Cult Classics

Budget DVD company Mill Creek Entertainment releases a set of 20 obscure and exploitation films from the 30s to the 50s. These films were released back in the days when they wanted to show such taboo topics as drug use and sex on the screen yet they had to do it under the guise of showing the moral problems of their time.

Disc 1:

The Marijuana Menace: Also known as Assassin of Youth this 1937 snoozefest is a film made in the mold of Reefer Madness, although a lot less funny. What didn't help was the print appeared to be covered with hardened mud at some points and faded completely at others making the film a strain on the eyes to watch. Of course the near constant film breaks which just end scenes early don't help matters either.

What's interesting is how so much of the film was about other vices than marijuana and most of the film seemed to be about framing an innocent girl to cheat her out of her inheritance and an old gossiping crow spreading the rumors of the town while a Will Rogers knockoff defends the poor accused girl.

Reefer Madness: Here is perhaps the most famous exploitation film of all time. and yet it's the one I didn't watch it. Thats because there is a much better release out there by Legend Films with a quite funny commentary by Michael J. Nelson of MST3K. Don't buy this set if you want this film, get that release.

Marihuana: More exploitation about Marijuana. I think they already convinced me not to smoke pot already.

Child Bride: I heard once in an interview with Michael J. Nelson and Kevin Murphy of MST3K fame. They hinted at movies they felt were too terrible for the show such as one they described as starring a cast of local hicks about child brides. The description of that could only be this film, and after watching it I can see why they wouldn't touch it.

This exploitation film made supposedly to educate the public about child marriage in perhaps the most tasteless way possible.

Delinquent Daughters: Now here's a trash film warning about the dangers of juvenile delinquency. We have the typical good girl gone bad when she got in the wrong crowd scenario. The weirdest part of the film is this chubby cop who seems to show up everywhere as sort of the conscience of the film.

Note that the film has practically no detail left and any night scenes are about as good as watching a radio drama.

Disc 2:

The Cocaine Fiends: Apparently in the Thirties you could tell someone cocaine was a headache powder and people would gleefully snort it up their nose without a second thought. Two siblings leave their little country home and mother and go to the big city to get high on cocaine and gain fame and fortune. This one has it all: dope, cheap slums, violence, prostitution, pregnancy, suicide and more.

What's interesting is that near the end the film is padded with some vaudeville type acts. This is the only part of the film that is even close to being watchable and given that the experience of watching this film is like watching shadow puppets through cheese cloth it's still a strain on your sanity.

Chained for Life: Okay, I confess I never finished this one. This is the semi-autobiographical film about the famous Hilton twins who were born conjoined at birth. Apparently they had a pretty wild life but I was too bored to watch it all. I know that's not very professional of me but oh well.

Escort Girl: Now here is what I call total exploitation if I ever saw it before. It is supposed to be a warning about escorts going out of the bounds of the law and how they are run by old women and shady men with mustaches who talk in the typical accent of 40s gangsters.

Joyless Street: Somewhat out of place on the disc is this silent film starring Greta Garbo. In this, her first starring film, she plays a young girl living in post WWI Austria whose family has hit on hard times and thus must do what she can to find work to help her family.

This film wasn't bad, for an obviously very heavily edited film with an unrelated music track. I'd like to see it uncut sometime if such a print exists.

Test Tube Babies: No, not In vitro fertilisation but artificial insemination. This film warns that married couples will descend into sin, stripping and booze parties if they don't have children. The problem is, the man in this film is sterile and it's up to the then taboo subject of artificial insemination to the rescue! Of all the films I've seen in this set, this one so far was the worst.

Disc 3:

Terror of Tiny Town: Talk about exploitation! Here is a rather cheaply thrown together western about a bad guy rustling cattle from two families to pit them against one another. SO it's up to the good guy to the rescue to sort it out, get the bad guy and win the girl.

Oh, did I mention everyone in the film is a "midget?"

As exploitive and silly as it seems, this film features a cast of nothing but vertically-challenged (to be PC) people who act out the rather pointless and bland western. I give props to the actors who if given sets more to their size rather than the obviously oversized ones might have done a decent job of this film. Still, it's not awful, just really weird.

Sex Madness:

Slaves in Bondage: A dull movie about girls being forced into prostitution with the bad guys using a nail salon as a cover. The movie interestingly portrays the girls as seemingly willing and able to be prostitutes and yet the film insists they are "saved" at the end. Oh well, such were the 40s.

The Wild and the Wicked:

The Road to Ruin:

Disc 4:

Omoo-Omoo, The Shark God: See the review I did during my 31 Days of Film experiment.

Ten Nights in a Barroom: See the review I did during my 31 Days of Film experiment.

Mad Youth: See the review I did during my 31 Days of Film experiment.

Gambling with Souls: See the review I did during my 31 Days of Film experiment.

She Shoulda' Said No!:

Labels: Bad Movies, Cheap DVDs