The Black Stork (1917)

A young man and woman are considering marriage; eugenicist Harry J Haiselden warns that they are ill-matched and will produce defective offspring. He is right; their baby is born defective,... See full summary »

Directors:

Leopold Wharton, Theodore Wharton

Writer:

Jack Lait (scenario)

Stars:

Jane Fearnley, Allan Murnane, Hamilton Revelle

Cast

Credited cast:
Jane Fearnley	...	Miriam Fontaine
Allan Murnane	...	Tom Watson
Hamilton Revelle	...	Claude Leffingwell
Elsie Esmond	...	Anne Schultz
Henry Bergman	...	The Detective
John Miltern	...	(as John T. Miltern)
Edgar L. Davenport
George Moss
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Elsie Baker
Harry J. Haiselden	...	Dr. Dickey (as Dr. Harry J. Haiselden)
Bessie Wharton	...	(as Bessie Emerick)
Frances White

Storyline

A young man and woman are considering marriage; eugenicist Harry J Haiselden warns that they are ill-matched and will produce defective offspring. He is right; their baby is born defective, dies quickly and floats into heaven.

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Plot Keywords:

color in title | eugenics | based on true story

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Taglines:

Kill defectives, save the nation and see 'The Black Stork'.

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

February 1917 (USA)

Also Known As:

Are You Fit to Marry?

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sheriott Pictures Corp., Wharton

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Homo Sapiens 1900 (1998)

User Reviews

Book about the film

Those interested in knowing more about this film, and many related mostly silent-era films on eugenics, euthanasia, and social hygiene, should see my book, The Black Stork: Eugenics and the Death of 'Defective' Babies in American Medicine and Motion Pictures since 1915, published in paperback by Oxford University Press.

I discovered and obtained grant funds to preserve the only surviving viewable print of the film, in a 1927 re-release, titled Are You Fit to Marry.

The film is a uniquely valuable historical document, revealing that an American doctor publicly allowed infants to die because he judged them hereditarily unfit. However, be forewarned, it is not great cinema.

--Martin S. Pernick, University of Michigan