Life Begins (1932 film)

Last updated

Life Begins
Life Begins FilmPoster.jpeg
Movie poster
Directed by James Flood
Screenplay by Earl Baldwin
Based onLife Begins
1932 play
by Mary McDougal Axelson
Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck
Starring Loretta Young
Eric Linden
Aline MacMahon
Glenda Farrell
Cinematography James Van Trees
Edited byGeorge Marks
Music by Leo F. Forbstein
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • September 10, 1932 (1932-09-10)
Running time
71 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Life Begins is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film starring Loretta Young, Eric Linden, Aline MacMahon, and Glenda Farrell. The film was adapted from the 1932 play of the same name by Mary M. Axelson. [1] [2] [3] It was released by Warner Bros. on September 10, 1932. The film was praised for its honest portrayal of a maternity ward.

Contents

The film was remade by Warner Bros. as A Child is Born (1939) and again by Italy's Lux Film as Love Story (1942).

Plot

At a maternity hospital, future fathers pace the corridors while their wives wait for their babies either anxiously or happily. Efficient and compassionate nurse Miss Bowers keeps the ward running smoothly.

Things liven up when Grace Sutton is transferred from the prison where she is being held for murder. Most agree that the man she killed deserved to die, and Nurse Bowers sympathetically allows Grace's concerned husband Jed unlimited time with his wife.

In the ward, the women have varied feelings about motherhood. Mrs. West, a mother of six children, thinks babies are what give meaning to women's lives. In contrast, Florette, a showgirl, just wants to get rid of her twins as soon as possible. Miss Layton has decided opinions about child rearing and has no intention of being a doting mother. While the women debate their various theories, a woman who wants a baby so much that she has become demented wanders in from another ward. An Italian woman quietly sobs when she learns that her newborn has died.

After a touching farewell with Jed, Grace, whose health has suffered from prison conditions, is taken into the labor room. While Jed waits anxiously, Florette is appalled by the plans that the prospective adoptive mother of her twins has concocted. She cradles one baby herself and discovers mother love. Miss Layton has also given up on her progressive plans for her baby.

Down the hall, things are going badly for Grace. When the doctors ask Jed to choose between saving Grace or the baby, he chooses Grace, but she herself insists that the doctors operate and save the baby. After she dies, Jed refuses to see the baby girl, but wise Nurse Bowers places the child in his arms, and as with the mothers, he cannot resist her charms.

Cast

Production

The film's pre-release titles were "Give Me a Child and Woman's Day". The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America expressed concern at the directness of the movie's subject, but in 1936, when the Hays Code was being enforced, still considered it acceptable for Warner Bros. to re-release the film. However, a large number of local, state, and international censor boards heavily edited the film or banned it completely. [4] The British Board of Film Censors banned the film. [5] [6]

Reception

Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times wrote in his movie review: "It is a film endowed with fine performances by most of the players; the settings are realistic and the direction is of a high order. There are also some excellent character delineations, but the main thread of the story is disappointing. It is dragged out, and the closing interludes possess little in the way of drama. There is also too much harping on harrowing details." [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glenda Farrell</span> American actress (1904–1971)

Glenda Farrell was an American actress. Farrell personified the smart and sassy, wisecracking blonde of the Classic Hollywood films. Her career spanned more than 50 years, and she appeared in numerous Broadway plays, films and television series. She won an Emmy Award in 1963 for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her performance as Martha Morrison in the medical drama television series Ben Casey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Darwell</span> American actress (1879–1967)

Jane Darwell was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With appearances in more than 100 major movies spanning half a century, Darwell is perhaps best remembered for her poignant portrayal of the matriarch and leader of the Joad family in the film adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, for which she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

<i>Nightmare</i> (1964 film) 1964 film by Freddie Francis

Nightmare is a 1964 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis and starring Jennie Linden. It was written by Jimmy Sangster, who also produced the film for Hammer Films. The film focuses on a young girl in a finishing school who is plagued by nightmares concerning her institutionalized mother.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esther Howard</span> American actress (1892–1965)

Esther Howard was an American stage and film character actress who played a wide range of supporting roles, from man-hungry spinsters to amoral criminals, appearing in 108 films in her 23-year screen career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Linden</span> American actor (1909–1994)

Eric Linden was an American actor, primarily active during the 1930s.

<i>The Young Doctors</i> (film) 1961 film by Phil Karlson

The Young Doctors is a 1961 American drama film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Ben Gazzara, Fredric March, Dick Clark, Ina Balin, Eddie Albert, Phyllis Love, Aline MacMahon, George Segal, and Dolph Sweet.

<i>I Live My Life</i> 1935 film by W. S. Van Dyke

I Live My Life is a 1935 American comedy-drama film starring Joan Crawford, Brian Aherne and Frank Morgan. It is based on the story "Claustrophobia" by A. Carter Goodloe.

<i>The Life of Jimmy Dolan</i> 1933 film

The Life of Jimmy Dolan, released in the UK as The Kid's Last Fight, is a 1933 American pre-Code film starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Loretta Young. John Wayne has a small supporting role as a frightened boxer. The story was based on a 1933 play called "Sucker" by Bertram Millhauser. The film was remade in 1939 as They Made Me a Criminal.

<i>Havana Widows</i> 1933 film

Havana Widows is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Ray Enright, starring Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell. It was released by Warner Bros. on November 18, 1933. Two chorus girls travel to Havana in search of rich husbands. Their target is Deacon Jones, a self-appointed moralist who cannot drink without getting drunk.

<i>So Young, So Bad</i> 1950 American film by Bernard Vorhaus

So Young, So Bad is a 1950 American drama film. It stars Paul Henreid, and was directed by Bernard Vorhaus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aline MacMahon</span> American actress (1899–1991)

Aline Laveen MacMahon was an American actress. Her Broadway stage career began under producer Edgar Selwyn in The Mirage during 1920. She made her screen debut in 1931, and worked extensively in film, theater, and television until her retirement in 1975. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Dragon Seed (1944).

<i>Kind Lady</i> (1951 film) 1951 film by John Sturges

Kind Lady is a 1951 American film noir crime film directed by John Sturges and starring Ethel Barrymore, Maurice Evans, Keenan Wynn and Angela Lansbury. Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film is remake of the 1935 film of the same name which starred Aline MacMahon in the title role.

Heat Lightning is a 1934 pre-Code drama film starring Aline MacMahon, Ann Dvorak, and Preston Foster. It is based on the play of the same name by Leon Abrams and George Abbott.

<i>Miss Pacific Fleet</i> 1935 film by Ray Enright

Miss Pacific Fleet is a 1935 American comedy film directed by Ray Enright. The film stars Joan Blondell, Glenda Farrell, and Hugh Herbert. The film was based on the short story of the same name by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan in the Collier's magazine. It was released by Warner Bros. on December 14, 1935. Two stranded showgirls in California enter a beauty contest "Miss Pacific Fleet" to win the fare back home to New York City.

<i>Once in a Lifetime</i> (1932 film) 1932 American film

Once in a Lifetime is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film based on Once in a Lifetime by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The film was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures, directed by Russell Mack and stars Jack Oakie, Sidney Fox and Aline MacMahon.

<i>Week-End Marriage</i> 1932 film

Week-End Marriage is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Thornton Freeland and starring Loretta Young. It was produced by First National Pictures and distributed by Warner Bros. It is based on the 1932 novel, Week-End Marriage, by Faith Baldwin. The film is preserved at the Library of Congress.

<i>Mary Stevens, M.D.</i> 1933 film by Lloyd Bacon

Mary Stevens, M.D. is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film starring Kay Francis, Lyle Talbot and Glenda Farrell. The film was directed by Lloyd Bacon and based on the story by Virginia Kellogg. It was released by Warner Bros. on July 22, 1933. A female doctor who has romantic troubles decides to have a baby without the benefit of marriage.

<i>Side Streets</i> (1934 film) 1934 film

Side Streets, also known in the UK as A Woman in Her Thirties, is a 1934 American romantic melodrama directed by Alfred E. Green. The film stars Aline MacMahon, Paul Kelly, Ann Dvorak and Dorothy Tree. The screenplay concerns a spinster who hires, then marries, a destitute sailor who is not always faithful.

<i>A Child Is Born</i> (film) 1939 film by Lloyd Bacon

A Child Is Born is a 1939 American drama film directed by Lloyd Bacon and written by Robert Rossen. The film stars Geraldine Fitzgerald, Jeffrey Lynn, Gladys George, Gale Page, Spring Byington, and Johnnie Davis. The film was released by Warner Bros. on December 17, 1939. It was a remake of the 1932 film Life Begins starring Loretta Young. A further remake Love Story was made in Italy in 1942.

<i>The Merry Frinks</i> 1934 film directed by Alfred Edward Green

The Merry Frinks is a 1934 American comedy film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibbee and Hugh Herbert. It is also known by the alternative title of Happy Family.

References

  1. ↑ "Life Begins". Moviefone. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Life Begins (1932) Review, with Loretta Young, Eric Linden and Glenda Farrell". pre-code.com. February 11, 2016. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Life Begins (1932)". All Movie. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
  4. ↑ Kirby, David A. (September 2017). "Regulating cinematic stories about reproduction: pregnancy, childbirth, abortion and movie censorship in the US, 1930–1958". The British Journal for the History of Science. 50 (3): 451–472. doi: 10.1017/S0007087417000814 . ISSN   0007-0874. PMID   28923130.
  5. ↑ "Life Begins". American Film Institute: Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  6. ↑ Robertson, James C. (1993). The hidden cinema : British film censorship in action, 1913-1975. London: Routledge. ISBN   9780203990070. OCLC   191951726.
  7. ↑ Hall, Mordaunt (August 26, 1932). "Movie Review: Aline MacMahon and Loretta Young in a Film Version of a Play by Mrs. Axelson". The New York Times . Retrieved October 1, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.