Truth serum (sodium pentathol) in noirs?

[Muscle Mike]

Does anyone have titles of noirs which either use sodium pentathol as a plot device or allude to the drug?

My list so far:

Murder, My Sweet
Crack Up
Touch of Evil
Kiss Me Deadly
Fallen Sparrow
High Wall


Thanks for any help!

[cigar joe]

And while we are on this subject, what ever happened to the use of sodium pentathol?

[Adam Lounsbery]

Sodium pentathol (Sodium thiopental, manufactured by Abbott Laboratories) is still used in lethal injections, as one of the three chemicals pumped into the condemned.

It can still be used in interrogations, too. It's a short-acting rapid-onset barbiturate, and can be used to break down inhibitions, make lying more difficult, etc.

Like any drug used in an interrogation, though, it requires a trained interrogator to get information out of a subject. Sodium pentothal is just one more tool. The idea that it magically makes the subject tell the truth is just a convenient plot device for the movies.

Mark Bowden wrote an interesting article about interrogation for The Atlantic in 2003: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...rogation/2791/

There are two references to sodium pentothal in the article:

"On occasion he might be given a drug to elevate his mood prior to interrogation; marijuana, heroin, and sodium pentothal have been shown to overcome a reluctance to speak, and methamphetamine can unleash a torrent of talk in the stubbornest subjects, the very urgency of the chatter making a complex lie impossible to sustain."

"Barbiturates were promising, and were already used effectively by psychiatrists to help with therapy. Some researchers advocated electroshock treatments, to, as it were, blast information from a subject's brain. Drugs such as marijuana, alcohol, and sodium pentothal can lower inhibitions, but they do not erase deep-seated convictions. And the more powerful the drug, the less reliable the testimony. According to my intelligence sources, drugs are today sometimes used to assist in critical interrogations, and the preferred ones are methamphetamines tempered with barbiturates and cannabis. These tools can help, but they are only as effective as the interrogator."

[MartinTeller]

I'm in the middle of one right now: The Shadow on the Window

[Muscle Mike]

Another: Possessed (1947)

Thanks for The Shadow on the Window....

[Adam Lounsbery]

Sodium pentathol plays a pivotal role in the final chapter of the Republic serial G-Men Never Forget from 1948. Interestingly, it's not used as truth serum. The main characters, Agent Ted O'Hara (Clayton Moore) and Sgt. Frances Blake (Ramsay Ames), put two and two together and track down the bad guy to a sanitarium after finding traces amounts of sodium pentathol on his henchman's sleeve. O'Hara identifies it as a chemical "used in the treatment of mental patients."

[Muscle Mike]

Thanks, Adam, for the title...