Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical DVD Review:

What makes the 1936 film Reefer Madness so entertaining is the fact that it was made in all seriousness. It was a cautionary film which showed marijuana to turn teenagers violent and insane. When the basic idea of the film was turned into a musical stage play, and then into this film adaptation of the same play, it was obviously trying to do intentionally what the original film did by accident. The humor comes through somewhat effectively in the first half of the film, but the forced humor gets old rather quickly.

Reefer Madness tells the goofy tragic tale of the squeakiest clean teen couple in a small town who fall under the spell of a new drug. Suddenly they are in a world of violence, jazz, and sex, all of which was brought on by smoking marijuana. Their story is told through the lecture to parents in a meeting about the new drug. Many scenes are placed appropriately for musical numbers until it seems that the entire story is simply surrounding the music and dance numbers.

The dance numbers are entertaining and colorful enough, but it lacks some of the exuberance which made the stage show more of a success. It is difficult to relay stage shows over into film because either the camera seems to be too active, or if it isn’t then it feels as though the film should be left onstage. New Campbell seems to enjoy her quick role which is basically just an excuse to dance in another film.

Although I don’t think I could have easily recommended audiences watch the film when it aired on television, I have a much easier time recommending the DVD because of the features. The most important to mention is the inclusion of the original 1936 film. This is truly an odd classic, but it is in many ways funnier without trying. It is a great addition to the DVD. There is also a cast commentary, biographies, and a behind the scenes featurette which are worth watching. Fans of the stage show may be disappointed that there are no special features dealing more exclusively with that aspect of the film’s origin, but I imagine that there aren’t too many differences between the two anyways.



Ryan Izay