Subtitled “The Scare Films Archives, Volume 1”, Drug Stories is a compilation of restored 1960s and 70s public information films from the American Genre Film Archives that aim to inform and educate the viewer while also dissuading them from participating in undesirable practices. Eleven short films are included, ranging from 10 to 25 minutes long, tackling subjects like drink driving and the evils of marijuana with exactly the sort of toffee-nosed holier-than-thou attitudes that you’d probably expect from this more conservative era.
Among the delights on offer are “Curious Alice”, from the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, which uses the drug-addled story of Alice In Wonderland and some trippy and very creepy almost Monty Python-esque animation to warn children of the dangers of substance abuse, and “The Distant Drummer” which takes viewers on a fun whistlestop tour of worldwide hippy hotspots while demonising the beatnik lifestyle and placing the blame for widespread drug use squarely on their shoulders. The bizarrely-named “Narcotics The Decision: Goofballs and Tea” charts an 18-year-old girl’s fall from grace when popping a few pills at a party leads to a meeting with a manipulative pusher and, eventually, heroin addiction and prostitution, and “The Trip Back” documents one of ex-addict Florrie Fisher’s discussions with a group of NYC school kids, where she gives the room full of sullen teenagers a right old talking to for the best part of half an hour.
The highlight, though, might be “LSD25”. Narrated by a sentient tab of acid, the film sets out to give you the real facts and correct the barrage of misinformation that was prevalent at the time. “You are looking at a traveller who just bought a ticket for a special kind of trip. The cost? A few dollars… and his mind”. With its cool 60s psych/folk song (probably best not to look up who sings it, though) and countless old fuddy-duddies moaning about kids falling out of trees and painting themselves green and yellow, LSD25 makes the idea of getting up to no good really seem like quite a laugh… until it starts talking about the grim stuff.
Despite containing plenty of interesting relics to sift through, the only extra feature is an 80-minute mixtape which is made up of slightly re-edited versions of footage seen elsewhere on the disc. As such, it’s a very bare-bones release that sets it firmly in the “determined collector of drug-related obscurities” niche. If that’s you, then don’t say no!
Drug Stories is available on Blu-ray from April 25th as part of 101 Films’ AGFA collection.
