''Babies for Sale'' is a 1940 American
film noir crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
film directed by
Charles Barton and starring
Rochelle Hudson,
Glenn Ford
Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-offi ...
and
Miles Mander
Miles Mander (born Lionel Henry Mander; 14 May 1888 – 8 February 1946), was an English character actor of the early Hollywood cinema, also a film director and producer, and a playwright and novelist. He was sometimes credited as Luther Mile ...
.
Plot
A newsman exposes a doctor running an adoption ring from a home for expectant mothers.
Cast
*
Rochelle Hudson as Ruth Williams
*
Glenn Ford
Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-offi ...
as Steve Burton / Oscar Hanson
*
Miles Mander
Miles Mander (born Lionel Henry Mander; 14 May 1888 – 8 February 1946), was an English character actor of the early Hollywood cinema, also a film director and producer, and a playwright and novelist. He was sometimes credited as Luther Mile ...
as Dr. Wallace Rankin
* Joe De Stefani as Dr. John Gaines (as Joseph Stefani)
*
Isabel Jewell
Isabel Jewell (July 19, 1907 – April 5, 1972) was an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1930s and early 1940s. Some of her more famous films were '' Ceiling Zero'', ''Marked Woman'', ''A Tale of Two Cities (1935 film), A Tale ...
as Edith Drake
*
Georgia Caine as Iris Talbot
* Eva Hyde as Gerda Honaker
*
Selmer Jackson as Arthur Kingsley
* Mary Currier as Mrs. Thelma Kingsley
*
Edwin Stanley as Mr. Edwards
*
Douglas Wood as Dr. Ateshire
*
John Qualen
John Qualen (born Johan Mandt Kvalen, December 8, 1899 – September 12, 1987) was an American character actor of Norwegian heritage who specialized in Scandinavian roles.
Early years
Qualen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son ...
as Howard Anderson
* Helen Brown as Mrs. Howard Anderson
Production notes
In April 1940 ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' reported that
Evelyn Young was to receive the female lead in ''Babies for Sale''.
Young would soon receive other lead roles in
Columbia films but that of ''Babies for Sale'' went to
Rochelle Hudson.
See also
*
List of American films of 1940
References
* ''The Westerners: Interviews with Actors, Directors, Writers and Producers'', by
C. Courtney Joyner
External links
*
*
1940 drama films
1940s English-language films
1940 films
Films directed by Charles Barton
Columbia Pictures films
American drama films
American black-and-white films
1940s American films
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