A Brand New Life (1973 TV Movie) User Reviews

It's a message movie, but touching anyway

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 11 September 2022]

In the flavor of Never Too Late, Cloris Leachman stars as a forty-year-old woman who finds out she's pregnant for the first time. She and her husband, Martin Balsam, had tried for children early on in their marriage, but they never conceived. After eighteen years, they have become set in their ways. They have risen high in their careers, lived in a singles-only high-rise apartment, and grown used to living for themselves from day to day. The pregnancy was an accident, and Cloris isn't sure she's ready for a brand new life.

This movie has a definite message to it, and I would argue that Jerome Kass's teleplay was deliberately manipulative. When Cloris speaks to a doctor about potentially getting an abortion, he explains that he'll do the operation should she decide she wants it. He's absolutely pro-choice for women who feel that's best for their lifestyle, "but I don't think you're one of those women," he says. Cloris seeks advice from several others, including close friend Marge Redmond, her mother Mildred Dunnock, and her boss Wilfrid Hyde-White. Everyone either advises her to have the baby, or talks about how awful motherhood is that via reverse-psychology, she thinks they're wrong and terrible people. Like I said, this is definitely an anti-abortion movie. Plus, Martin is gung-ho about being a father; it's very cute. Is she really going to go against her husband?

If you can get over the "pro-choice in theory, but not in my backyard" theme, this is a very sweet movie. Cloris and Martin have a cute chemistry together, and there's one particular scene (no spoilers here) towards the end that is so touching, it brought a lump to my cynical throat.

A litany of questions for impending mothers...all happily resolved by the birth of a healthy baby

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 28 May 2010]

Forty year-old working woman, happy in her marriage and excited by her job as assistant manager at the local opera house, finds out she's pregnant for the first time. Cloris Leachman won an Emmy for her solid work in this sympathetic TV-made drama, one that strives to teach us something while stirring our maternal or paternal sides. Both Cloris' best friend and her elderly mother try talking her out of having the child--seemingly just so writers Peggy Chantler Dick and Jerome Kass can bring up the abortion issue--while husband Martin Balsam vacillates between nervous anticipation and fear. The obligatory scenes are trotted out: the natural childbirth class (complete with labor film), the friendly young woman whose infant is stillborn, the office baby shower, etc. Leachman frets, beams, cries, giggles and, most amusingly, worries about her toenails when she goes into labor. The picture isn't much, with all that angst obliterated by the upbeat slide-show finale, but it's well-enough done for '70s television.

Brings Back Great Memories of Those TV Movies!

[filmloverlady · 9/10 · 30 April 2006]

I just got to see this movie again, now on DVD. I had forgotten what a sweet movie it is. Of course the subject of a 40 year old woman having her first child seems like nothing new today, but back then it was controversial to most. It brought back such fond memories of nights when Isat around watching the 'Movie of the Week'. Those films of the 70's were great! I have a long list of films from this genre that have stayed with me the last 30 years or so. Most of them produced by AAron Spelling, they were just the best! I only wish someone could get a collection together and put them in a DVD boxed set. These TV movies seem to be lost in the studio archives. If anyone is listening... there are a lot of people who would like to see them again, so get them out on DVD!!

Excellent Story With Great Feeling & Emotion

[swa_fun · 10/10 · 31 July 2005]

A 10-star rating goes out to "A Brand New Life," the Emmy Winning, Made-For-TV movie based on the events surrounding a middle-aged couple who discover they will soon have a child.

One cannot watch this film without coming away with a genuine respect for the characters involved. Of course, Cloris Leachman, who won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role," is astounding as the middle-aged mother-to-be. Martin Balsam, who plays her husband, is equally excellent in his role. The sets, story-line and musical arrangements provide interest and feeling for the characters involved.

A nod goes out to Karen Philipp, who received a TV Guide write-up entitled "Expertly Played By Karen Philipp" for her role as "Sarah White." Former vocalist for Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, "A Brand New Life" proves that Karen has more than a way with song. She is an excellent actor as well. The depth with which she handles this role is astounding. "Well done" would hardly describe the supporting role she plays in this wonderful, emotional film.

All in all, "A Brand New Life" leaves you with a feeling that you have lived through this experience with the characters involved -- you literally become lost in the story -- the mark of a well-made film.

From the standpoint of quality, you can't get much better than "A Brand New Life." The story flows, the actors breathe life into the characters portrayed. This is what middle-aged couples experience on learning they are to become parents. The film is so well done, so well directed and moves so quickly, you feel a genuine sense of care and concern for those involved.

Do yourself and favor and check out "A Brand New Life." If anything, you will gain a new respect for the challenges faced by middle-aged people on the verge of parenthood. What's more, you'll feel good for having done so.

A First Rate Feel Good Movie That Makes Your Heart Soar!!!

[fairy-lady · 10/10 · 23 October 2006]

This movie of the week is a movie I never expected to see on DVD. I am SO HAPPY that it has finally been released. You feel as though you are living through the characters eyes and feel what they feel. It feels very real when you see the struggle of this middle aged couple trying to decide if they want a child after so many years of marriage. Very heart felt and sincere movie. Very fast paced movie and it tugs at your heart. WONDERFUL!!! I would shout it from the roof tops for everyone to get this wonderful movie! I can only hope that other movies of the week will find themselves on DVD shorty just like THIS GEM OF A FILM! Unforgettable and worth getting.

Entertaining enough, but overrated

[flomert34 · 21 June 2008]

There were some really good TV-movies made in the '70s, featuring some topnotch actors. I actually enjoy watching even the mediocre ones. The Emmy win for Cloris Leachman (one of those aforementioned very good actors) in this role had me expecting this movie to be better than it was.

I can't help holding it to the standard of another '70s TV-movie about middle-aged pregnancy, And Baby Makes Six. The plot lines differ, although, oddly, Mildred Dunnock plays the mother of the pregnant women in both and both films try to make a statement about Women's Lib, but in different ways. And Baby Makes Six was a lot richer than A Brand New Life, plus it had humor. The characters were more developed and Colleen Dewhurst just makes you love her. As talented as Leachman is, her Victoria wasn't as real as Dewhurst's Anna.

When Victoria finds out she's pregnant (unintentionally) for the first time at 40, her husband Jim is immediately thrilled, while she has serious doubts. She doesn't want to give up her dream job and is satisfied with their life the way it is, although they had tried to get pregnant earlier in their marriage. Plus, she thinks she's too old to be having her first child.

Her closest friend is a self-admitted bad mother, who has a poor relationship with her boarding school teenager, and tries to convince Vicky that motherhood is not for her. I guess this was a Women's Lib attempt to illustrate that not every woman is cut out for motherhood and they shouldn't be judged for not wanting kids. But what friend would say this stuff to a confused and emotionally fragile gal pal in this kind of situation?

The most painfully awkward scene to watch involves Vicky seeking her mother's advice on what to do. Her mother basically informs her that she and Vicky's father never intended to have any children and had tried unsuccessfully to obtain an abortion when she got pregnant with her. She advises Vicky to get an abortion, as her marriage was never quite the same again after having Vicky. Vicky is obviously very hurt by this information, even though her mother tells her that she loves her. What kind of mother tells her kid, even a grown-up one, that she wanted an abortion?

It's plain from the cover of the DVD what decision is ultimately made (surprise, surprise). Along the way, Vicky deals with her job, her demanding but compassionate boss and meets Sarah, a young, unmarried pregnant woman who inspires her. Jim brings home a pile of parenting books, convinces Vicky she's not like her mother and they decide to have the baby.

Suddenly, after Vicky is committed to the idea of parenthood, formerly gung-ho Jim goes all negative on her. Attending a natural childbirth class and having to move out of their adults-only building spooks him. A brief pep talk from her is all it takes to get him back on board. Please. All this agonizing back and forth over the big decision and they cheapen it with that little segue.

By this point, the movie is less than 15 minutes from being over and you feel like you still don't really know these people or even as though you're invested in the outcome of their story. The rest feels like it was hastily slapped together to wrap things up quickly because they ran out of time.

Cloris Leachman is cute as Vicky, and mostly sympathetic. Martin Balsam as Jim is a bit overbearing and I would've rather seen an actor in the role who didn't look 15 years older than Leachman (who looked younger than she was at the time). Marge Redmond as Vicky's pal Eleanor is over-the-top obnoxious. Mildred Dunnock in the mother role is just embarrassing. Her mother character in And Baby Makes Six managed to be both very flawed and amusingly likable in minimal screen time. That didn't happen here. Karen Philipp is appropriately hippie-like in playing Sarah.

Seriously, I'm mystified as to how Leachman won an Emmy for this role while Colleen Dewhurst couldn't even snag a nomination for And Baby Makes Six. We're talking a lion vs. a lamb here.