THE DISTANT DRUMMER FLOWERS OF DARKNESS 1970s ANTI-DRUG, ANTI-ADDICTION EDUCATIONAL FILM CC10054

Join this channel to get access to perks: Want to learn more about Periscope Film and get access to exclusive swag? Join us on Patreon. Visit Visit our website Narrated by Robert Mitchum, “Flowers of Darkness” is a documentary in the series “The Distant Drummer“ that addresses the topic of heroin and general drug addiction during the late 1960s and 1970s. The film was an Airlie Production. It highlights places where heroin is grown and how it makes its way into the United States. The film is comprised of various footage from Hong Kong, Turkey, Lebanon, and New York City and includes interviews with recovering addicts and medical professionals. Produced by George Washington University Department of Medical and Public Affairs in cooperation with the National Institute of Mental Health, the District of Columbia Medical Society, and the American Academy of General Practice. “The Distant Drummer“ is a short-lived series of four 22-minute American documentary films produced in the early 1970s as a societal warning against the proliferation of drugs during the counterculture of the 1960s. The films were directed by William Templeton and written by Don Peterson. Rice field (1:17). Farmer herds oxen (1:21). Shepherd with sheep (1:25). Wild poppy flower (1:28). White liquid seeps out poppy bulb (1:33). Roman ruins, Baalbek (1:43). Bustling commercial street, Turkey (1:49). Cows rest below tree, rural India (1:56). Chinese opium smoking paraphernalia (2:01). Hong Kong (2:08). Opium dens, patrons around Hong Kong (2:09). Sampan fishing boats crowd canals (2:32). Hong Kong cityscape (3:13). Mandarin Oriental Hotel (3:20). Sailing Chinese Junk ships (3:07). Beaker containing raw opium in chemical lab for refinement (3:36). Hands adjusting needle of syringe, spoon with heroin rests on table (3:40). Old man smokes an opium pipe (3:54). Syringe injected into arm (3:59). Addicts sit in room at treatment facility center in Hong Kong (4:18). LED light displays at night in Ginza, Piccadilly Circus, and Times Square (4:24). Addicts purchase heroin (4:40). Charles Siragusa, former deputy commissioner of narcotics, speaks to camera from his office desk (4:49). Hagia Sofia, Istanbul (5:02). Bedouin ushers camels along desert road (5:08). Road signs in Lebanon (5:16). Bustling market scene at traditional souk (5:28). Man stands on box and weaves fishing nets (5:36). Large container ships dock at Marseille port (5:44). Chemist weighs heroin powder on scale (5:52). Port of New York (6:27). Cars lined up at the Mexican border (7:15). District director speaks to camera from customs vault, seized Marijuana and Heroin shipments (7:36). Small private yachts in marina (8:22). Small private aircraft drops package in grass field (8:31). Heroin inspected by seller who refines it once more (8:50). Addict buys from seller loitering on Manhattan street corner (9:14). New York City “slums” seen from train, tenement buildings (9:41). Brick townhouses in Harlem (10:03). Blinking lights of Manhattan restaurant signs (10:11). Pedestrian traffic, New York City (10:17). Store fronts, East Harlem (10:33). Kids stand outside of school building (10:40). Courtyard encircled by backs of residential buildings (11:16). Interview with heroin user (11:31). Gang of kids throw rocks at each other in trash-filled alley (12:25). Interview with another user (12:45). Undercover police walk through narrow alley behind homes, prepare for raid (13:41). Police tear apart home in search of contraband (14:00). Police rounding up drug users, booking them at police stations, sifting through belongings (15:04). Men smoke cigarettes and converse at a rehabilitation center (16:11). Iron welders remove cell bars at Federal Narcotics Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky (16:35). Sign for U.S. Department of Health Education and Welfare office (16:51). Interview Dr. Sherman N. Kieffer (16:57). Sign for Department of Corrections California Rehabilitation Center Corona (17:35). Exterior of Synanon treatment center, Santa Monica (17:42). Interview Jack Hurst, Syanon president (17:51). Halfway houses and rehabilitation centers: Exodus House Workshops (18:31). Samaritan Daytop Village (18:44). Williamsburg Bridge (19:20). Students stroll around a college campus (19:31). Crowded interior of Port of New York, customs agents inspect packages (20:00). Researcher observes addict in a medical facility (20:13). United Nations building (20:23). Farmers in Baalbek ride on tractor (20:45). Bottle of cyclazocine (24:39). This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit