The Fight for Life
07/03/1940
The Fight for Life was documentary filmmaker Pare Lorentz' first "dramatic" film, utilizing the talents of several top New York stage actors. A tribute to the Chicago Maternity Center and its efforts to provide the best possible care for destitute mothers, the film is based on the book of the same name by Paul de Kruif. Myron McCormick plays the largest role as a dedicated intern, while others in the cast include such theatrical heavywrights as Will Geer, Dudley Digges and Dorothy Adams. The film's many vignettes range from the tragic (a mother dying in childbirth in the opening scene) to the exultant (another mother rescued from the brink of death in a disease-ridden tenement). Filmed in Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland, Fight for Life is a worthwhile effort, though Lorentz seems more comfortable with the "actuality" scenes than with the dramatized passages.
Movie Information
Myron McCormick
as Dr. O’Donnell
Storrs Haynes
as Hanson
Will Geer
as Ballou
Dudley Digges
as Chefarzt
Woody Guthrie
as
Dorothy Adams
as The Young Woman
Dorothy Urban
as The Grandmother
Effie Anderson
as The Receptionist
