Speech Communication's Fall Film Series
Thursday, August 24, 2006, 07:00 PM

The Department of Speech Communication pleased to present its Fall Film Series every Thursday evening this semester on the theme of Midnight Movies. The screenings are free and open to the public. Brief critical introductions will be offered before each screening.

Please join us in Eddy 212 at 7 p.m. every Thursday.  Detailed information about each movie will be sent out throughout the semester.  

Aug. 24 - Opening Night Double Feature

Freaks

In Todd Browning's cult classic, a circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance. A carnival barker displays a sideshow freak called the Feathered Hen and tells her story. Cleopatra, a trapeze artist with the carnival, is adored by a midget named Hans. Frieda, Hans' fiancé (also a midget), warns Hans that Cleopatra is only interested in him so that he will give her money. Cleopatra has an affair with Hercules, and when Frieda lets it slip that Hans is to come into an inheritance, Cleopatra and Hercules plan to get the money by having Cleopatra marry Hans. During the wedding reception, Cleopatra, although openly romantic with Hercules, is accepted by the freaks, but is revolted and mocks them. The freaks decide that they no longer need Hercules in their carnival and have a new career for Cleopatra all lined up, and make sure she doesn't "chicken" out. (From the DVD description).

1932, 62 minutes, in black and white.

Reefer Madness

Sin - degradation - vice - insanity! This cautionary tale features a fictionalized and highly exaggerated take on the use of marijuana. A trio of drug dealers lead innocent teenagers to become addicted to "reefer" cigarettes, wild parties, and jazz music. Originally a propaganda film that relates the story, as told by high school principal Dr. Carroll to parents at a PTA meeting, of the scourge of marijuana. The tale revolves around Mae and Jack, accomplices in the distribution of marijuana, who manage to entice the local high school kids to stop by Mae's apartment to smoke reefer. The lives of all who are involved with this menace are inevitably shattered. One youngster becomes so addicted to the killer weed that a judge orders him to be committed for life to a mental hospital! Dr. Carroll advises us to not incur the same tragedy. Although released in 1936, Reefer Madness didn't become a cult hit until 1972 when the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) rescued it from the Library of Congress film archive. Thereafter, it was a mainstay on the midnight movie circuit. And it's easy to see why. (From the DVD description).

1936, 66 minutes, in black and white.

Contact: Marc Leverette
E-mail: Marc.Leverette@colostate.edu
Phone: (970) 491-5886