The story of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, a pioneer in medical hygiene who paid the price from colleagues who refused to believe him.The story of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, a pioneer in medical hygiene who paid the price from colleagues who refused to believe him.The story of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, a pioneer in medical hygiene who paid the price from colleagues who refused to believe him.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 1 win total
Photos
John Nesbitt
- Narrator
- (voice)
Shepperd Strudwick
- Dr. Semmelweis
- (as Sheppard Strudwick)
Rudolph Anders
- Doctor
- (uncredited)
King Baggot
- Passerby
- (uncredited)
William Bailey
- Passerby
- (uncredited)
Barbara Bedford
- Nun Reading Book
- (uncredited)
Ralph Brooks
- Medical Student at Lecture
- (uncredited)
Mary Howard
- Young Stricken Mother
- (uncredited)
Leonard Penn
- Semmelweis' Assistant
- (uncredited)
Beatrice Roberts
- Passerby
- (uncredited)
Edward Van Sloan
- Hospital Chief of Staff
- (uncredited)
E. Alyn Warren
- Professor
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhat the film fails to mention is that one major reason why Dr. Semmelweis' observations and methods were not believed by his colleagues was because he could not provide a theoretical explanation for them. Microbiology pioneer, Louis Pasteur's confirmation of the Germ Theory of Disease, which would provide that explanation, was still decades away during Semmelweis' lifetime.
- Quotes
Self - Narrator: Childbed fever. They have taught it, it merely comes from the air. That have taught it, it is there will of God. Yet, is it really the will of God, or the blindness of men?
- ConnectionsEdited into It Can't Be Done (1948)
- SoundtracksWaltz No. 15 in A-flat major Op. 39
(1865) (uncredited)
Written by Johannes Brahms
Variations in the score often
Featured review
Semelweiss had an idea
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.
helpful•30
- bkoganbing
- Jan 2, 2014
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Filming locations
- Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center - 1200 N. State Street, Los Angeles, California, USA(Opening exterior shot of hospital.)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime10 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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