William Templeton

The Distant Drummer: Flowers of Darkness

The life of man is poor and nasty. A few plants give temporary relief: marijuana, alcohol, and opium. After a history of opium, including the 19th-century Opium Wars, we learn of the discovery of heroin; the rest of the film examines heroin trade and addiction in the U.S. Two tons a year enter the U.S., with only 100 pounds interdicted. Most is used in New York City. Interviews with customs officials, prosecutors, medical doctors and junkies provide points of view. The harsh 1956 law and the medically-oriented law of 1966 are contrasted, with the film on the side of treatment and rehabilitation. It ends with advocating reducing use here and finding other cash crops for farmers abroad.

The Distant Drummer: Bridge from No Place

This film describes the 1960s drug culture. Addicts discuss their experiences in the United States and in Vietnam. Dr. Stanley Yolles, director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), talks about the drug culture and the NIMH role in prevention and treatment. The tape describes growth in the use of marijuana and heroin. In 1966, the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act is the first law to give the addict a choice of treatment or jail. Synanon in California is a private, self-help, residential community that helps people deal with their addictions. New York's Daytop Village works not only with addicts on addictions, but on developing a new lifestyle. Methadone, though still experimental, has proved to be an effective treatment for heroin addiction.

The Distant Drummer: A Movable Scene

Robert Mitchum narrates an anti drug propaganda film.

1984

In a totalitarian future society, a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love.

1984

George Orwell's novel of a totalitarian future society in which a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love. Episode 1 of Season 6 of Studio One's anthology series.

Full Circle

Shows the improved services and other benefits that oil brings to the backward territories. The financial and technical resources of foreign lands have tapped the liquid wealth hidden below the surface of the earth. In return a new prosperity and improved standard of living is being brought to the peoples of those formerly barren lands.

Midnight Episode

A panhandler who opens car doors for people in London's theatre district finds himself involved in a deadly mystery when a corpse with a cash-stuffed wallet falls out of a vehicle and he helps himself to some of the money.

Double Confession

The hero discovers his estranged wife dead and tries to frame her lover for the murder. He becomes involved with the criminals who make various unsuccessful attempts on his life while the police clear up the mystery.

The Fallen Idol

Phillipe, the son of an ambassador in London, idolizes Baines, his father's butler, a kind of hero in the eyes of the child, whose perception changes when he accidentally discovers the secret that Baines keeps and witnesses the consequences that adults' lies can cause.