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30/04/1938 Drama 0h 10m
61
User score

Overview

That Mothers Might Live is a 1938 American short drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann. The short is a brief account of Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweis and his discovery of the need for cleanliness in 19th-century maternity wards, thereby significantly decreasing maternal mortality, and of his struggle to gain acceptance of his idea. Although Semmelweis ultimately failed in his lifetime, later scientific luminaries advanced his work in spirit like microbiologist Louis Pasteur, who provided a scientific theoretical explanation of Semmelweis' observations by helping develop the germ theory of disease and the British surgeon, Dr. Joseph Lister who revolutionized medicine putting Pasteur's research to practical use. In 1939, at the 11th Academy Awards, the film won an Oscar for Best Short Subject (One-Reel).

  1. Fred Zinnemann

    Director

Top billed cast

  1. John Nesbitt

    Narrator (voice)

  2. Shepperd Strudwick

    Dr. Semmelweis

  3. Rudolph Anders

    Doctor (uncredited)

  4. King Baggot

    Passerby (uncredited)

  5. William Bailey

    Passerby (uncredited)

  6. Barbara Bedford

    Nun Reading Book (uncredited)

  7. Ralph Brooks

    Medical Student at Lecture (uncredited)

  8. Mary Howard

    Young Stricken Mother (uncredited)

  9. Leonard Penn

    Semmelweis' Assistant (uncredited)

  10. View more

Full Cast & Crew

Reviews

A review by CinemaSerf
Written by CinemaSerf on 2025-06-28
There isn’t any dialogue in this short feature, just an increasingly frenzied narration as Sheppherd Strudwick portrays the visionary Austrian physician Ignaz Semmelweis. He was a man determined to establish just why so many perfectly healthy women died so swiftly after childbirth - but with no obvious cause. Gradually, he began to realise that it might be the doctors themselves who were carrying diseases about their hospitals and so instituted a culture of washing and sterilising. Though this had a profound effect on the mortality rates, his colleagues felt demeaned and embarrassed by his i...read the rest
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Status
Released

Original Language
English

Budget
$0.00

Revenue
$0.00

Keywords