Marihuana (1936) review - hilarious old anti-weed propaganda

If you're looking for a laugh on a Friday night, this 1936 warning poster of a movie is absolutely worth 50 minutes of your time. 🍿

But if you actually want a good, well-made classic like Marius, you are going to absolutely hate this cheap piece of trash.

It's basically the grandpa of those anti-drug scare movies, and boy, it does not disappoint in the comedy department.

The plot is simple. Burma is a nice girl who hangs out with the wrong crowd, eats some hot dogs (not like the movie Hot Dog, just literal sausages at a beach party), and gets talked into smoking "the weed."

After literally one puff, she is instantly hooked and her life goes completely down the toilet.

What cracks me up is how fast things escalate. One minute she's giggling on the beach, and the next, someone has drowned, she's pregnant, and she's forced to give her baby up for adoption.

It's like the writer, Hildegarde Stadie, wanted to cram every single bad thing that could ever happen to a person into a one-hour runtime. The pacing is so fast it makes your head spin.

Let's talk about the acting. Burma, played by Harley Wood, has about two expressions.

She either looks incredibly bored or she is squinting like the sun is directly in her eyes to show she is "stoned." 😑

There is this hilarious scene where the drug dealer, Tony, is trying to look super menacing. But his mustache looks like it was drawn on with a piece of charcoal right before the director yelled action.

Also, the "marihuana" they smoke looks exactly like grass clippings from someone's backyard. They roll these giant, lumpy joints that look like loose burritos.

The movie gets really dark near the end when Burma becomes a full-on "dope pusher" herself. She wears this fancy fur coat that she bought with her drug money, which is hilarious because she's supposed to be this tragic figure but she just looks like she's living her best life.

The music is also incredibly loud and dramatic. Every time someone even looks at a joint, the orchestra goes wild like a monster is about to jump out of the closet.

Didja notice?

• The giant warning text at the beginning that tries to sound super scientific but is just pure fiction.
• That one extra at the beach party who is dancing completely out of rhythm with everyone else.
• How easily they just accept that their friend drowned and then immediately go back to worrying about their reputation.
• The "dope den" looks like a basement where someone's mom stores old Christmas decorations.

So yeah, it's a mess. But it's the kind of mess that is incredibly fun to watch with friends while making fun of every single line.