| The Terrible Truth | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Sid Davis |
| Starring | William B. McKesson |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Sidney Davis Productions |
Release date |
|
Running time | 10 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Terrible Truth is a 1951 American anti-drug documentary film created bySid Davis Productions.
The film contained messages such as "marijuana has similar properties toamphetamines" and "the Soviet Union was pushing drugs in America".[1] The film follows William B. McKesson (to becomeLos Angeles County District Attorney in 1956) who interviews a young woman about her use of marijuana as agateway drug tointravenous use of heroin.[2] McKesson states at the end of the film "Some say that theReds are promoting drug traffic in the United States to undermine national morale."[2]
The film has been called "faux documentary ... ironic,naïve, campy",[3] and according to Edward Brunner inPostmodern Culture, one of the "scandalous examples of how thoroughly the media environment has been penetrated by schemes forsocial engineering".[4] It can be found alongside famously bad movies likeReefer Madness on popular film lists, for example those found at thefix.com as one of the five worst anti-drug works of the past century, andThe Atlantic where it is described as "hysterical" and "cartoonish".[5][6]
The film is included in thePrelinger Archives, a scholarly collection of film related to U.S. history.[7]