Love and Life of Telephone Maker A. Bell
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Love and Life of Telephone Maker A. Bell |
| Original title | The Story of Alexander Graham Bell |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1939 |
| length | 95 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Irving Cummings |
| script | Lamar Trotti |
| production | Darryl F. Zanuck |
| music | Ernst Toch |
| camera | Leon Shamroy |
| cut | Walter Thompson |
| occupation | |
| |
The love and life of telephone maker A. Bell is an American biopic from 1939. The film, based on a story by Ray Harris and produced by 20th Century Fox , tells the life story of the British teacher and inventor Alexander Graham Bell (1847– 1922).
action
In 1873, in Boston, young speech therapist Alexander Graham Bell experimented with visualizing language so his students could learn to communicate. His project leads him to develop the telegraph. Thomas Sanders, the father of one of his students, introduces the teacher to the businessman Gardiner Greene Hubbard . Sanders wants to get Bell's invention funded.
Bell falls in love with Hubbard's deaf daughter, Mabel. However, since there is no financial support, he cannot ask for her hand. Mabel supports him actively, however. Nevertheless, Bell does not see himself in a position to continue working on his new invention, the telephone, as he has to look for work to support himself and Mabel. But Mabel insists that he keep experimenting.
Despite the plight, Bell and his assistant Thomas A. Watson worked hard on the invention. In fact, they break through, the phone works. Bell founds the New England Bell Company, subsidized by Sanders and Hubbard. Bell marries Mabel and travels with her to England to demonstrate his invention to Queen Victoria . The Queen has a telephone system installed in Buckingham Palace .
Bell believes he is free of any financial hardship, but it soon becomes known that the Western Union installed telephone systems despite Bell's patent. The young couple immediately travels back to the USA. Bell wants to sue the "Western Union" for infringement of patent law. During the trial, Mabel can prove that her husband was the first to develop the phone. The "Western Union" loses the process and offers Bell a partnership.
Reviews
The lexicon of international films describes the film as "staged conventionally."
Frank S. Nugent of the New York Times wrote that the film could be considered one of the studio's sober and more laudable historical dramas.
background
The film premiered on April 1, 1939 in New York. A preview took place on March 29th as part of the world exhibition in San Francisco . In Germany, the film was released on July 29, 1979 as part of a TV premiere on the ZDF station .
Polly Ann Young, Georgiana Young and Sally Blane play the sisters of Mable Hubbard in minor supporting roles. In real life, too, the actress's three sisters were Loretta Young.
Leading actor Don Ameche was so identified with the role of the inventor that the telephone was called "Ameche" in many regions. Don Ameche's brother Jim Ameche played the same role in the 1957 fantasy film The Story of Mankind by Irwin Allen .
Mrs. Gilbert Grosvenor, the daughter of Alexander Graham Bell, approved the filming of the script.
The names of Antonio Meucci , who developed the basics of the telephone in 1860, and of Philipp Reis , who invented the first working telephone in 1861 and later demonstrated it in Edinburgh in the presence of the Bell family, do not appear in the film.
Web links
- Love and life of the phone maker A. Bell in the Internet Movie Database (English)