Watch The Narcotics Story (1958) Online

The Narcotics Story (1958)iMDB Rating: 5.5
Date Released : 26 February 1958
Genre : Drama
Stars : Art Gilmore, Herbert Crisp, Joe Delro, Darlene Hendricks
Movie Quality : BRrip
Format : MKV
Size : 700 MB

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This police training film uses dramatizations of real life events to demonstrate the battle law enforcement faces with narcotics, most specifically barbiturates - also known as "goof balls" - and marijuana - also know as "tea". It shows how to identify certain narcotics, identify the signs that someone is using, identify the signs of where drug deals take place, identify the signs of use in a secluded public place, and apprehend the users in these public settings. As it follows one young woman neglected by her parents, the film also shows the underlying causes of narcotics use, with these underlying causes often the forgotten issue as everyone tends to deal with the symptoms.

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Review :

Very informative but also painfully dull.

This DVD from Alpha Video is a mess to watch. Through much of the film, you can't tell whether or not the movie was originally made in black & white or color--it's that faded. In addition, the print is very fuzzy--with the details being rather blurry. It's obvious that Alpha didn't restore the film in any manner--something typical of all of the Alpha releases I've seen. On one hand I love Alpha because they have released many things that aren't available elsewhere. On the other, their DVDs never have captions and often have horrible prints.

As for the film, it's produced by the police and the narration sounds a lot like a much more serious version of Jack Webb. There is no dialog in the film, as it's essentially silent with the narrator explaining the action and dispensing lots and lots and lots of information about the various drugs seen in 1958--with the exception of alcohol. The information is very informative and was great for police and community information purposes. Most of the information was pretty accurate though the material given on marijuana did seem a bit overstated (I am NOT an apologist for pot nor am I recommending it--the film, however, makes it seem about as harmful as heroin and barbiturates). However, it was also incredibly dry and dull and after a while I have a devil of a time staying awake! Overall, it's a film that most probably would not care to see. Since this film debuted, many better anti-drug films have been released and seeing THE NARCOTICS STORY is more for the curious than someone wanting to learn the facts about drug abuse.