

Also Known As:

Dope Addict (USA) (reissue title)
Doped Youth (USA) (reissue title)
Love Madness (USA) (reissue title)
Reefer Madness (USA) (reissue title)
The Burning Question (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

66 min | France:63 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) | USA:PG (1973) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | UK:15 (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Grand National Studios - 7250 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

George A. Hirliman Productions

Trivia:

If you still frame the newspaper which flashes on screen just before the verdict is announced at the end of the film, underneath the headline is another front-page news story which bears the smaller headline: "DICK TRACY, G-MAN, IN SENSATIONAL RAID".

Goofs:

Continuity: During the high-speed drive immediately preceding the pedestrian accident, the car passes the same tire shop three times and the same billboard and gas station twice.

Quotes:

Blanche: Oh, snap out if it, will ya? It's not our fault. Why did I ever bring him up there anyway? He's just a kid. They can't hang him.
Ralph: Shut up. SHUT UP!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Ricky Nelson/Judy Collins (#4.12)" (1979)

The Gone with the Wind of 30's Exploitation Films

Because of 70's NORML propaganda falsely claiming that the FBI sponsored Reefer Madness, most viewers believe that this Exploitation classic was meant to be taken seriously. Not so! Thelma White (Mae) has noted in interviews that the producers and director Louis Gasnier asked the cast to "hoke it up." The famous "Faster, Faster" scene is, in fact, a direct parody of a similar scene in the classic musical 42nd Street (a scene in which Dave O'Brien--Ralph in Reefer Madness--played a chorus boy).

So why make a cautionary tale, but do so tongue-in-cheek? Simple. To get around the Hays Code and show more skin than the Code allowed...but also to capitalize on the public's fear of drugs. Either way, the producers made a ton of money on the Exploitation circuit--more than covering their costs for this relatively expensive sub-Poverty Row production.

Made over the course of 3 weeks (most Exploitation films were shot in a few days), using an experienced director and a couple of talented actors who went on to have respectable careers in Hollywood, Reefer Madness is quite simply the finest Exploitation film to come out of the 30's.

The film's funny, is it? Well, the folks who made it thought so too. And they laughed all the way to the bank.