DEATH IN SMALL DOSES
US, 1957, 79 minutes, Black and white.
Peter Graves, Mala Powers, Chuck Connors, Merry Anders, Roy Engel, Robert B.Williams, Harry Lauter.
Directed by Joseph M.Newman.
With the prevalence of drug problems in the 21st-century in the United States, especially news of opioid addictions, it is something of a surprise to see this film of 1957 and its focus on amphetamines and their abuse as well as criminals exploiting addicts.
The title tells all. The focus is on amphetamines, available through respectable -looking criminals as well as their agents in truck stops as well as service stations.
The film is rather didactic in its tone, warning of the dangers of this kind of drug addiction, the film opening with a sequence with the driver on drugs crashing his truck. There are speeches about the dangers of drugs throughout the film.
Peter Graves portrays an agent who goes undercover in a trucking company, boards with the widow of the dead truck driver, Valerie (Mala Powers), shares accommodation with a driver continually on the drugs Mink (Chuck Connors), finds that his instructor has also taken drugs, is upset at the death seizures of a friend, makes enquiries and is murdered.
The film shows the truck drivers, the journeys, the truck stops and the waitress who deals in drugs as well as taking them herself, the proprietors, the manager of the service station who collaborates in the end.
Peter Graves, as always, is sternly respectable. Mala Powers is glamorous – and then turns into a femme fatale, no romantic ending. Chuck Connors is boisterous as the driver who is always under the influence of drugs.
A film of its time, small-budget, but worth looking at two understand attitudes in the 1950s in comparison with the present.
1. The title, the reference to the amphetamines? Their availability, exploitation by criminal organisations? The need for prescriptions? The range of people who take the drugs? The deaths in the film?
2. The official offices of the anti-drug organisations? California, the highways, the truck stops, service stations? The bars? Accommodation and boarding rooms? The musical score – and the high emphasis on the jazz and rock style of the period?
3. The opening, the driver, on the drugs, erratic driving, his crash?
4. Tom, earnest, the plan for his going undercover, his story? The encounter with Valerie, getting the room? Sharing with Mink? The attraction to Valerie, her being a widow, the death of her husband? Her sympathy, romance? The contact with Steve and his visits?
5. Mink, Chuck Connors’ style, lively, high, dancing, reckless driving? Friendship with Tom, driving together? More and more drugs? More and more erratic driving? Getting the knife after the fight in the bar, wanting to dance with the proprietor’s wife? In the truck, the driving, the fight, the knife? Tom overpowering him, in hospital?
6. The service station, his dealing the drugs? Tom’s instructor, taking the drugs, the ugly death of his friend, making inquiries, his being killed?
7. Amy, the waitress, doing the drugs, taking them, giving the letter to Tom after her disappearance, the information?
8. Steve, respectable, his visits to Valerie? The final visit, hurrying away?
9. Steve and the gang, Valerie being a mastermind, her greed? Sitting Tom’s room, finding the letter with the information? Her lies, twisting her story, trying to be romantic Tom? Her exposure? The police taking her away?
10. The group taking Tom, preparing to kill him, the service station owner? To dig the graves? Tom turning the service station owner against the crooks, the fight?
11. A moralising story of the 1950s – and the continuing use of drugs in the US, especially by drivers?
