Tomorrows Children 2005 Horror Movie Review

Tomorrow’s Children is one of those early, low budget talkie films that are remarkably and embarrassingly dated. The language used to refer to persons with developmental disabilities and people who are physically disabled is not desirable; but that’s the way people spoke at the time. The plot moves along at a good pace; and this is a good thing because the entire film is a whopping 52 minutes long. The casting is good except for the older Mason couple; they appear too old to be bringing babies into the world. Otherwise, for its time and budget, the cinematography is good and the choreography works well. The film is clearly making its point against eugenics; this was probably a “liberal” belief at the time.


When the action begins we quickly meet Alice Mason (Diane Sinclair) and her fiancé Jim Baker (Carlyle Moore Jr.). Jim is eager to marry Alice; and although she wants to marry him she worries about her family—she’s the sole breadwinner and they need her. Mr. and Mrs. Mason (Arthur Wanzer and Sarah Padden) drink way too much and they cannot hold work although they use the Great Depression as an excuse to not even try to look for work. Instead, the Masons have yet another child while Alice works! Alice has a younger brother who is developmentally disabled; one of her brothers is in jail and another has a bum leg so he can’t walk much. Therefore, Dr. Brooks, a kindly family practitioner, refers their case to the state welfare board—but to keep the much needed welfare assistance the Masons must sign paperwork authorizing sterilization for the family!


Alice Mason is extremely upset by this but her parents sign her paperwork regardless of her feelings. Jim, of course, is quite upset and so is Dr. Brooks who doesn’t believe Alice has “tainted” blood in her. The judge in the court, however, recommends that Alice be sterilized. Of course, this same judge is not above giving out favors to his cronies when it’s their own children who need to be sterilized—the judge “conveniently” looks the other way and issues an order against their surgeries. Some judge he is!


Of course, the plot can go anywhere from here. What will or can Mr. and Mrs. Mason do, if anything, to reverse their decision about having Alice sterilized? Will Alice, Jim and Dr. Brooks be able to convince the judge to change the court order? What about Mrs. Mason—is she hiding a secret that could explode the whole issue wide open? Watch and find out!


The DVD doesn’t come with many extras. The quality of the print is actually rather good and the sound quality is also pretty good. I never had any trouble understanding what people were saying.


Overall, Tomorrow’s Children holds your attention and it makes its point with drama in a snappy 52 minutes. Despite the drawback of the embarrassing use of inappropriate language to refer to disabled people, I would recommend it for people who study social issues from the past. Some of the people who enjoy early talkie movies will want to consider this for their collections, too.