User reviews

I saw this movie yesterday on Turner, and I was unable to stop watching until it was over, even though I sort of could guess what would happen. Farrell was great in her role, and everyone else did a super job. Some of it seemed to stretch the limits, but all in all, I loved it!! If you get the chance to see it, please do! I actually cried at a few scenes, but then I guess if you are a mom you would. Loretta is beautiful, and I was just in astonishment at the very idea of their being unwed moms there, it seemed ahead of its' time. I say, WATCH IT if you can, and don't listen to criticisms. As they say, I laughed, I cried! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I'm not one for weepers, but this film fascinated me. Not so much for the story or the acting, but for the frankness. If it wasn't for precode films, we would never have an honest glimpse of the issues of that era, which actually aren't too terribly different from our concerns in the present. This film tackles a C-Section, pregnancy/giving birth while incarcerated, adoption, losing a baby during childbirth, drinking during pregnancy, maternal bonding, and even hints at the kidnapping of an infant by a woman with mental heath issues who desperately longs for one of her own. Some issues are commonplace in this era, and some of the health concerns have been addressed due to scientific advancements and public awareness, but unfortunately, some issues are still being battled. We see some of the worst cases on the nightly news. It's strange to think we went from this open and honest format on women's heath issues to showing adults sleeping in single, separate beds. I sincerely wonder how censoring these realities set us all back? I recommend this to anyone fascinated by precode Hollywood films, who doesn't mind a little bit of melodrama.

Sort of like a very primitive episode of "General Hospital" set in a natal ward (and one for tough cases at that), this fast-moving programmer has a satisfying emotional impact -- mainly because Eric Linden, as the distraught young husband in the main plot, is so palpably a wreck, and with such good reason. His expectant wife, Loretta Young, is brought to the ward at the beginning of a 20-year prison sentence for offing a lecher who probably had it coming to him; Ms. Young, as always, doesn't do anything to disinvite audience sympathy, and she's a little too good to be true, though sympathetic and lovely to look at, of course. Her difficult pregnancy and relationships with the other girls of the ward form the heart of the movie, and the outcome -- not an entirely happy one -- feels right. Aline MacMahon, "one of the cinema's few perfect actresses," in the apt words of film historian David Thomson, exudes warmth and authority as the head nurse, and Glenda Farrell, as a none-too-willing new mom of twins, gets to croon "Frankie and Johnny" as a drunken lullaby. Frank McHugh figures in another subplot, and he gets to show more range than Warners usually permitted him. It's scaled and paced modestly, and Linden's expectant-dad panic stays with you for days -- this sort of part was often played for laughs, but he's a terrified young kid in trouble, and very persuasive.

A maternity ward for difficult mothers-to-be is the primary setting for this unusual drama. The main story focuses on boyish expectant father Eric Linden (as Jed Sutton), who arrives at the "Waiting Womans Ward" (sic) ahead of his wife, lovely Loretta Young (as Grace). Sounding desperate, Mr. Sutton begs doctors to take care of the fragile Ms. Young, a imprisoned murderer. Young is only in the hospital to have the baby, and Sutton fears she has lost the will to live. Sutton wants to fight for an appeal or pardon.

Young and Linden are a very appealing couple, with the lesser-known Linden surprisingly endearing. The story takes an atypical, and thought-provoking turn when doctors ask Linden to make a decision about his wife's pregnancy - then ignore his request. Sweet older mother Clara Blandick (as Mrs. West) offers sage advice. But, also watch for boozing baby-hating mother Glenda Farrell (as Florette Darien), the always underrated Aline MacMahon (as Miss Bowers), and the First National/Warner Bros. team.

****** Life Begins (9/4/32) James Flood ~ Eric Linden, Loretta Young, Aline MacMahon, Glenda Farrell

Glenda Farrell steals the picture as a reluctant (to put it mildly)and hard-drinking mother-to-be. Glenda appeared in numerous Warner Brothers pictures during the 1930s and she is always a delight. Eric Linden gives a nice performance as the distraught husband of convict Loretta Young. Preston Foster has very little to do as one of the doctors. Aline MacMahon is effective as the motherly nurse. Clara Blandick (she achieved cinematic immortality as Auntie Em in THE WIZARD OF OZ) is a rather mature mother-to-be. Familiar faces such as Elizabeth Patterson, Esther Howard and Paul Fix appear in unbilled roles. Also unbilled, surprisingly, is Gilbert Roland as a non-English speaking father whose child does not survive. In 1932 he was a big enough name to warrant billing, so it was a surprise to see him in an unbilled bit.

Compelling Pre-Code drama centering on a hospital maternity ward and the different people there -- the expectant mothers and fathers, the doctors and nurses. Loretta Young plays a woman convicted of manslaughter who is brought to the hospital to deliver her baby. Her wimpy husband Eric Linden waits and worries. Glenda Farrell is an alcoholic showgirl who finds out she's having twins -- and can't wait to get rid of them! Clara Bandick plays an older woman who already has six kids of her own and happily looks forward to number seven. Aline MacMahon is the sympathetic head nurse. Preston Foster plays one of the doctors. Frank McHugh has a funny role as a nervous father-to-be. Gilbert Roland has a brief but memorable role, as well.

Loretta is beautiful and gives an appealing, sensitive performance. Eric Linden is the divisive one here. Some will find him appropriately nervous for the part but others will think he's over-the-top, bordering on hysterical at times. The rest of the cast is terrific. This is a real gem for fans of Pre-Code films. It's well-written and pretty realistic for the subject matter and time it was made. They use the word 'husky' a lot for some reason, though. It was remade in 1939 as A Child Is Born. That version is good, too, but not as gritty or interesting as this one.

Life Begins - and ends - in a typical 1930's maternity / recovery ward, where we view 48 hours in the lives of several high risk pregnant women, played by Loretta Young, Glenda Farrell, Clara Blandick (Aunty Em???), Vivienne Osborne, Dorothy Tree, and Gloria Shea, as they await to give birth. While the film features plot devices which seem far fetched today when maternity wards are much more controlled and restricted, it does offer us a look back in time to see what giving birth in a typical city hospital in 1932 was like for our grandmothers and great-grandmothers. I found the film fascinating and exceptionally moving.

Oddly enough, the most outstanding performance in this film comes from a male cast member, young Eric Linden as Jed Sutton, Grace's (Loretta Young) husband. What an actor! As a first time father, Jed is distraught and uneasy with hospital staff who seem to brush off his concerns about his wife as they might brush crumbs off a cafeteria table. I felt his every concern keenly. I'd like to see more of this actor's work. He had a very emotional voice, which was used to unforgettable effect in Gone With The Wind. In that film Eric played the young soldier whose leg was amputated without anesthesia, who screamed "Don't cut! Don't cut!" as Scarlett fled the hospital in horror. Chilling! Another great performance is from Aline MacMahon, who plays Miss Bowers, the nurse. Her character is a salt of the earth type, the kind of nurse we all hope to get for our hospital stays, who breaks the hospital rules constantly in order to show a more humane side of the medical profession.

Loretta Young did another superb acting job here as well, a very authentic and deeply felt performance as Grace. My, she is great in these precodes, I've really grown to appreciate her more as an actress the last few months.

Glenda Farrell played her role of a shrill unwed mother a little over the top for my taste (didn't anyone know back in 1932 that swigging brandy from a hot water bottle might be hazardous to unborn babies' health?) but her character redeems herself in the end.

Also in the cast was an uncredited Gilbert Roland, silent movie star, as a grieving Italian husband. His screen time was brief, but notable.

Life Begins is a must-see precode, try to catch it sometime on TCM, but remember to bring a few hankies to cry into. 9 out of 10.

"Life Begins" from 1932 was remade in 1939 as "A Child is Born." Let it not be said that only Hollywood today remakes past films - it's been going on since the beginning of film. Darryl F. Zanuck would combine scripts, while Warners changed a line or two and the title and put them out again. "The Maltese Falcon" had been made twice before the great 1941 version.

"Life Begins" is grittier and more melodramatic than its 1939 counterpart. The story concerns the different women in a maternity ward waiting to give birth. (Some do but we don't see them.) As I mentioned in the review of A Child is Born, it's not clear what these women are doing there. Perhaps years ago women felt like their time was near and just checked into the hospital; or possibly these women were having contractions but didn't show it, anymore than they showed they were pregnant.

One woman (Glenda Farrell) is expecting twins and doesn't want them; an older woman (Clara Blandick) is having her seventh child. There were extra characters and another subplot added in '39.

The focus is the same: on the Linden-Young plot, where she committed murder under what sounds like extenuating circumstances and is hoping for a pardon later on, and has come to the hospital to have her baby. She is physically weak, and it becomes necessary to perform a Cesarean, which in her case is dangerous.

Overall, the 1932 cast were better suited to their roles than the later film. Here, Loretta Young plays the imprisoned mom-to-be, and her frail looks, youth, and paleness make her better for the role than Geraldine Fitzgerald in 1939, though Fitzgerald was very good. Young really looked like a prisoner. Her husband is played by Eric Linden, who had been a stage actor. For me he was a little too melodramatic; I preferred Jeffrey Lynn.

Aline McMahon as the head nurse has the Gale Page role. McMahon is more authoritative; Page was friendlier and warmer.

Glenda Farrell, as the woman expecting twins, is especially good, and more believable than Gladys George in '39, who seemed too old for the role. George in '39 had more of a back story.

A sweet ending to a film that deals with adoption, mental illness, and incarceration. In both versions, the mother of twins is sneaking booze; in '39, they hand one of the babies to her to nurse. It's just one of the things that makes films like this fascinating. Birthin' babies has sure changed.

Life Begins is a wonderful pre-code film starring some of the best of the era. It is set in the maternity ward of a hospital, particularly in the room for the women expected to have trouble. In it is an older woman, a tough unwed mother (Glenda Farrell), a frail young woman, an Italian woman, and the main character (Loretta Young) who is spending 20 years in prison for murder. Her husband (Eric Linden) is at the hospital at every second aching to know that everything will be okay. Aline MacMahone plays the nurse who is great at her job.

This film is highly interesting and entertaining. It isn't terribly shocking in any way, but it is interesting to see such a neglected subject on the silver screen. The acting is brilliant all around. Loretta Young is gorgeous here in her prime. Eric Linden comes out of nowhere and is sincere as can be. His innocence is reminiscent of Michael J. Fox. Glenda Farrell is great as always, a staple of pre-codes and for good reason.

I have to say, this movie packed quite a punch for its limited scope and setting.

The entire movie takes place in a hospital and largely in a maternity ward. Before pregnant women could have a room by themselves or with one other person, they shared a large room with numerous other prospective mothers.

In "Life Begins" several women were featured. The only commonality between them all was that they had given birth or were to give birth, besides that they were as different as can be; as were their pregnancies.

The main characters were Grace Sutton (Loretta Young), a prisoner, Florette (Glenda Farrell), a woman pregnant with twins who didn't want them, Miss Bowers (Aline MacMahon), the head nurse, Jed Sutton (Eric Linden), Grace's husband, and Ringer Banks (Frank McHugh), another husband.

They tried to pack as many different scenarios as they could in this picture: a woman who died in childbirth, a woman whose child died, a woman with twins, an unmarried woman, a first time child bearer, a veteran child bearer, and everything in between. To my surprise the movie was pretty good. The individual stories were all compelling in their own way. I'm just glad they don't do maternity wards like they used to.

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My first thoughts were that if I'd been a pregnant woman watching this in 1932 it would have scared the life out of me. It's absolutely terrifying. Then again, a pregnant woman in 1932 would have known how dangerous giving birth was anyway.

Whilst I really didn't enjoy this it did make me spend a couple of hours googling death rates during childbirth and in hospitals generally over the last few hundred years. (An activity more interesting than watching this.) it does make you appreciate how incredibly lucky we are to be alive now rather than then. If you watch enough 1930s films, that era doesn't seem that long ago but it's not just the attitudes that were so different then, medical treatment was frighteningly primitive. This film will now ruin your enjoyment of Laurel and Hardy's COUNTY HOSPITAL. You'll forevermore be thinking that Ollie's going to die in that place. Thanks for that Warner Brothers!

Back to this film - it just doesn't work. It's like a dull episode of a dull hospital soap in which you don't know or care about the characters. I think it does actually try to be positive but maybe it couldn't be as optimistic as it would be if made today - it had be be realistic in the context of 1932 so is necessarily miserable. You'll wish you'd not watched this. Another reason to avoid this is it's got Eric Linden in it.

Life Begins (1932)

*** (out of 4)

The ultimate "chic flick" takes place in a maternity ward as various women discuss children, their lives and their hopes for the future. The entire cast including Loretta Young makes this thing worth watching. It's overly dramatic throughout and quite preachy and heavy handled but the charm of the cast makes it worth sitting through. The downbeat ending also packs a nice little punch.

As of now, most of Young's film remain unavailable on DVD so if you want to check her work you'll need to keep your eyes on Turner Classic Movies.

This film follows several women on a maternity ward for what we'd now call high risk pregnancies. There's an older mother, a reluctant party girl about to have twins, a frail convict, a woman who previously lost a baby at birth. It's kind of like Grand Hotel or the Love Boat in a maternity ward setting, although the filmed action seldom moves off the ward. It's definitely pre-code; more than one mother seems to have no father involved, and the talk is pretty frank. It includes a lot of familiar faces from 30s pre-code cinema, including Loretta Young as the fragile murderess, Aline MacMahon as a nurse, and Glenda Farrell as a hard-core dame whose maternal instincts are eventually awakened. It was nice to see Frank McHugh in a somewhat atypical role of a worried father. Eric Linden was a real treasure. His emotional vulnerability bordering on hysteria worked well here. Some aspects of 1930s maternity care wouldn't fly today, but perhaps we've lost something in the sterile world of modern medicine. Tears flowed despite some of the tragedies and turnarounds being easy to predict. The babies were cute.

Aline MacMahon is the head floor nurse at a maternity hospital. Patients currently waiting to give birth include Loretta Young, who goes back to prison for murder after; Glenda Farrell, a single mother who wants to give away the twins she is to bear; Clara Blandick, who is here for the umpteenth time; and several others, who represent all the outcomes of gestation. There's a smattering of men, led by Eric Linden as Miss Young's adoring husband, and Frank McHugh; doctors; and medical students.

It's based on a play by Mary Axelson and the stories range from tear-jerking to almost silly, given the serious business that goes on. I thought it rather uneven, but averaged good. Miss Young and Linden are each rather one-note, Glenda Farrell is terrific, although she sings "Frankie and Johnny" unimpressively. It's a thoroughly pre-code movie without any of the sexual trapping usually associated with the period, just the outcomes.

The Waiting Womans Ward of a large lying-in hospital, with all its joys and sorrows, is the place where LIFE BEGINS.

This nearly forgotten drama is a fine little soap opera, replete with comedy and tragedy, all tied into the lives of the maternity staff and their patients. The frankness with which the subject matter is handled points up the movie's pre-Code status.

Marvelous Aline MacMahon, as the sympathetic head nurse, is the calm center of the film, the rock around which all the currents flow. Able to handle any crisis or emergency, she is the mothers' best, sometimes last, friend. Surrounding MacMahon is a bevy of excellent costars: Loretta Young as a convicted murderess released from prison long enough to give birth; Eric Linden as her frightened young husband; brassy Glenda Farrell as a dame who hates children; sweet Clara Blandick as a very mature mother in for her sixth birthing; Preston Foster & Hale Hamilton as thoughtful, compassionate doctors and Frank McHugh as a comically frantic father-to-be.

Movie mavens will recognize Bobs Watson as a wee tyke who wants to see the Stork; Paul Fix as a nervous husband who promises to behave like a `little soldier;' Gilbert Roland as a distraught Italian husband and Elizabeth Patterson as a snooty doctor's wife interested in adopting Farrell's son - all uncredited.

There are a few absurdities in the plot - some of the mothers are obviously much too old; Farrell becomes blatantly drunk in the Ward but none of the staff seem to notice; an obviously psychotic patient is able to wander around at will - but this really only enhances the quirky entertainment value of the film and keeps things from becoming too serious.

To heighten the drama of this sudsy maternity ward story, it's set in a special ward for "difficult cases." The main story is Loretta Young's; she's on leave from a long prison stretch for murder. Will the doctors save her baby at the cost of her life, or heed her husband's plea for the opposite? Melodrama and sentiment are dominant, and they're not the honest sort, to say the least. For example, just to keep things moving, this hospital has a psycho ward next door to the maternity ward, and lets a woman with a hysterical pregnancy wander about stealing babies.

There are just enough laughs and sarcasm for this to be recognizable as a Warners film, mostly from Glenda Farrell, who swigs gin from her hot-water bottle while she waits to have twins that, to her chagrin, she finds there's now a law against selling. An example of her repartee: "Be careful." Farrell: "It's too late to be careful." Aline MacMahon is of course wonderfully authoritative as the chief nurse, but don't expect her to be given a dramatic moment.

The main theme of the film is that the sight of a baby turns anyone to mush. Even given the obvious limitations, this film should have been better than it is.

My rough estimate is that 98.7 per cent of films between ''Jolson sings" and the Hays Office's inception are film versions of terrible stage plays that nobody wanted to see in the first place. This movie is no exception.

Let's see. We have a maternity ward. Patients include a comic, a wise-acre, a lady old enough to be a granny. Nervous fathers.

It all plays out like a soap opera. Sorta like Grand Hotel, or Grand Hospital, if you will. Except with far inferior actors. Well, except for the magnificent Loretta Young, but she is so far and away better than this dreck I was embarrassed for her.

TCM fills its early-morning schedule with dreck like this. They're perfect on those days when you awake before dark but need to get at least another 90 minutes sleep. Pop this one on and drift off within minutes.

LIFE BEGINS (First National Pictures, 1932), directed by James Flood, co-directed by Elliott Nugent, is a hospital melodrama set mostly in the maternity ward. Written by Mary McDougal-Averson, it's something of a forerunner to the many hospital related themes in later years, ranging from the "Doctor Kildare/Gillespie" film series for MGM (1938-1947); to various television adaptations whether being daytime soap-operas or evening hourly shows. The film itself should be commented for its originality, by 1932 standards anyway. The assortment of familiar Warner Brothers stock players is highly impressive to say the least with the slightly blondish Loretta Young heading the cast. While essentially the central character, co-stars Eric Linden and Aline MacMahon stand out for their natural performances, real enough for any viewer to shed a tear or two along the way.

The opening credits start as the camera pans through the nursery of crying babies before cast and crew are screened and titled as the orchestration underscores the popular tune of "Pretty Baby." Set in an un-named hospital at an undisclosed location (probably California), the plot introduces several expectant mothers (without looking pregnant) leaving their nervous husbands as they're escorted to the maternity ward. Miss Bowers (Aline MacMahon), the head nurse, aside from seeing that everything goes accordingly to rule, also becomes involved in the lives of her patients. Noticing that Ringer Banks (Frank McHugh) is upset and worried that his wife, Gladys (Gloria Shea) might have a miscarriage as she did the first one, sends him out on an errand long enough for he to forget his troubles. Mrs. Greydt (Clara Blandick) awaits for the birth of her sixth child while Florette LaVerne (Glenda Farrell), a showgirl drinking snuck-in liquor from her water bottle, learns from Doctor Tubby (Walter Walker) she's to become the mother of twins. Not wanting anything to do with her babies, she makes arrangements to have them adopted for a price. Jed Sutton (Eric Linden), a youthful father-to-be whose case happens to be different from all the others, enters the scene. It is revealed his wife, Grace (Loretta Young), sentenced to life in prison for murder, is to arrive at the hospital escorted and handcuffed to a stern prison matron (Helena Phillips), and returned to prison after having her baby. As situations begin to resolve themselves, Jed is approached by Doctor Cranin (Hale Hamilton) to make a very tough decision regarding both his wife and unborn child.

While basically a woman's movie with a majority of females in the cast, male actors contribute to the story as well, including Preston Foster (Doctor Brett); Gilbert Roland (Tony, an Italian father); Walter Walker (Doctor Tubby) and Paul Fix (The Crying Father). The uncredited Mary Phillips has a sizable role as Nurse Pinty, while Dorothy Peterson adds some tension and emotion as the mentally-unbalanced patient wanting a baby of her own, even to a point of sneaking out a new-born from the nursery without being noticed. Also seen in smaller roles are Vivienne Osborne and Elizabeth Patterson. Released prior to the production code enforcement, LIFE BEGINS can be credited for its honesty and bluntness of certain situations, especially with one of the expectant mothers addressing herself as MISS Laughton (Ruthelma Stevens) rather than concealing the fact she's not married.

As with most Hollywood themed originals, LIFE BEGINS was remade by Warner Brothers as A CHILD IS BORN (1939), featuring Geraldine Fitzgerald, Jeffrey Lynn, Gale Page, Spring Byington, Gladys George, Eve Arden in the Young, Linden, MacMahon, Blandick, Farrell and Phillips roles. Following its basic pattern, the retelling, slightly longer that its 72 minutes, was less blunt in dialog and situations. Though still quite good of its kind, it simply didn't measure up to the original. Both editions to the Mary McDougal-Averson story can be seen whenever broadcast on Turner Classic Movies cable channel. Regardless of its age, LIFE RETURNS can still leave a lasting impact long after it's over. (**** diapers)

This WB precode involves life in a hospital maternity ward for "difficult cases" for a couple of days. The central case is that of Grace Sutton (Loretta Young), transferred from prison where she is serving life for murder. As the film progresses it becomes clear through bits and pieces of conversation that she murdered a politician and that is probably why she was found guilty. Since so many people are saying "he deserved it", the assumption is that the guy might have attacked her and she was defending herself. Her husband, Jed (Eric Lyndon) is devoted to her.

Because it's a ward, you have a variety of interesting characters including an unwed mother of twins (Glenda Farrell) who wants to put them up for adoption for a price and smuggles alcohol into her hot water bottle, an older woman (Clara Blandick) who is having her seventh child, an immigrant woman whose baby dies, and other assorted characters. A woman from the psychiatric ward who thinks she's had a baby keeps wandering down to the ward and bothering the women. At one point she steals a baby from the nursery and claims it is her own. Through it all, Aline McMahon is the compassionate nurse of the ward.

From a recluse's point of view, I'd have to say that staying more than an hour in this place would drive me crazy - The nosey questions, the loud behavior, waiting for the crazy psychiatric patient to show up and ask me if I've seen her baby, and so on. Has anybody in this hospital ever heard of locking up dangerous mental patients? But I digress.

One of the more humorous things that goes on is Aline McMahon's head nurse sending the nervous dads on wild goose chase errands to get them out of her hair. One of the unintentional humorous things going on is Clara Blandick, 56 when this film was made, playing an expectant mother! Ms. Blandick did not look old for her age, but neither did she look much younger than that age either.

I'd recommend this one, but the end is a bittersweet, like so many Warner Brothers precodes that don't mind taking you on a wild ride.