Madame Curie

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Movie
German title Madame Curie
Original title Madame Curie
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1943
length 124 minutes
Rod
Director Mervyn LeRoy
script Paul Osborn ,
Paul H. Rameau
production Sidney Franklin
music Herbert Stothart
camera Joseph Ruttenberg
cut Harold F. Kress
occupation
synchronization

Madame Curie is a 1943 American film biography starring Greer Garson in the title role. It tells the life story of the physicist and two-time Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie based on the biography of her daughter Ève Curie of the same name .

action

In the early 1890s, the young Polish girl Marie Skłodowska studied physics at the Sorbonne in Paris . She passed out from exhaustion during a lecture. Concerned about the condition of his talented student, Professor Perot invites Marie to lunch. During their conversation, he offers her his support for her research work. He also suggests that she work in the laboratory of the physicist Pierre Curie , whom Marie met that evening at a party.

Both Marie and Pierre initially concentrate exclusively on their work. Only after a few weeks do they exchange ideas for the first time. Pierre is impressed by Marie's scientific observations and believes in her future as a great physicist. However, Marie's wish is to return to her Polish homeland after completing her studies to work as a teacher there. When Marie is honored for her graduation as the best physics student at the university, Pierre invites her to his parents' country house over the weekend in order to delay her departure to Poland . When Marie continues to insist on her return home, Pierre proposes to her. Marie accepts him and together they continue to research.

Encouraged by Pierre, Marie sets out to research the phenomenon of radioactivity . After long, arduous experiments, Marie concludes that there must be a previously unknown chemical element that has a higher level of radiation than other elements. When she and Pierre succeeded in isolating the element after years of hard work, they named it radium . After they were both awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery , they spend their holidays in the country with their daughters Irène and Ève . There, Pierre explains to his wife that in the event that one of them dies, the other should continue researching alone.

On the day the Curies are to get a new laboratory, Pierre is killed in a traffic accident. Marie is devastated by his death and withdraws from everyday life. In memory of Pierre and his words, however, she decides to continue working. Many years later, Marie gave a speech on the importance of science at the Sorbonne on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of her discovery. She encourages her listeners to carry the torch of knowledge further to brighten the future.

background

prehistory

Ève Curie's book, Madame Curie, about her mother's life was published in autumn 1937 and was an international success by the end of the year. Hollywood was immediately interested in a film adaptation of Marie Curie's biography after Warner Brothers showed with the film Louis Pasteur in 1936 that biographies of scientists aroused interest from both critics and audiences. First, Universal Studios acquired the film rights for an adaptation with Irene Dunne in the title role. However, since Universal could not provide a suitable script, the rights were sold to MGM in 1938 . There, the film was initially prepared as a star vehicle for Greta Garbo . However, when Garbo gave up her film career in 1941, the project was again put on hold. In the meantime, Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon made a name for themselves at the same studio as a screen dream couple who achieved two great successes with the films Flowers in the Dust (1941) and Mrs. Miniver (1942).

production

MGM then restarted the production of Madame Curie with Garson as Marie and Pidgeon as Pierre Curie. Spencer Tracy was originally intended for the cast of Pierre Curie . By the time MGM could deliver a finished script, Tracy was already busy with other film projects. In addition, Albert Lewin should actually take over the direction. However, he was released after just two weeks when he argued over the script with MGM. Mervyn LeRoy , who had worked with Garson and Pidgeon on Blossoms in the Dust , was eventually hired as director, while Sidney Franklin , who was in charge of Mrs. Miniver , was again producer. The English writer James Hilton took on the role of the narrator , as he did for the Garson film Found Years (1942).

LeRoy, who later counted Madame Curie among his best films, took special care not to make the scientific experiments too complicated during filming. "I didn't let a scene go through until I understood it myself because I knew the audience wouldn't understand it either," LeRoy wrote in his 1974 autobiography. Sidney Franklin wanted the film's experiments to be as authentic and scientifically correct as possible to avoid criticism from recognized scientists. To ensure this authenticity, Franklin hired the physicist Dr. Rudolph Langer as a technical advisor, who demonstrated experiments of the Curies to the scriptwriters. However, the main challenge for the authors was to make the rather sober topic of the discovery of radium interesting for the audience. With fictional scenes, they therefore increasingly concentrated on the love story of the Curies, who, as initially shy scientists, gradually came closer.

In order to do justice to her role, Greer Garson read all the publications by and about Marie Curie that she could find and hired a translator so that she could use all Polish scripts for her research. For the right make-up and the right costumes, Ève Curie contributed personal photos of her family.

reception

publication

Madame Curie premiered on December 15, 1943 at Hollywood's Grauman's Chinese Theater . The next day the film was shown for the first time in New York at Radio City Music Hall , where it was shown for seven weeks. MGM used Garsons and Pidgeon's previous hit, Mrs. Miniver , to promote the film by using slogans such as “Mr. & Mrs. Miniver Together Again in Another Screen Hit! "(German:" Mr. & Mrs. Miniver reunited in a new movie hit! ") Advertised for Madame Curie . On December 20, 1943, an issue of Time Magazine appeared with Greer Garson as Marie Curie on the cover. The headline read: "Greer Garson: Hollywood discovered a radioactive element" (German: "Greer Garson: Hollywood discovered a radioactive element"). The film adaptation was extremely well received by critics and viewers. With a production cost of $ 1,938,000, Madame Curie grossed a whopping $ 4,610,000 at the US box office. In contrast to her sister Irène , who had protested against a film adaptation and refused to cooperate, Ève Curie was also very satisfied with the screen adaptation of her book.

Reviews

"Popular science and entertaining, but carefully presented and worth seeing as a worthy reminiscence," said the lexicon of international films . For Variety , Madame Curie was "a great film in every way" at the time. In fact, "the processes that lead to the discovery of radium and the fame that Madame Curie receives add tremendously to the entertainment value of the film." But in the end it is "the love story that dominates everything". Also Bosley Crowther of the New York Times praised his criticism in 1944: "How clever here the search for Radium is illustrated [...] corresponds to a masterful use of moving images is a truly exciting screen experiment."

In retrospect, Michael Betzold from the All Movie Guide certified the film to be “more historically correct” than “most of the film biographies of the time”. He was "staged by Mervyn LeRoy with the usual sovereignty".

Awards

At the Academy Awards in 1944 , Madame Curie was nominated seven times for the Oscar , but could not win a trophy. In the Best Film category , the biography Casablanca had to admit defeat. Walter Pidgeon and Greer Garson lost to Paul Lukas and Jennifer Jones in the categories of Best Actor and Best Actress . Even Joseph Ruttenberg ( Best Cinematography ), Herbert Stothart ( Best Score ), Douglas Shearer ( Best Sound ) and Cedric Gibbons , Paul Size , Edwin B. Willis and Hugh Hunt ( Best Art Direction ) were left empty.

German version

A German dubbed version was created in 1997 by Taunus Film Synchron GmbH Berlin for television. Joachim Kunzendorf was responsible for the dialogue script and dialogue direction .

role actor Voice actor
Marie Curie Greer Garson Cornelia Meinhardt
Pierre Curie Walter Pidgeon Joachim Kerzel
Eugene Curie Henry Travers Gerry Wolff
Prof. Jean Perot Albert Bassermann Friedrich Schoenfelder
David Le Gros Robert Walker Oliver Rohrbeck
Lord Kelvin C. Aubrey Smith Friedrich W. Building School
President of the University Victor Francen Hasso Zorn
Dr. Becquerel Reginald Owen Hans Teuscher
reporter Van Johnson Dietmar miracle
teller James Hilton Klaus Piontek
Dr. Bladh Alan Napier Wolfgang Lohse

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e Michael Troyan: A Rose for Mrs. Miniver. The Life of Greer Garson . The University Press of Kentucky, 1999, pp. 158-161.
  2. "I didn't let a scene go by unless I understood it, I knew that the audience wouldn't understand it either." Mervyn LeRoy: Mervyn LeRoy: Take One . Hawthorn Books, 1st Edition, 1974, p. 151.
  3. Michael Troyan: A Rose for Mrs. Miniver. The Life of Greer Garson . The University Press of Kentucky, 1999, pp. 167-169.
  4. Madame Curie. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed November 4, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  5. “Every inch a great picture. [...] While the events leading up to the discovery of radium and the fame it brought Madame Curie are of the greatest underlying importance to the picture as entertainment, it's the love story that dominates all the way. " See review: 'Madame Curie' . In: Variety , 1943.
  6. "The ingenious manner in which the quest for radium is explained [...] is a masterful use of motion picture and a truly exciting experience on the screen." Bosley Crowther : Some Late Afterthoughts on 'Madame Curie' and Two Other Current Films . In: The New York Times , January 9, 1944.
  7. "More historically accurate than most biopics of its time, this 1943 film was directed with customary aplomb by Mervyn LeRoy." Michael Betzold, cf. omovie.com
  8. Madame Curie. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing index , accessed on June 30, 2017 .