Tomorrow's Children (1934)

A young woman wishes to marry her boyfriend and raise a family, but because her own family has been deemed "defective" by the state health authorities--her parents are lazy alcoholics who ... See full summary »

Director:

Crane Wilbur

Writer:

Wallace Thurman

Stars:

Diane Sinclair, Donald Douglas, John Preston

Cast

Credited cast:
Diane Sinclair	...	Alice Mason
Donald Douglas	...	Dr. Brooks
John Preston	...	Dr. Crosby
Carlyle Moore Jr.	...	Jim Baker
Sterling Holloway	...	Dr. Dorsey
W. Messenger Bellis	...	Dr. McIntyre
Hyram A. Hoover	...	Spike
Constance Kent	...	Nurse
Lewis Gambart	...	Jeff
Arthur Wanzer	...	Mr. Mason
Sarah Padden	...	Mrs. Mason
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gene O'Brien
Schlitze	...	Patient

Storyline

A young woman wishes to marry her boyfriend and raise a family, but because her own family has been deemed "defective" by the state health authorities--her parents are lazy alcoholics who continue to have children, and her siblings (brothers here) are crippled, have mental problems or are jailed--she is ordered by a court to undergo sterilization so that her family's "defective genes" won't be passed on to any more children. Her boyfriend and a kindly priest desperately search for a way to stop the forced sterilization before it's too late.

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Plot Keywords:

sterilization | health policy | propaganda | individual rights | melodrama | 

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Taglines:

A DRAMA OF HUMAN STERILIZATION - IS THE PRICE TO GREAT (original print ad - all caps, with misspelling of "too" and lack of question mark)

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

July 1934 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sterilization

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bryan Foy Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The mentally challenged patient who is strapped to the table is not an actor in makeup but a genuine microcephalic who was a veteran of circus sideshows who appeared under the name of "Schlitze". Although he was a male, this film was one of the rare times he appeared as a male; he was normally dressed and exhibited as a female.

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Connections

Featured in In the Shadow of the Reich: Nazi Medicine (1997)

User Reviews

Please watch this film with somebody sober!

100% hysterical! This ancient cry for the end of forced sterilisation will have you bewildered, and laughing. The Board of Health wishes to streilise a family of nitwits. The parents are lazy boozehounds well past 70 years old, yet they have infant children! Their oldest daughter is up for the operation, but she's normal wants to marry some nice guy, and have kids. Highlights include a courtroom scene where a judge decides if an insane young man is to be sterilised. We know he's crackers cuz he has an Alfred E. Newman grin, has dark, wild raccoon eyes and giggles when he rips his nurse's gown off! Then there's a hospital scene where a Doctor uses kindly, almost baby talk to a tough Cagney-like gangster in explaining the sterilisation process. You won't want to miss these hy-jinks!