''Black Market Babies'' is a 1945 American

crime drama film In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

directed by

William Beaudine William Washington Beaudine (January 15, 1892 – March 18, 1970) was an American film actor and director. He was one of Hollywood's most prolific directors, turning out films in remarkable numbers and in a wide variety of genres. Life and car ...

and released by

Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios i ...

. The film has been released on dvd.Warner Bros. Entertainment film summary
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Plot

A small-time hood teams up with an alcoholic

obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

to set up a private

maternity ward Childbirth, also known as labour and delivery, is the ending of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. In 2019, there were about 140.11 million births global ...

, where the expectant mothers' expenses are paid by the "donations" of "adoptive" parents. The racket goes wrong when one of the pre-sold children is

stillborn Stillbirth is typically defined as fetal death at or after 20 or 28 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the source. It results in a baby born without signs of life. A stillbirth can result in the feeling of guilt or grief in the mother. The term i ...

, which means the hood has to come up with a replacement baby.

Cast

Production

The

Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...

, which enforced the

Hays Code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...

, at the time did not allow films to show that pregnancy, if shown at all, resulted in any visual changes to a woman's body. After reviewing the script for ''Black Market Babies'', it cautioned that actresses were not to use any padding to simulate pregnancy.

References

External links

* * * 1945 films Films directed by William Beaudine Monogram Pictures films 1945 crime drama films American crime drama films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films {{1940s-crime-drama-film-stub