Black Market Babies

1945 film by William Beaudine
  • December 15, 1945 (1945-12-15)
Running time
71 min.CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

Black Market Babies is a 1945 American crime drama film directed by William Beaudine and released by Monogram Pictures.[1] The film has been released on DVD.[2]

Plot

A small-time hood teams up with an alcoholic obstetrician to set up a private maternity ward, where the expectant mothers' expenses are paid by the "donations" of "adoptive" parents. The racket goes wrong when one of the previously sold children is stillborn, which means the hood has to come up with a replacement baby.

Cast

  • Ralph Morgan as Dr. Henry Jordon
  • Kane Richmond as Eddie Condon
  • Jayne Hazard as Doris Condon
  • Teala Loring as Evelyn Barrett
  • Marjorie Hoshelle as Donna Corbett
  • George Meeker as Anthony Marsden
  • Maris Wrixon as Helen Roberts
  • Nana Bryant as Mrs. Grace Andrews
  • Addison Richards as the District Attorney
  • Anthony Warde as Paul Carroll
  • Selmer Jackson as Mr. Henry Andrews
  • Dewey Robinson as Barney Kramer

Production

The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, which enforced the Hays Code 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.[3] After reviewing the script for Black Market Babies, it cautioned that actresses were not to use any padding to simulate pregnancy.[3]

References

  1. ^ American Film Institute entry for Black Market Babies.
  2. ^ Warner Bros. Entertainment film summary
  3. ^ a b Kirby, David A. (September 2017). "Regulating cinematic stories about reproduction: pregnancy, childbirth, abortion and movie censorship in the US, 1930–1958". British Journal for the History of Science. 50 (3). Cambridge University Press / British Society for the History of Science: 451, 458. doi:10.1017/S0007087417000814. ISSN 0007-0874. Retrieved 5 March 2021.

External links

  • Black Market Babies at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  • Synopsis at AllMovie
  • Film clip from Black Market Babies on YouTube
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Films directed by William Beaudine
1920s-30s
British films
1930s-40s
1950s-60s


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