Fasten Your Seatbelts_. _Sally Goes to Hospital_ is the next film in our collection and it comes from 1958. In this film, Sally needs to go to hospital to have an operation for her pregnancy. This time, she had chosen her son's name and it was to be 'Tim'. She is told that it is a boy, but when the doctor asks her the baby's sex, she replies with a blank face. Later, in a funny scene, her father is trying to get Sally to open her mouth so that he can give her a 'good talking to' for her lying. He thinks it is called 'vocal coaching'! The film ends with Sally meeting her new baby boy for the first time. _The Bitter End_ _The Bitter End_ is an unusual picture and not a film about mothers. This is because the main character in the story is Jack Stall. When the film begins, Jack has been thrown out of a gang that has formed around a street fighter called Alfie, and now he lives with his girlfriend, Jenny, on the streets of London. After a week of being on the streets, Jenny decides she is not happy living with him any more, but there is no way of contacting Jack and when Jenny has a baby by Alfie, Jack gets in contact. The film shows us Jack's life as a tramp after leaving Jenny. It is only when the baby dies that Jack really turns his life around and starts looking for his girlfriend. He gets in contact with her father and they reunite on Christmas Eve. _The Bitter End_ was a success when it was released in 1956, due in part to its 'gritty' look and also because it was a film without any music and no spoken dialogue. It did not have any musical numbers either, which was a rarity. It was written by Ronald Neame and he intended to make the film in black and white, but after filming a few scenes with the cast, they decided that black and white would not make the pictures look realistic enough. As a result, they were able to change it into a colour film. The characters also looked too 'white' for the black and white film so Ronald Neame also added 'grease paint' to the faces of the characters to make them look more authentic. The film was directed by Ronald Neame and shows us the reality of being homeless on the streets of London. Although it is not about motherhood, the film is certainly about family, and how people might leave their families and do not come back. _The Bitter End_ won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Films from the late 1940s and early 1950s helped to change people's perceptions of what mothers should be like. They showed that mothers are not just there to keep house, cook and feed the family, but that they can do other things too. Women played sports and had careers. The picture of a mother in 1950s was not that of a full-time, stay-at-home mother. Films like _The Heart of a Child_ and _The Bitter End_ showed how hard it was for some women to be good mothers at home, and at the same time bring up children and work a full-time job. The film industry was growing during the war years and actresses were given more opportunities to play main parts. During the period from around the 1940s to the 1960s, there was a greater emphasis placed on female roles, especially in the cinema. It started to become increasingly common for men to have 'other jobs' outside of being in the films, such as in factories or managing the business. It is interesting to note that after a while, the female part of the family had to return home and be a mother again to all the children in her care, but usually, she did not have a career. Even though she might be working, at home her days are spent looking after the children and cooking them dinner. There were even films that showed men who had to stay at home to look after the children and did not have jobs at all. _The Bitter End_ was written and directed by Ronald Neame in 1955. Films were also now beginning to show fathers in a more positive light, too. They were no longer just the husband and father, but men who could take on their families' duties as well. Although the women's lib movement began in the 1960s, the first real movie that showed this was _Funny Girl_ in 1968. The main character is a Broadway star named Fanny Brice. She was famous for being a star of the Ziegfeld Follies, a type of musical show that has been going on for more than fifty years. The movie starts when Fanny leaves her family and goes to New York, only to find that she has got a cold and her voice has gone. She decides to go to her sister's house in New York, and as soon as she arrives, she is told that the sister has been taken to hospital with a chest cold. Fanny then moves into the house and takes care of her sister and all the other members of the family. This was a new concept for audiences, who had not seen such a household before and it also showed people how women could support each other in a family, but also gave them a greater freedom. The film was a box office success and won an Oscar for Best Original Song for _People_. _Funny Girl_ is an unusual and funny film about the problems of being a Hollywood actress in the early days of cinema and the difficulties of filming outside the United States. At the start of the film, Fanny Brice is asked if she will be able to film in London and she replies: 'Sure – it's just that my voice went – and I haven't even sung a note.' This was something many of the film industry stars had to contend with at that time, but it was also in stark contrast to how they were portrayed in films from the 1950s. _Funny Girl_ was directed by William Wyler and stars Barbra Streisand in the role of Fanny Brice. _The Bitter End_ and _Funny Girl_ , both released in the 1960s, were films that demonstrated how strong women could be. It is good that the film industry has continued to demonstrate strong women throughout the last century and even into modern times. Women are still seen as important in the family, although more and more of them are now choosing to work part-time instead of full-time. Sometimes a full-time job and being a mother are not compatible with each other. _Mothers Who Think: The Idealized Mother and Her Changing Image in Twentieth-Century American Art and Culture_ by Joan Kelly is a good book to read if you are interested in women's roles in film. I am only halfway through the book and it looks like it is going to be a great read for me. Aunt Isobel tries to help out when her sister, Mary, has a baby and needs help in the hospital. # My Own Story by Mary Cosh # I am fourteen and have come to the hospital with my mum and dad to see my aunt, Isobel. When we arrive, I find that my aunt is getting a new baby. I am not so sure that I want to be a baby, because I am a bit tired of all the fussing and carrying around that they are doing, and in the films babies always cry a lot. Aunt Isobel, my mum, my dad and me, after I found out I was a mum. I go to see my new nephew and aunt for the first time, and I feel like crying at the hospital. The film shows me waiting for Aunt Isobel to get home from work and when she finally does, she cries and says she is sorry for what she has done. After a few more tears, she gets a big hug and an apology from my dad. It is at that point that I realise that being a mum does not mean you have to cry. There are many happy films and books and there is nothing wrong with a bit of crying and feeling sorry for yourself. The film shows us that it is good to feel sorry for yourself every now and then because it will help us to make us better people in the long run. Although it is very funny, the film seems to take some of the fun out of having babies. I can see that when children see the film, it does make them laugh, but it doesn't have to. You can make your kids laugh about having a new baby without making them cry too. **Isobel gets into the bath and is ready to go to her job as a nurse in a hospital.** Aunt Isobel takes me home and I love the film as a viewer. I can see myself and my mum, dad and sister having our tea. I can feel the atmosphere of the house and what it would be like living in it. After watching the film, I decide to do something about my new baby brother. I make myself a very nice sandwich for him when he is born. _Films That Make Girls Cry_ is a short film about a mum who takes care of her new baby. It is also about what we should all remember about having a new baby in the house – that it will be a big change, and there will be many tears along the way. # _Film Favourites_ : Part One