The Pace That Kills

When you look at the poster for "The Pace That Kills", you can only assume that you're going to see a porno film. After all, a nude woman is on the poster...along with a cocktail glass and a couple making out. However, it turns out that this ISN'T a porno film but a reasonably well made exploitation film...the sort you CAN let your kids see (despite the poster saying it's 'For Adults Only')!

Now I expected the film to be a complete pile of garbage. After all, I saw the 1935 remake and it was awful...earning a paltry score of 2. But it really is not that bad a film...and I was shocked to see it.

The story begins with a young man leaving his country home and going to the big city in order to look for his sister, who moved there and then completely disappeared. He gets a job there and things look good...for about five minutes! Soon, he meets a good-time girl who introduces him to cocaine, drinking and nightclubs! But the thrill of coke is short-lived and soon he's graduated to morphine, opium and heroin! What's next? See the film.

The big complaint about the plot is that the young man's slide into degradation is just too fast. But, the effects of the drugs and where it all leads is not all that unrealistic...something odd about drug films of the era which are usually filled with much more misinformation. Not bad at all....but also not all that good as well!