Or pretended too.

In the 1930’s, Dwain made a career out of making the worse exploitation films of all time and passing them off as a public service. He would take them from town to town, show them until he was an inch away from being busted and them pack up and travel to another town.

His first film was one called The Seventh Commandment (1932) which he co-wrote with his wife, Hildegarde Stadie. Hildegarde and Dwain, now there’s a couple! He also co-directed this lost classic. That’s right, it’s might be gone forever. If you want to get rich, find a copy of this film. If you don’t know, the 7th Commandment is “Thou shalt not commit adultery”, so you get the idea of what kind of film it was. It had tag-lines such as “The Bitter Truth About The Younger Generation” and “The most startling revelation ever filmed!”

The next film Dwain created was Narcotic (1933), again co-written with his wife, with the tag-line of “One night of bliss… A thousand nights of hell..!” This is the first of his anti-drug films.

Following that was his next epic, Modern Motherhood (1934) in which a couple much choice between living the high life of having a child. The wife wants a kid and gets a baby boy. The man at first hates children but (and here in the spoiler) at the end, comes to his senses and settles down with his family, happily ever after, I guess! This is the first time Dwain directed all by himself and his wife didn’t help.

Maniac (1934) was Dwain move into a more artistic venture. It was written by Hildegarde and based on a Edgar Allan Poe story, The Black Cat. Tag-line “He menaced women with weird desires!”. This one I don’t have to tell you about as the entire film is available for free downloading and watching at Archive.org.

Here is the trailer

After that, Dwain returned to what he does best, making a cautionary tale about the dangers of drug abuse. This time his wife wrote and he directed Marihuana (1936). This film is about a young girl who slowly becomes a dope pusher. Taglined, “See the truth about the smoke from Hell!”, “Weird orgies! Wild parties! Unleashed passions!” and “A Puff–A Party–A Tragedy” After watching this, you’ll never thing about smoking that weed. See the complete film at Archive.org.

If there was any attempt to justify his film as a public service and not a cheap exploitation films in disguise, his next film How to Undress in Front of Your Husband (1937). This is a 20 minute short and is about a peeping Tom who watches a couple of women undress. I was hoping for a trailer, still, poster or something from this to add but couldn’t find anything.

That film must of done well for Dwain because he followed that up with Sex Madness (1938). Dealing with a young chorus girl who contracts syphilis and the the effects this lifestyle and disease have on her marriage. It’s really just an excuse to show wild parties, sex out of wedlock, lesbianism, etc. This one is also available at Archive.org. A couple of years earlier, Dwain had bought a film called “Tell Your Children”, shot a couple of new scenes are renamed it “Reefer Madness”. It would seem the success of that film might have led to this films title.

Curse of the Ubangi (1946) was his next film and I can find very little about this film. It almost seems like it could be a monster or horror film but it’s listed on IMDB as a 60 minute “documentary”. It’s other title is “Curse of the Ubangi Virgin”

And we come up the last film Dwain directed, Will It Happen Again? (1948), another documentary, this time about Hitler. Another titles this film went by was, Hitler’s Strange Love Life. At 60 minutes long, this film is a just old footage of Hitler and other with narration. It actually gets a few good comments on IMDB.

And that was the end of Dwain’s film career. He died at 88 years in 1982. His nickname was “King of the Celluloid Gypsies” He had other producer credits including How to Take a Bath (1937). I’d be curious to find out what he did with the rest of his life once he got done with films. I do know he had to children. I wonder what they are up to?