Silent cinema's most unhinged anti-drug PSA is literally named 'Experience' and yes, characters are called 'Pleasure' and 'Temptation' like a moral panic fever dream.
Youth meets Ambition and leaves Love, his mother, and his small-town roots for the big city. There, in his search for Experience, he meets Pleasure and hangs out at the Primrose Path with the likes of Temptation and Intoxication. Back home, Youth's mother dies, and Love tries unsuccessfully to reach him. When Youth's money runs out his newfound friends all leave him and he sinks into a life of drug addiction, aided by Habit.
Production
Expressionist sets for abstract concepts like 'Intoxication'
Costume
Everybody dressed as their character name, no subtlety
Practical Effects
Pre-Code drug imagery that shocked audiences
Director
George Fitzmaurice
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Richard Barthelmess was so committed to this role he reportedly visited actual opium dens for research, which studio publicity then spun as 'dedication' rather than concerning behavior.
This film arrived during Prohibition's first year, when Hollywood rushed to capitalize on moral panic—'Experience' was actually commissioned by a temperance group, making it one of cinema's earliest sponsored content pieces.
US
