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.
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.