Many producers of low-budget films of the 1930s and 1940s attempted to achieve box-office success by exploiting a current trend or niche genre, or simply a desire for lurid subject matter. They evaded the strict censorship of the era by claiming their films were intended to be educational. The movies were often cautionary tales in which All-American kids (and occasionally naive adults) are dragged into a cesspool of sin and degradation by engaging in crime, premarital sex and/or the use of illicit substances (especially the “highly addictive” marijuana).
