Life Begins (film)
| Life Begins | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by |
James Flood Elliott Nugent (co-director) |
| Produced by | Darryl F. Zanuck |
| Written by |
Mary M. Axelson (play) Earl Baldwin |
| Starring |
Loretta Young Eric Linden Aline MacMahon |
| Cinematography | James Van Trees |
| Edited by | George Marks |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release dates |
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Running time | 71 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Life Begins (1932) is an American Pre-Code drama film set in a 1930s maternity ward and deals with unwed mothers. It was adapted from the play of the same name by Mary M. Axelson.
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.
On the ward, the women have varied feelings about motherhood. Mrs. West, 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
- Loretta Young as Grace Sutton
- Eric Linden as Jed Sutton
- Aline MacMahon as Miss Bowers, the head nurse
- Glenda Farrell as Florette Darien
- Clara Blandick as Mrs. West
- Preston Foster as Dr. Brett
- Frank McHugh as Ringer Banks
- Walter Walker as Dr. Tubby
- Hale Hamilton as Dr. Cramm
- Vivienne Osborne as Mrs. McGilvary
- Dorothy Peterson as a patient
- Don Douglas as Medical Student in a suit
External links
- Life Begins at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Life Begins at the TCM Movie Database
- Life Begins at the Internet Movie Database
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