Marihuana
About Marihuana
Burma and her friends go to a party, drink, and smoke marijuana without being told what it is. She has sex on the beach with her boyfriend. Another girl drowns while swimming. Pregnant, Burma pushes him to marry her. He takes work unloading a drug shipment and is shot by police. She leaves home, gives the baby up, and starts dealing, later injecting heroin. She plans to kidnap her sister's adopted daughter for $50,000 and learns the child is her own. She collapses, and marijuana cigarettes fall around her.
Cast & crew
More about Marihuana
Dwain Esper directed. His wife Hildagarde Stadie wrote the story and appears as an extra near the start. Harley Wood plays Burma Roberts. Hugh McArthur plays Dick Collier. Roland Price was the cinematographer and Carl Himm the editor. Roadshow Attractions released the film in May 1936. In 1938 the same company paired it with the short How to Undress in Front of Your Husband.
Themes
Audiences
On 13 April 1938 Elizabeth Bishop wrote from Key West that a crowd fought its way into Marihuana and left disappointed: the two thrills from the preview were missing, the set looked like a dentist's office, and the supposed high-school girls looked like Hollywood matrons of at least forty.
Preservation
Wikipedia lists the film among works in the public domain in the United States.
Notes
- The original trailer showed a girl being attacked. That attack is not in the film.
- Pat Carlyle plays Tony Santello, Paul Ellis plays Nicholas Romero, and Dorothy Dehn plays Elaine.
- Wikipedia includes the film on its list of works in the public domain in the United States.
- Stadie spells her first name Hildagarde on the credits as given by Wikipedia.
Scenes
- One of the swimmers drowns while the others keep the party a secret.
- Burma, after a heroin injection, learns the child she meant to ransom is her own, and cigarettes fall around her as she collapses.
Also available
- Internet Archive (Marihuana-the_Devils_Weed)
- Wikimedia Commons (Marihuana (1936).webm)
