"That Mothers Might Live" is an American 10-minute live action short film that can maybe also be categorized as a documentary. It came out back in 1938, so briefly before WWII that's how old it is, and that means it has its 80th anniversary this year. Yes it has sound, but it is of course in black-and-white still. It is about a Doctor Semmelweiss who made a groundbereaking discovery in terms of childbed fever that may have saved the lives of generations of mothers afterward, even if he did not reap the rewards of it during his lifetime. This is among the best aspects of the film here, but still it was a really close call for me if this should get a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. There are major flaws here, too much overacting (not only by Strudwick), uneasy dramatization that felt more for the sake of it than authentic and the music also wasn't spot on most of the time. Justice wasn't really done to the character and I think it would be nice for him to get a modern biopic these days. But as the film gets a bit better in the second half, I will be generous and give it 3 out of 5 stars. The subject is also relevant enough I believe in helping appreciate the film. Not too surprised it won the Oscar back then. By the way, the director here is Fred Zinnemann in his early years before he broke through and became one of the most defining Hollywood filmmakers of his generation. There is still a lot wrong with this little film here. Nesbitt's narration is not a problem, but that he even says what the characters tell while they are just moving their mouths really is a bit hard to get used to. A cautious thumbs-up overall. Worth seeing once I guess.
4 Reviews
Semelweiss had an idea
bkoganbing2 January 2014
Long before as producer/director Fred Zinnemann won Oscars for A Man For All Seasons and From Here To Eternity as a young Viennese immigrant he toiled at the MGM studios doing short subjects. It was there he showed his promise directing this Best Short Subject for 1938 That Mothers Might Live.
Going to hospital was a dubious proposition as far as your health was concerned, especially for pregnant women to give birth. Infant mortality was high in those days for any number of reasons, one of them simply because hospitals were not kept sterile and newborns picked up all kinds of infections and died.
Ignaz Philipp Semelweiss working in a hospital in Budapest came to see that just washing hands cut down the death rate in maternity wards. He was on the right track but it would be left to better known scientists like Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister to fully develop the germ theory and the science of microbiology. It was left to Semelweiss to be ridiculed by his professional peers for most likely simply not taking the next steps that Pasteur and Lister did.
Sheppard Strudwick made his film debut in this short as the subject of same. It's a nice tribute to a forgotten and unappreciated man during his lifetime.
Going to hospital was a dubious proposition as far as your health was concerned, especially for pregnant women to give birth. Infant mortality was high in those days for any number of reasons, one of them simply because hospitals were not kept sterile and newborns picked up all kinds of infections and died.
Ignaz Philipp Semelweiss working in a hospital in Budapest came to see that just washing hands cut down the death rate in maternity wards. He was on the right track but it would be left to better known scientists like Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister to fully develop the germ theory and the science of microbiology. It was left to Semelweiss to be ridiculed by his professional peers for most likely simply not taking the next steps that Pasteur and Lister did.
Sheppard Strudwick made his film debut in this short as the subject of same. It's a nice tribute to a forgotten and unappreciated man during his lifetime.
Childbed Fever
boblipton14 September 2023
Until well into the 20th century it was common for children to be birthed at home: childbed fever. Until Semmelweiss began to develop the modern understanding of germs and how they can be transferred, there was no chance of stopping death in hospitals. True, microbes had been known for a couple of centuries, ever since the invention of the microscope, but no one made the connection. Even Semmelweiss didn't quite get it at first. He thought it was the smell that carried disease.
Of course, nowadays, we have antibiotics and medical facilities that don't recycle anything that can't be steamed to death, but every advance requires someone to make it. And that's what this overwrought episode of John Nesbitt's THE PASSING PARADE is about.
Of course, nowadays, we have antibiotics and medical facilities that don't recycle anything that can't be steamed to death, but every advance requires someone to make it. And that's what this overwrought episode of John Nesbitt's THE PASSING PARADE is about.
Brilliant short
Michael_Elliott26 February 2008
That Mothers Might Live (1938)
**** (out of 4)
Oscar winning short from director Fred Zinnemann (High Noon) tells the rather amazing story of Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, a physician who came up with a cure for Childbed Fever, which was a disease that would kill mothers soon after they gave birth. What was his amazing cure? To make doctors wash their hands before treating a patient. Semmelweis drove himself to an asylum trying to get his message of clean hands across but he wouldn't be held high until years after his death. Even though Zinnemann was young into his career here he shows signs that would turn up in later films like From Here to Eternity.
**** (out of 4)
Oscar winning short from director Fred Zinnemann (High Noon) tells the rather amazing story of Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, a physician who came up with a cure for Childbed Fever, which was a disease that would kill mothers soon after they gave birth. What was his amazing cure? To make doctors wash their hands before treating a patient. Semmelweis drove himself to an asylum trying to get his message of clean hands across but he wouldn't be held high until years after his death. Even though Zinnemann was young into his career here he shows signs that would turn up in later films like From Here to Eternity.
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