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The Cocaine Fiends

William A. O'Connor (Director), Noel Madison (Actor), Lois January (Actor) Rated:
Unrated
Format: DVD
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 24 ratings
IMDb3.6/10.0
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Product Description

Senses Drowned In Forbidden Pleasures... Sordid and sensational, The Cocaine Fiends is a vintage melodrama that depicts the narcotic's addictive dangers and its rampant threat to society. When pretty country girl Jane Bradford (Lois January) meets drug peddler Nick (Noel Madison), she falls for his smooth line about marriage and the promise of unlimited riches awaiting them in the city. He also introduces her to his special "headache powder" that leaves Jane feeling instantly exhilarated. Arriving in the big city, she is soon transformed into Nick's strung-out, coke-addled moll (calling herself "Lil" to hide her shame) whom he discards without remorse. Her brother, Eddie, moves to the city in an attempt to locate Jane. When a beautiful carhop shows him the wonders of the miracle drug, it's not long before Eddie and his girlfriend spiral downward into hopeless depraved squalor and tragedy. Also released under the title The Pace That Kills, The Cocaine Fiends, like its famous cult sister Reefer Madness (1938), is unintentionally hilarious in its frank, uncompromising look at dope's countless evils, dramatically reinforced by the film's shady locales - not least of which is the gangster hangout the Dead Rat Cafe - replete with a stark, rodent-wallpapered decor!

Product details

  • Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.33:1
  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ Unrated (Not Rated)
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.72 ounces
  • Item model number ‏ : ‎ 2233121
  • Director ‏ : ‎ William A. O'Connor
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC, Multiple Formats, Black & White
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ October 20, 2022
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Noel Madison, Lois January
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ Alpha Video
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00008H2GF
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 24 ratings

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
24 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

lela
5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite black and whites ever
Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2016
Verified Purchase
One of my favorite black and whites ever, everytime I watch it I see something new...themes still relate to today. Anytime I need a pick me up....cocaine fiends is it
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Matthew G. Sherwin
5.0 out of 5 stars The Pace That Kills
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2009
"The Cocaine Fiends" (aka "The Pace That Kills") is a fairly average exploitation film that depicts the dangers of drug abuse as they were seen back in the 1930s. Although this film must have had some impact at the time it was released, people are correct to notice that this film is rather mild by today's standards. For example, we never see anyone--not anyone--in the film actually using cocaine or any other drug although we do see people having a few drinks in a nightclub here and there. In addition, the plot moves along pretty well and the casting was great--the acting was considerably better than I expected for this motion picture. The cinematography is average and the print is in need of a full restoration.

When the action starts, drug pusher Nick (Noel Madison) hides out in a small town country diner run by Jane Bradford (Lois January) and her mother. Nick gives Jane some cocaine as "headache powder" to help her relieve a stress headache; and then it isn't long before he sweet-talks Jane into coming to the big city with him, all the while helping Jane to more and more "headache powder." Jane goes with him and is horrified when she finds out that she's been using "dope;" but it's too late as Jane is hooked. Jane even changes her name; she now goes by "Lil" to avoid anyone tracing her back to her roots in the country where she feels she would be a disgrace to her mother. Jane even denies her own identity when she runs into her brother Eddie (Dean Benton) at a nightclub in the city; Eddie came there to find Jane but Jane isn't about to return home.

Meanwhile, we see the incredibly bad effects of cocaine on all the young people who start taking it--there's Eddie and his addicted girlfriend Fanny (Sheila Bromley) who will do anything for Eddie even though Fanny knows he doesn't really love her. We see even more of the bad side of city life in the seedy and drug lord operated Dead Rat Café with its wallpaper that actually has drawings of dead rats on it!

There are also great performances by Lois Lindsay as Dorothy Farley, daughter of the wealthy Mr. Farley (Frank Shannon); and Marin Sais does a great job of playing Jane and Eddie's mother, Mrs. Bradford.

Despite some very good acting, The Cocaine Fiends is very dated although sadly the message about the dangers of drugs still needs to get out. Drugs are a real problem in our society; but the ways we deal with the problem have changed somewhat with time. For example, pictures like this one would never even make it to the big screen in our day; this film is extremely dated and it's probably too tame in many ways. However, if you enjoy exploitation films with moralistic messages from the early decades of the 20th century, you would do well to get this film.
2 people found this helpful
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cookieman108
3.0 out of 5 stars "I've got the grandest headache medicine in the world."
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2006
Verified Purchase
Producer Willis Kent, who specialized in westerners back in the day, switched gears late in his career focusing on the release of exploitive cautionary features, the stated intent being to warn an unsuspecting public of the evils of various illicit activities (I suspect his real goal was to capitalize on the public's fascination with luridness) as depicted in melodramatic features like Smashing the Vice Trust (1937), The Wages of Sin (1938), Mad Youth (1940), and this early entry titled The Cocaine Fiends (1935) aka The Pace That Kills. Directed by William A. O'Connor (Playthings of Hollywood, Confessions of a Vice Baron), the film includes Lois January (Society Fever), Noel Madison ('G' Men), Sheila Bromley (Playthings of Hollywood), Dean Benton (The Return of Chandu), Eddie Phillips (Death Valley Manhunt), Frank Shannon (Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe), and Lois Lindsay (Men Are Such Fools), a one time dance instructor who once taught Shirley Temple.

As the film begins we see a couple of mooks in a car trying to avoid capture by the police (seems the men are involved in peddling smack). The driver drops Nick (Madison) off at a roadside diner where he meets Jane (January), who runs the place with her mother. The police show up, Jane hides Nick (he feeds her a bit about being chased by highwaymen), and afterwards Nick comments on her agitated state, offering her some `headache' powder. Jane becomes enchanted with Nick and his big city ways, enough so to follow him to the asphalt jungle, the thought being the pair would get married. Time passes and Jane comes to the realization big city life isn't all its cracked up to be, as not only is she hooked on `headache' powders, but also a gangster's moll. During Nick's rounds, Jane sees her brother Eddie (Benton), working at a local drive-in, along with a woman named Fanny (Bromley), the latter a customer of Nick's. Fanny takes a fancy to Eddie, who has come to the city in search of Jane, and gets him hooked on Nick's fabulous `headache' powders. More time passes and we see Jane, discarded by Nick, has changed her name to Lil, and hophead Eddie and Fancy are shacking up in a flophouse on skid row, having both been fired from their jobs due to ugly rumors floating around about their personal lives. At some point a rich, young socialite named Dorothy (Lindsay) with a taste for the seedy side of things gets thrown into the mix (Nick's taken a real shine to her). Things between Eddie and Fanny sour seriously (she's been walking the streets to earn money to support his ever growing habit), Fanny's life takes a serious turn for the worse, and Eddie ends up in an opium den where he's found by his sister Jane aka Lil, who tries to convince him to kick the junk and go home. There's some goings on at a hoodlum hangout called The Dead Rat Café (seriously), including a couple of musical numbers followed by Dorothy being abducted (seems Nick is going to use her in a curious, i.e. lame-brained, scheme to take over the dope rackets), and things eventually come to a head as Jane tries to score some dough from Nick to help her hophead brother.

While The Cocaine Fiends doesn't have the frantic energy and dubious delights displayed in Reefer Madness (1936), probably the most well known of these early `cautionary' exploitation films, it does have its seedy, little, melodramatic charms. The performances are fairly goofy, and the dialog laughable, enough so to entertain most who take on the venture of watching tale of woe. There is some oddness here as producer Kent made a film in 1928 titled The Pace That Kills and used some of the footage in this 1935 version, which I guess is something of a remake. It's pretty obvious when the footage is used, as the story skews slightly, and said footage has a very different look than that which was shot in 1935. I did learn a number of things while watching this film, including the following...

1. If someone offers you `headache' medicine, especially the kind taken up the schnoz, you should probably pass.

2. Jane's about as gullible as the day is long, that is if there were fifty hours in a day.

3. Dames, unlike men, tip in smiles.

4. Making whoopee had a different meaning back in the day than it does now.

5. If Eddie was any greener he'd be broccoli.

6. The life of a dicarded gangster's moll is about as unglamourous as it sounds.

7. Apparently working at a drive-in diner back in the day was a real plum job.

8. Jane and Eddie's mother is optimistic to a fault, waiting for letters that never come.

9. Hopheads are unlikely to engage in correspondence (or personal hygiene, for that matter).

10. The Dead Rat Café, despite its repellant name and décor (including rodent themed wallpaper), seems to be doing a heck of a business.

11. Someone out there, at some point, made and sold wallpaper featuring abnormally large rats.

12. Eddie sure likes to say the word hophead.

13. An opium den isn't the best place to grab a little sack time.

One aspect missing was the actual usage of any cocaine. Whenever someone would use it, we'd be looking somewhere else. Heck, I don't think we even saw any cocaine in the film, other than that which was supposed to be concealed in small packets. There's a number of fairly entertaining sequences, but I think my favorite is when Nick, driving about town with Jane, pulls up to a school telling Jane some of his customers will be getting out soon. We don't see any transactions, but it does well to magnify the character's unmitigated rottenness, just in case anyone was unclear on the matter up until that point. As far as the actual story, things kind of bounce around between a number of characters as we witness the ruination wrought upon their lives by the vile, addictive devil powder, leading up to some interesting, albeit far-fetched, twists at the end. All in all not a bad film for its kind, and a decent complement to Reefer Madness, if you're the sort who enjoys these little exploitative nuggets of joy.

The fullscreen picture on this Alpha Video DVD release is very rough at times, as a good portion of the film is washed out, marked with signs of age, and missing numerous frames. As far as the audio, it starts off well, but deteriorates into various states of crumminess as the film progresses. While the video and audio are lacking, it's probably unfair to be overly critical as the film wasn't really the kind of feature someone would go through a lot of effort to preserve for some seventy odd years, so this is probably as good as it's going to get, without someone making a monumental investment in any restorative activities of which I'd doubt they'd see a suitable return. There are no extras on this disc, other than a video display showing the covers of other Alpha releases. One thing's for sure, the cover of the DVD here is certainly interesting and entertaining...

Cookieman108
15 people found this helpful
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wazza
1.0 out of 5 stars Cocaine Fiends
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2012
Verified Purchase
If you want the worst possible Picture Quality buy this.It is the worst that i have experienced, Scratches artifacts and at times almost illegable,This film should be restored OR burned.And i Bought it from AMAZON.
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Mitchell Thomas
2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth it
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2004
i was told this movie was great, very humorous, but it wasn't. there were a couple parts that were funny, but the quality is terrible (even for a movie made in 1935). it hasn't been cleaned up or repaired at all and it's very, very hard to see. it's not worth the money in the slightest.
3 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Pick your gifts carefully.
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2017
Bought for Xmas presents for adult males in the family. They loved it!
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Top reviews from other countries

David Spanswick
2.0 out of 5 stars drugs education
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 28, 2008
Verified Purchase
Unintentionally hysterically funny with wooden performances and the kind of script that a high school student would be ashamed of and yet oddly drugs education in movies is still a limited genre tending towards the exploitative and sensational. This is just plain silly and too bad to be any kind of good. Best thing about it is the reproduction of the original film design on the box cover
2 people found this helpful
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