About

Said to be one of the highest grossing movies of the 1940s, William Beaudine’s Mom and Dad is the foremost example of the ‘sex hygiene’ motion picture — a genre of interwar cinema that dealt with matters of sexual health with startling frankness. Ostensibly designed to provide education to the American public, the film’s producers used the promise of bare flesh to entice audiences into attendance, with further theatricality added through the imposition of gender-segregated screenings and actors posing as medical professionals distributing pamphlets during the intermission.

Mom and Dad follows the young Joan Blake, whose teenage rendezvous with a handsome pilot leaves her unexpectedly pregnant. Unable to seek advice from her prudish mother, she takes comfort in the guidance of Carl Blackburn, a progressive teacher at her school. The film’s final act showcases a series of short movies that depict in graphic detail two births, along with a harrowing showcase of the ravages of untreated venereal disease.

Restored by the Academy Film Museum and preserved by the National Film Registry, Mom and Dad is a singular object in cinematic history. Filled with campy pleasures and unforgettable sights, the filmmakers’ purported educational aspirations are self-evidently at odds with their commercial desire to deliver a carnival-esque display of forbidden images. Nimbly circumnavigating the restrictions of state censorship boards and conservative religious groups, the filmmakers appear to even congratulate themselves on their own audacity, with the heroic depiction of the open-minded teacher seemingly reflecting their opinions of themselves as courageous disseminators of sexual material, rather than avaricious purveyors of flagrant licentiousness.

Please note: this film contains impactful scenes of medical footage.

Ages 18+