Paul Ehrlich - A life dedicated to research
Paul Ehrlich - A Life for Research is an American fictional film from 1939. The film by William Dieterle with Edward G. Robinson in the title role illuminates the life story of the German doctor and chemist Paul Ehrlich , who was responsible for the establishment of immunology in the 1908 received the Nobel Prize . The alternative title is The Life Story of Paul Ehrlich .
action
The doctor Paul Ehrlich, who works at the Charité , is dissatisfied with his work, as he treads on the spot with treating patients and cannot make any progress in the fight against syphilis with practice alone . With his urge to also work scientifically, he meets with incomprehension from his colleagues and superiors, who repeatedly remind him of his duties as an employee of the clinic. He wants to quit, but his wife Hedwig convinces him otherwise.
In the laboratory, he accidentally met Emil von Behring , who for the Institute of Robert Koch works. They start a conversation. Days later, he received an invitation to a symposium at the institute. He goes even though he is on duty at the time. He caught Koch's attention when he spoke of the possibility of making tuberculosis pathogens visible by coloring. But when he meets his clinic manager at the meeting, he is released. However, he eagerly throws himself into work on a sample made available to him by Koch. He's unsuccessful for two months. When one day, against his instructions, his wife fired up the stove in the room in his apartment that had been converted into a laboratory, Ehrlich initially responded with anger because he believed that the samples placed on the stove had become unusable as a result. But under the microscope he sees that the heat has finally led to the desired result. However, Ehrlich ruined his health by constantly working with the samples and became infected with the pathogen. He asks von Behring present not to tell anyone about it.
Robert Koch honestly presented the result. He is enthusiastic and thanks to this progress, Minister Althoff, who is present, promises the long-awaited financial support from the budget committee. Koch gives Ehrlich a job at the institute. When Ehrlich celebrated the success with his wife and von Behring, he collapsed while dancing. Von Behring and his wife were able to convince him to take a cure in Egypt.
Ehrlich recovered a little there, but did not have long rest because the locals asked for medical help. However, he's late. A boy was bitten by a snake and dies. His father, who was bitten several times in the course of his life, is very healthy. Ehrlich does not let go of this apparent miracle. Back in Berlin, he would like to experiment with snakes to study the effects of the poison on the human immune system . He made rapid progress while his friend von Behring was unable to cope with the spreading diphtheria . But the two manage to combine their results. Continuously higher doses of the pathogen should finally enable the infected to develop enough antibodies .
Diphtheria has now developed into an epidemic. By order of the minister, the developed serum is to be tested in a controlled experiment at the Charité. Ehrlich administered the serum to the sick children under the eagle eyes of his former colleagues and superiors. However, when he treated more than the 20 children allowed by clinic director Hartman, he intervened, but without success. However, Ehrlich and von Behring were later banned from the house when Ehrlich threatened Hartman to inform the relatives about Hartmann's behavior.
He is summoned to Minister Althoff, who reproaches him for his behavior, but also informs the perplexed Ehrlich that his antitoxin has achieved success. Althoff wants to set up a large laboratory for Ehrlich, where he can research unhindered for a similar serum against typhus . Behring should get a professorship at the University of Marburg. But Ehrlich has other plans. He envisions the fight against diseases by means of chemical cocktails, which he calls magic balls or magic balls ( the eponymous "magic bullets" ).
15 years later. Ehrlich is now head of the Serum Institute in Frankfurt am Main. He is working on his theory of the magic bullets, which will later go down in history as the side chain theory . He received the Nobel Prize for his work on immunology. However, he has problems with the Committee on Budgets, which wants to cut his funds, as he spends his time doing what they believe to be useless experiments on mice and rabbits.
However, he receives a treatise on the discovery and isolation of the syphilis pathogen by Fritz Schaudinn . He is convinced that this disease can be combated with the help of arsenic , a main component of his magic balls. When he receives a visit from his old friend von Behring, he is initially happy and the two spend a cozy evening with Ehrlich's wife Hedi. But when von Behring talks about the real reasons for his visit, the two get into an argument. On behalf of the Budget Committee, von Behring is supposed to convince his friend to let go of his fantasies about magic balls. In return, Ehrlich accuses him of only wanting to adhere to the status quo and of having abandoned his curiosity for research. They split up in anger and the committee, which is now also Ehrlich's colleague and opponent at the Charité, Dr. Listening to Hans Wolfert, Ehrlich cuts the budget.
His wife is able to make contact with the wealthy Franziska Speyer, who as the widow of Georg Speyer the patronage continues her late husband. Honestly, she can convince her to support him financially. After all, Ehrlich succeeds. After 606 series of tests, he succeeds in using the healing power of arsenic as much as possible and at the same time minimizing its harmful effects. But a test in practice is still pending. The institute is conducting a test on a group of day laborers and beggars who have volunteered. The treatments are showing initial success. But Ehrlich is not yet sure and rejects the request to make the preparation 606 available to other doctors and clinics, but then agrees to release the product and start industrial production.
But there are complications and the first deaths. As they pile up, Dr. Wolfert a newspaper campaign against Ehrlich and his allegedly deadly agent. Ehrlich refuses to respond, but then agrees to sue Wolfert for defamation. In the course of the process, however, the actual subject of the negotiations fades into the background and the preparation 606 and Ehrlich's responsibility for the deaths become the focus. Then von Behring should testify as a defense witness for Wolfert. But he makes a passionate plea for the preparation, medical research and Ehrlich's work. The two are reconciled in court. Wolfert is found guilty of defamation and honestly rehabilitated.
On his deathbed, Ehrlich finally remembers in the presence of his friends, colleagues and companions the importance of researching and fighting for his goals against all odds.
background
The film was shot from October 23 to December 9, 1939 at Warner Bros. Studios Burbank. It premiered on February 23, 1940 at the Strand Theater, New York. March 1940.
The film sparked controversy at the time it was made because some people felt that the subject of syphilis was too sensitive to be dealt with in a movie. However, Paul Ehrlich's family were so enthusiastic about Robinson's portrayal that they gave him an original letter from Ehrlich.
In contrast to the film, Friedrich Althoff was never a minister in reality, but as a ministerial director he was an influential cultural politician in Prussia who sponsored numerous scientists such as Robert Koch, Paul Ehrlich or Emil von Behring and supported them in establishing institutes.
German versions
The film was shown in Austrian cinemas in 1945 and in German cinemas in 1946 under the title The Life of Paul Ehrlich . Under the new title Paul Ehrlich - A Life for Research , it was shown for the first time on January 30, 1965 on German television ( ARD ). In addition, the ARD commissioned a new German dubbing , which was created in 1964 at Bavaria Film Synchron GmbH in Munich . The dialogue book was written by MZ Thomas and Rolf von Sydow directed the dubbing . This new version has been shown since then.
Awards
The writers John Huston, Heinz Herald and Norman Burnstine were nominated for an Oscar for their script .
Reviews
- Filmdienst : “A gripping film biography with a carefully prepared script that, thanks to EG Robinson's portrayal, paints a fascinating personality. German emigrants like Dieterle and Bassermann erected a memorial to a scientist who was hushed up in Germany during the Nazi era for racist reasons. "
- Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz in the lexicon "Films on TV" : "(...) idealizing and melodramatic, impressive Robinson." (Rating: 2½ stars = above average)
- 6000 films: "Excellent personality of the researcher."
- Protestant film observer : “Biography of chemotherapist Paul Ehrlich was excellent in terms of film and performance. Despite its age (made in 1940!), It seems dust-free and worth seeing! "
Soundtrack
- Max Steiner : Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet. Suite , on which: Max Steiner ... Memories. The Final Album in the Max Steiner Music Society Series . Tony Thomas Productions, Burbank o. J., sound carrier no. TT-MS-17 - Original recording of the film music, recorded by the Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra under the direction of the composer (previously only released on LP)
swell
- ^ Wilhelm (William) Dieterle - actor, director . In: CineGraph - Lexikon zum Deutschsprachigen Film , Lg. 22, F 27
- ↑ http://german.imdb.com/title/tt0032413/trivia
- ↑ http://german.imdb.com/title/tt0032413/releaseinfo
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Paul Ehrlich's life story (new), entry in Arne Kaul's synchronous database
- ↑ Paul Ehrlich - A life for research. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz in Lexicon "Films on TV" (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 636
- ↑ 6000 films. Critical notes from the cinema years 1945 to 1958 . Handbook V of the Catholic film criticism, 3rd edition, Verlag Haus Altenberg, Düsseldorf 1963, p. 256
- ↑ Evangelical Press Association, Munich, Review No. 27/1970
