All my babies

Duration: 54

Year Published: 1952

Creator: Museum of Modern Art

Format: 16mm

Color: B&W

Sound: sound

Description: This film on effective midwife training represented a breakthrough in candor at the time it was made. Centering on Miss Mary, a dedicated midwife in Albany, Georgia, the film opens with a meeting in which the town's midwives are chastised for the recent death of a baby and prompted to review the fundamentals of their work. It then follows two parallel stories, one of an experienced and confident expectant mother and the other of a young woman who comes perilously close to losing her child out of ignorance. Stoney juxtaposes scenes in a home that is dirty and unprepared with one that is properly organized for childbirth and postnatal care. Miss Mary's gentle narration carries the action and adds a reassuring tone. An actual birth provides the film's dramatic climax.

Complete Record: This film on effective midwife training represented a breakthrough in candor at the time it was made. Centering on Miss Mary, a dedicated midwife in Albany, Georgia, the film opens with a meeting in which the town's midwives are chastised for the recent death of a baby and prompted to review the fundamentals of their work. It then follows two parallel stories, one of an experienced and confident expectant mother and the other of a young woman who comes perilously close to losing her child out of ignorance. Stoney juxtaposes scenes in a home that is dirty and unprepared with one that is properly organized for childbirth and postnatal care. Miss Mary's gentle narration carries the action and adds a reassuring tone. An actual birth provides the film's dramatic climax.