''The Birth of a Baby'' is a 1938 American
educational film about
childbearing
Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops ( gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins.
Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but ca ...
.
[ ] It was directed by famed Canadian producer of
silent shorts
Al Christie
Charles Herbert Christie (April 13, 1882 – October 1, 1955) and Alfred Ernest Christie (November 23, 1886 – April 14, 1951) were Canadian motion picture entrepreneurs.
Early life
Charles Herbert Christie was born between April 13, 1 ...
. The film stars Eleanore King, Richard Gordon, Ruth Matteson, and
Josephine Dunn. The film's
original negative was lost in the
Fox vault fire of 1937.
Cast
Censorship
The film featured scenes of actual
childbirth
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 globall ...
and this caused issues for the
Hays Office. The filmmakers tried to get around the need for a Seal of Approval from the Hays Office by appealing directly to local and state censorship boards for approval to show the film in mainstream theaters.
The film was banned in New York State in 1939 by a court ruling that scenes of childbirth were too indecent for public entertainment.
References
External links
*
*
1938 films
1930s educational films
1938 drama films
American drama films
American black-and-white films
1938 documentary films
1930s American films
American educational films
{{1930s-drama-film-stub