Was this censor-proof code for an abortion (as in the book) or did Selena lose the baby after tumbling down the hill while Lucas was chasing her? I didn't think the Production Code would allow an abortion and allow Dr. Swain to get away with performing one, but the last time I saw this I listened closely and, well, anyone else have any thoughts?
shareRemember the times in which this film was made. I believe that the film implies that Selena had a miscarriage after tumbling down the hill and Dr. Swain helped complete it.
I'm sure most of the original audience for this film knew the real deal and knew that the producers would have gotten into ridiculous trouble with the Hayes Code if they had been completely faithful to the book. The Hayes Code didn't die for a few years yet.
The Fabio Principle: Puffy shirts look best on men who look even better without them.
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I'm not sure you still couldn't use the word "pregnant" on television when this film was made. Talk about hypocrisy and denial.
The Fabio Principle: Puffy shirts look best on men who look even better without them.
Remember Dr Swain in court testifies, "I have violated the laws of God and Man and I may lose the privilege of practicing medicene..." That could only mean it was an abortion.
shareI always thought when she fell, she started to spontaneously abort (miscarriage). Perhaps she required something like a D&C to finish what the injury received in the fall started.
shareShe could have had something like a placental abruption, where physical trauma (like, falling down a hill) could cause the placenta to sever from the uterus, usually with a lot of bleeding and great risk of death for both mother and unborn child. Since she was only 3 mo. pregnant and the fetus was still in early stages of development, the child couldn't possibly survive an emergency delivery. Anyway, I took this all to mean that she had (conveniently, for the Hayes office) begun to lose the baby, or was suffering some kind of serious problem with her pregnancy, due to the fall, that would have prevented her from going full-term with the baby and Doc Swain made the call to abort the pregnancy, ostensibly to save her life, and then chose to falsify the records to help protect her reputation. Yes, the D & C would have been the procedure, I think.
shareIn the movie, I think he was making reference to the fact that he 'doctored' his records and also removed a healthy appendix that did not need removing. That would have gotten him in a lot of trouble.
But yeah, if you read between the lines, it is a thin veiling of what really went down in the book, which was an abortion.
[To a method actor] Darling, we have a 3 day schedule. There's no time to do anything but to do it.
I think everyone has basically said this, but in the book (and anyone who has seen this movie should read the book), she definitely has an abortion. It was changed to an unofficial miscarriage and official appendectomy in the move, as you know. And yes, they would not have allowed "abortion" in the movie being that it was illegal across the US.
shareHe gave her an abortion. It sounded like he was covering it up to protect Selena and himself. The way he worded everything was meant so the audience would know it was an abortion. It's pretty hard to have a miscarriage by just tumbling down a hill -- in spite of what you see in the movies.
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