This film was banned in London until 1935.
The Production Code Administration issued an approval certificate in 1936 for the movie's re-release, despite their concern about the directness of the story.
The film's pre-release titles were Give Me a Child and Woman's Day. The film was praised for its honest portrayal of a maternity ward. Although the censors expressed concern at its directness, it was acceptable for re-issue in 1936.
Remade in a sanitized remake as A Child Is Born (1939), this original (Life Begins (1932)) is more brutal in a Depression-era way about the economic and personal cost of motherhood, as also expressed by subplots about a vaudeville dancer (Glenda Farrell) who fears birthing the twins she carries will doom her to single motherhood and poverty. Loretta Young is tremendously sympathetic in this movie, whether weeping when her husband brings her roses or serenely facing her fate.
A few years after she made Life Begins (1932), Loretta Young would deal with her own unwed mother drama---after becoming pregnant after an affair with then-married Clark Gable, she secretly gave birth to "adopted" daughter Judy Lewis.
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