Mom and Dad

Mom and Dad is a 1945 film directed by William Beaudine, and largely produced by the exploitation film maker and presenter Kroger Babb. The movie was shot in five separate studios over six days in 1944, and was spread across various Monogram Pictures lots. Mom and Dad was one of the highest-grossing films of the 1940s. It was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2010.

About Mom and Dad in brief

Summary Mom and DadMom and Dad is a 1945 film directed by William Beaudine, and largely produced by the exploitation film maker and presenter Kroger Babb. The film is regarded as an exploitation film as it was repackaged controversial content designed to establish an educational value. Mom and Dad was one of the highest-grossing films of the 1940s. In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” It was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2010. The movie was shot in five separate studios over six days in 1944, and was spread across various Monogram Pictures lots. It is believed to have had a number of endings, although most typically concluded with the birth of the girl’s child, sometimes stillborn and other times put up for adoption. The official credits also acknowledge The Four Liphams as well as the California State Champion dancers of the jitterbug. The plot is padded with a large amount of filler. Films of this type were usually produced quickly and at minimal cost, and while filler was sometimes used to increase the production value, the usual motivation was to extend its running time to qualify for feature length status.

In some screenings, a second film was shown along with Mom andDad, and contained images portraying syphilis and venereal disease. In particular, at no time does the film specifically mention sexual intercourse or pregnancy, rather than period euphemisms rather than explicit terms that may have been controversial at the time. In a Washington Post article covering Babb’s career, the critic Kenneth Turan wrote that the film did not “flourish because of its puerile plot, which Babb disparages himself.   rather than from his extraordinary promotional abilities” The film was exhibited across the United United States, and over 300 prints of Mom and dad were exhibited. It was also shown in Europe and Australia, where it was shown as part of the European Film Festival of the Year, which was held in Paris from September to October 1944. It has been described as “the most successful film within its genre of “sex hygiene” films.