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The Curse of Cocaine
(1909) United States of America
B&W : One reel / 988 feet
Directed by (unknown)
Cast: (unknown)
Essanay Film Manufacturing Company production; distributed by Essanay Film Manufacturing Company. / Released 23 June 1909. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Dr. Warren Harris, a prominent city physician, performs an operation upon a patient, whose suffering he endeavors to relieve by administering cocaine. This shows the great virtue of the drug, for, when administered scientifically, it kills pain without working serious injury to the nervous system. Shortly after the patient leaves, Dr. Harris is called to the bedside of another patient. In his haste he leaves the poison in a conspicuous place on the center table, where it is found later by his wife Catherine. The woman’s curiosity tempts her to sample the drug. The peculiar exhilarating effects of the first trial tempt her to repeat the dose until site falls unconscious on the floor. This is the beginning of the tragedy. Repeated trips to the medicine case holding the vial of cocaine does the work, and. a month later, when Dr. Harris again has occasion to use the drug, he finds the vial empty. Not daring to suspect his wife or the servants, he leaves the mystery unsolved and goes out to buy more. During his absence his wife enters, goes to the case, but, to her dismay, finds the nerve soother has been exhausted. Her husband enters at this moment and the mystery of the vanishing cocaine is immediately made clear. She confesses and in despair begs for pardon. He scolds her severely, warns her of the death’s valley she is entering and makes her swear never to touch the drug again. The great craving for the drug, however, proves more powerful than her resolution, and finding that her husband has hidden the deadly vial and its contents, she resorts to subterfuge, forges her husband’s name to a prescription for cocaine and hurries to a drug store. On presenting the prescription the cocaine is given her and she leaves, the store. Later she is found in an alley, apparently intoxicated, and is taken to the police station. Dr. Harris is notified and calls for her. The unfortunate woman is next removed to a sanitarium, locked in a padded cell and left alone to pay the penalty of a moment’s curiosity. After three days of horrible suffering the drug releases its deadly hold upon her and she is on the road to health. A month later the curse of cocaine is lifted and she is restored to her husband, a wiser and more prudent woman.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Drugs: Cocaine
Listing updated: 29 December 2024.
References: Sloan-Loud p. 147 : Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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