Tomorrow's Children

Tomorrow's Children
Directed by Crane Wilbur
Produced by Bryan Foy (producer)
Written by Wallace Thurman (story)
Wallace Thurman and
Crane Wilbur
Starring See below
Cinematography William C. Thompson
Release dates
 1934
Running time
 70 minutes
Country USA
Language English

Tomorrow's Children is a 1934 American film directed by Crane Wilbur which protests against the eugenic policies then in force in many states. The film was deemed "immoral", "tending to corrupt morals", and "tending to incite crime".[1]

The film is also known as The Unborn in the United Kingdom.

Summary

Tomorrow's Children follows the nature vs. nurture story of Alice Mason, starring Diane Sinclair, who wants nothing more than to settle down with her fiance, Jim, and raise their prospective family. All those goals crumble when her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Mason, are forced into sterilization, or they'll lose their welfare checks. Due to her parents' alcoholism and less than stellar discipline, her siblings are physically disabled, mentally unstable, or have criminal ties. Although Alice represents the only real beneficial member of the family, she has been ordered sterilized herself along with her relatives to end their further corrupt offspring.

Rather than accepting with the court order with the rest of the Mason family, Alice flees the house before giving an answer. She is later caught and taken by the police. Her fiance, Jim, makes a bold case to Dr. Brooks, to which he aids them by testifying on Alice's behalf. The court's decision was unchanged. Another ally of Alice and Jim is Father O'Brien, played by director Crane Wilbur. O'Brien is talking to Mrs. Mason, begging her to reconsider the decision to sterilize. She refuses and decides to keep the welfare income. However, in a drunken haze, it is revealed that she was not Alice's biological mother. Father O'Brien races to stop the procedure with the new information. Dr. Brooks is ultimately able to stop the procedure in time.

Cast

Struggle for License

The film industry revolves around certain formulas and general rules for what was okay to talk about. Some producers tested and pushed the limits of society to promote new ideas, however, those who create these hard pressing issues are not members of the Association of Motion Picture Producers. Instead of being backed by this organization, the Foy Productions was forced to present the film to state censorship boards located in New York, Ohio, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland.

This film received a lot of negative attention for its prominent themes of genetic alcoholism, deformed offspring, and sterilization. The film was only approved in Pennsylvania and Ohio.[2] Since Tomorrow’s Children deliberately ignored the standard rules of the industry, of leaving these controversial topics alone, the film was denied its license and there was a lot of effort devoted to the delaying of its production. The Producers’ Association was responsible for most of the obstacles in the film’s course.[3]

The original decision to ban the film came from Censor Irwin Esmond and Dr. Frank Graves in the State Education department. The Applelate Division of the Supreme Court backed Esmond and Graves with 3 votes in favor of the ban and 2 against it. Years later in 1938, Foy Productions urged the US appeals court to revisit “Tomorrow’s Children”, especially in New York. Frederick Crane, of the appeals court, screened the film along with 6 others to decide its future in the empire state.[4]

Eugenics Around the World

The film has a very prominent theme of sterilization, or the loss of the ability to reproduce that eliminates the chance of parentage and future offspring. In the early 20th century, the US was flooded with ideals revolving eugenics. Eugenics is the idea that through selective breeding and sterilization, we would grow as a population and remove the seemingly negative traits. By this selective process, we would essentially be able to create offspring who all resemble each other.

In 1927, the United States declared that it is in favor of these eugenic processes. Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, wrote, “...society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind.” This quote would be later used against the U.S. during the Nazi Nuremberg trials. Because the film is a reflection on the evils of society, it went against the status quo and took a stand. Criticizing sterilization and eugenic activities also meant criticizing the standard thought in American culture.

On August 19, 1934, barely a month after Tomorrow’s Children was released, one of history’s most infamous eugenic icons, Adolf Hitler, became the recognized sole-leader of Germany. As Hitler began his conquest through Germany, the sterilization of the bloodlines of different races and religions of people occurred. Hitler’s ideals revolved around humanity becoming its purest by removing the parts he deemed unworthy. Although Hitler began his eugenic practices in 1936, Foy and Wilbur were able to relate the same message through the sterilization of Diane Sinclair's family in Tomorrow’s Children. Foy Productions appealed its denied license in 1938 while the Nazi Aryan movement was still gaining power, thus resulting in the film's extremely unfit theme.[5][6]

External links

References

  1. ↑ Motion Picture Herald, November 1938, Quigley Publishing Co., Print.
  2. ↑ Photoplay, July 1938, Chicago, Macfadden Publications, Inc., Print.
  3. ↑ The New Movie Magazine, July 1934, Tower Magazines, inc., Print.
  4. ↑ The Film Daily, April 1938, Wid's Films and Film Folk, inc. Print.
  5. ↑ The Horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics, Edwin Black, History News Network, September 2003, Web.
  6. ↑ The Film Daily, April 1938, Wid's Films and Film Folk, inc. Print.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, April 22, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.