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That Mothers Might Live

6.1 10 mins Drama   1938
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  
Director(s): Fred Zinnemann

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).

Casts of That Mothers Might Live

John Nesbitt

as Narrator (voice)

Shepperd Strudwick

as Dr. Semmelweis

Rudolph Anders

as Doctor (uncredited)

King Baggot

as Passerby (uncredited)

William Bailey

as Passerby (uncredited)

Barbara Bedford

as Nun Reading Book (uncredited)

Ralph Brooks

as Medical Student at Lecture (uncredited)

Mary Howard

as Young Stricken Mother (uncredited)

Leonard Penn

as Semmelweis' Assistant (uncredited)

Beatrice Roberts

as Passerby (uncredited)

Edward Van Sloan

as Hospital Chief of Staff (uncredited)

E. Alyn Warren

as Professor (uncredited)

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