The Child

In Leck Fisher’s theater play the parents of a possible new father arranges the expected baby to be aborted. Not so in the film version by responsible Benjamin Christensen, where the baby is born and has to be taken care of, thereby introducing a theme to be used many times in the films from the Forties, the unwanted pregnancy and the following illegal abortion. Here all aspects of realism is played out in this detailed and comprehensive survey of the family trouble provoked by the unwanted arrival of a new baby. Mogens Wieth aged 21 has his film debut as the moody yet spoiled young man, and we see for the first time a team-up by Gunnar Lauring and Beatrice Bonnesen as a modern, elegant intellectual couple. Benjamin Christensen had his heyday during the silent film era, and this film is the best of his few sound movies.