The Story of Life
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Howard Bretherton
Joseph Crehan
Wanda Mckay
John Parker
Robert Leaver
Sam Balter
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After Bob Stephens' wife Sally tells him that she thinks she is going to have a baby, Dr. West pays a house call to take an A-Z pregnancy test, known as the rabbit test, and tells them that he will know the results in a week. The three then discuss their meeting a year earlier, when Bob and Sally visited the doctor's office for the results of their pre-marital, physical examinations: Dr. West cheerfully tells Sally that the first baby she had will not prevent her from having many more and informs Bob that there is no remaining trace of the venereal disease he had contracted. Bob and Sally express shock as neither had known of the other's previous condition, after which Sally admits that she had an illegitimate baby and Bob confesses to having had a venereal disease. After declaring that she would sooner marry a leper, Sally storms out of West's office, and the doctor apologizes to Bob for what he has said. Bob then explains that a college friend, Nicholas Wilde, set him up with a prostitute who passed the disease on to him. Wilde was later killed in the Battle of the Bulge while saving Bob's life. Realizing that Bob needs to be educated about venereal diseases, the doctor shows him a film which depicts, in graphic detail, the ravages of syphilis and gonorrhea. After thinking things over, Sally returns to the doctor's outer office, preoccupied that Bob has had this terrible disease. West then points out that she is not without fault and asks her to tell him her story. Sally states that her child's father was killed in action in Europe and that the man's name was Nicholas Wilde. While Bob is waiting impatiently in the inner office, Sally reveals to the surprised West that she and Wilde were engaged in San Francisco and that he did not know he was going to be a father. The doctor takes her next door and asks her to tell Bob about her fiancé, but not to mention his name. Sally then tells Bob her story: Before her fiancé is drafted and leaves to fight in Europe, they have sex. When she discovers that she is pregnant, Sally takes drugs in an attempt to lose the baby then goes to an abortionist, but gets no further than the waiting room. After receiving news that her fiancé has been killed in the war, she attempts suicide by jumping off a pier, causing her baby boy to be stillborn in a home for unwed mothers. Bob now demands to know who the father was and West asks Sally to tell him. Bob is stunned that his old friend Wilde was the father and Sally is amazed to learn that Bob also knew him. Bob tells her that after he was drafted and the army doctors cured his disease, he ended up in the same outfit with Wilde, who sacrificed himself to save Bob's life. Sally and Bob now realize that they both have been wrong and make up, much to the delight of the doctor. West then expresses outrage over people's ignorance of human sexuality and shows them an animated film on the process of human reproduction. After the film ends, Bob and Sally thank the doctor for all his help and he suggests that they buy a book on marital relations and read it together on their honeymoon. As Sally's father is working in South America, she asks Dr. West if he will give the bride away and he agrees to do so. Back in the present, West tells them to come in to his office the following week for the results of the test. At their visit, after confirming Sally's pregnancy, the doctor shows them a film comprised of medical footage of a natural and a caesarean birth. When the film ends, West wishes them well and they promise him that there will be no more ignorance in their family and that they will educate their child in the facts of life.
Director
Howard Bretherton
Cast
Joseph Crehan
Wanda Mckay
John Parker
Robert Leaver
Sam Balter
Hy Averback
Crew
Dede Allen
William Daniel Bacon
Harry Eccles
Glen Glenn
Gerald Goldberg
Dr. Edward Kilenyi
Walter Allen Lawrence
Arthur Martinelli
Robert Moore
Elmer Moss
Lester Novros
Lester Novros
Charles Shaw
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The main title of the viewed print reads: "Because of Eve (The Story of Life)." There were no technical or cast credits on the viewed print; all of the credits above were derived from materials supporting the copyright registration. The film was first released in July 1948 as The Story of Life, the title under which it was copyrighted. A written foreword to both versions of the film explains that Crusade Productions had made three short educational films for use in high schools and colleges and that the idea of combining them with a story to form a full-length feature came from the doctors and teachers who had helped to produce the educational shorts. The foreword ends with the phrase, "A motion picture conceived, produced and brought to you in the name of social progress" as well as a quote from the Bible: "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free," Acts. A written acknowledgment is given to the California State Department of Public Health, the California State Department of Social Welfare, the University of California, the Florence Crittendon Homes, the Booth Memorial Hospital for Women Obstetricians and the physicians, obstetricians, gynecologists, surgeons, nurses and welfare workers who assisted in the film's production.
The Story of Life May have been self-distributed by Crusade Productions for a brief period before it passed into a different form of exhibition. According to a January 25, 1949 Hollywood Reporter news item, Because of Eve (formerly The Story of Life) was being distributed by Martin Licht and would premiere at the Palace Theatre in Atlantic City, NJ on February 14, 1949. The new distribution plan was a "4 Wall Deal," [whereby the distributor simply rented the theater and normally divided none of the box office receipts with the exhibitor.] According to contemporary information, the major difference between the two versions of the film was that, just over fifty minutes into the version released as Because of Eve, after "Dr. West" has agreed to stand-in for Sally's father at the wedding, a voice on the film's sound track announced: "At this point we interrupt our picture to present, in person, Mr. Alexander Leeds, noted commentator on moral and physical hygiene." The distributor's manager for the engagement would then pose as Leeds and offer "The Mid-Century Marriage Guide" for sale. If a live performer was not used, a reel of film could be substituted featuring an actor as Leeds. This eleven-minute reel, which was attached to the end of the print viewed, featured a commentary and sales promotion for the guide, which was described as five books in one including "Love and Marriage, As It Concerns the Modern Teenager," "Sexual Incompatibility," "The Case of the Frigid Husband," "The Anatomy of Marriage" and "The Key to Successful Marital Relations." The guide, plus a free bonus offer of a Rhythm Calculator, was offered for the price of $2.00, "less than the price of a few packets of cigarettes." The reel ended with a title indicating that the guide could be purchased at the refreshment area of the theater. After the live or filmed promotional part of the program, Because of Eve resumed with titles which stated that: "The Facts and Figures Presented by Mr. Leeds are compiled from the latest statistics of our National and State Bureau of Health Standards. And now to go on with our story."
According to an Los Angeles Times ad, The Story of Life was shown to sexually segregated audiences. The ad also included a notation that the film was "Inspired by the Kinsey Report." The report to which the ad alludes was published in 1948 under the title Sexual Behavior in the Human Male by Dr. Alfred Charles Kinsey. Kinsey's "Report" became a controversial, best-selling book. Although the same character names are used in another sex education film, The Story of Bob and Sally, that is a different film and is not, as some modern sources indicate, another alternate title of The Story of Life.
