A Child Is Born (film) - Misplaced Pages

1939 film by Lloyd Bacon

A Child Is Born
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Lloyd Bacon
Screenplay by	Robert Rossen
Based on	Life Begins 1932 play by Mary McDougal Axelson
Produced by	Samuel Bischoff
Starring	Geraldine Fitzgerald Jeffrey Lynn Gladys George Gale Page Spring Byington Johnnie Davis
Cinematography	Charles Rosher
Edited by	Jack Killifer
Music by	Heinz Roemheld
Production company	Warner Bros.
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	December 7, 1939 (1939-12-07)
Running time	79 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

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.

Plot

Film about several mothers at hospital maternity ward. The nurses care for the mothers and their new born babies. The relationship that are formed with the mothers to be and the expectant fathers.

Cast

Geraldine Fitzgerald as Grace Sutton
Jeffrey Lynn as Jed Sutton
Gladys George as Florette
Gale Page as Miss Bowers
Spring Byington as Mrs. West
Johnnie Davis as Ringer Banks
Henry O'Neill as Dr. Lee
John Litel as Dr. Brett
Gloria Holden as Mrs. Kempner
Johnny Downs as Johnny Norton
Eve Arden as Miss Pinty
Fay Helm as The Woman
Louis Jean Heydt as Mr. Kempner
Nanette Fabray as Gladys Norton
Jean Sharon as Mrs. Banks
Hobart Cavanaugh as Mr. West
George Irving as Dr. Cramm
Nella Walker as Mrs. Twitchell
Winifred Harris as Mrs. Holt

Censorship

Numerous regional censor boards heavily edited or banned the film because they believed its discussions of childbirth would frighten women from pursuing motherhood. British Columbia rejected the film because "The showing of this picture would have the effect of creating a fear in the minds of expectant mothers."

References

"A Child Is Born (1940) - Overview". TCM.com. Retrieved 2015-07-24.
Nugent, Frank S. (1940-01-11). "Movie Review - A Child Is Born - THE SCREEN; The Maternity Ward Drama, 'Life Begins,' Is Revived by the Warners as 'A Child Is Born' at the Criterion". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2015-07-24.
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.

External links

A Child Is Born at IMDb
A Child Is Born at the TCM Movie Database
A Child Is Born at AllMovie
A Child Is Born at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films

v t e Films directed by Lloyd Bacon
1920s	Broken Hearts of Hollywood (1926) Private Izzy Murphy (1926) Finger Prints (1927) White Flannels (1927) The Heart of Maryland (1927) A Sailor's Sweetheart (1927) Brass Knuckles (1927) Women They Talk About (1928) The Singing Fool (1928) Pay as You Enter (1928) Stark Mad (1929) No Defense (1929) Say It with Songs (1929) Honky Tonk (1929) So Long Letty (1929)
1930s	The Other Tomorrow (1930) She Couldn't Say No (1930) A Notorious Affair (1930) Moby Dick (1930) The Office Wife (1930) 50 Million Frenchmen (1931) Kept Husbands (1931) Sit Tight (1931) Gold Dust Gertie (1931) Honor of the Family (1931) Manhattan Parade (1931) Crooner (1932) Miss Pinkerton (1932) The Famous Ferguson Case (1932) You Said a Mouthful (1932) 42nd Street (1933) Picture Snatcher (1933) Footlight Parade (1933) Son of a Sailor (1933) Wonder Bar (1934) A Very Honorable Guy (1934) Here Comes the Navy (1934) He Was Her Man (1934) 6 Day Bike Rider (1934) In Caliente (1935) Frisco Kid (1935) Sons O' Guns (1936) Cain and Mabel (1936) Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936) Marked Woman (1937) Ever Since Eve (1937) San Quentin (1937) Boy Meets Girl (1938) Racket Busters (1938) A Slight Case of Murder (1938) Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938) Wings of the Navy (1939) The Oklahoma Kid (1939) Indianapolis Speedway (1939) Espionage Agent (1939) A Child Is Born (1939) Invisible Stripes (1939)
1940s	Three Cheers for the Irish (1940) Brother Orchid (1940) Knute Rockne, All American (1940) Honeymoon for Three (1941) Footsteps in the Dark (1941) Affectionately Yours (1941) Navy Blues (1941) Larceny, Inc. (1942) Wings for the Eagle (1942) Silver Queen (1942) Action in the North Atlantic (1943) The Fighting Sullivans (1944) Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944) Captain Eddie (1945) Wake Up and Dream (1946) Home Sweet Homicide (1946) I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now (1947) You Were Meant for Me (1948) Give My Regards to Broadway (1948) An Innocent Affair (1948) Mother Is a Freshman (1949) It Happens Every Spring (1949) Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949)
1950s	The Good Humor Man (1950) Kill the Umpire (1950) The Fuller Brush Girl (1950) Golden Girl (1951) Call Me Mister (1951) The Frogmen (1951) The Great Sioux Uprising (1953) The French Line (1953) She Couldn't Say No (1954)

v t e Films by Robert Rossen
As director	Johnny O'Clock (1947) Body and Soul (1947) All the King's Men (1949) The Brave Bulls (1951) Mambo (1954) Alexander the Great (1956) Island in the Sun (1957) They Came to Cordura (1959) The Hustler (1961) Lilith (1964)
Screenplays	Marked Woman (1937) They Won't Forget (1937) Racket Busters (1938) Dust Be My Destiny (1939) The Roaring Twenties (1939) A Child Is Born (1939) The Sea Wolf (1941) Out of the Fog (1941) Blues in the Night (1941) Edge of Darkness (1943) A Walk in the Sun (1945) The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) Desert Fury (1947)
As producer	The Undercover Man (1949)

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