Madame Curie (1943)

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

Ève Curie (book)
Paul Osborn (writer)

Release Date:

February 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

MR. and MRS. MINIVER together again

Plot:

Despite himself, accomplished physicist and avowed bachelor Pierre Curie falls for brilliant student Marie, and together they embark on the discovery of radium.

Plot Keywords:

Marie Curie | Based On Book | Character Name In Title

Awards:

Nominated for 7 Oscars.

Cast

Greer Garson	...	Marie Curie
Walter Pidgeon	...	Pierre Curie
Henry Travers	...	Eugene Curie
Albert Bassermann	...	Prof. Jean Perot
Robert Walker	...	David Le Gros
C. Aubrey Smith	...	Lord Kelvin
Dame May Whitty	...	Madame Eugene Curie
Victor Francen	...	President of University
Elsa Basserman	...	Madame Perot
Reginald Owen	...	Dr. Becquerel
Van Johnson	...	Reporter
Margaret O'Brien	...	Irene Curie (at age 5)
James Hilton	...	Narrator (voice)

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #9500)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Director Mervyn LeRoy replaced Albert Lewin, who was fired shortly before production began.

Goofs:

Factual errors: On New Year's Eve, Pierre and Marie try to stay awake all night in an attempt to crystallize radium. At some point, they decide to take a nap. When Marie awakens, she asks Pierre the time and he says it is 5:00AM. In their laboratory, there is full daylight and one can see sunlight appearing through the windows. At the beginning of January in Paris, the sun does not rise by 5:00AM and thus, the room should have still been dark.

Movie Connections:

Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies (2006) (TV)

one of the better bio-pics of the 40s

Hollywood did a lot of biography pictures in the 1940s. Most of them were awfully good, though a little bit too idealized. Almost all were pretty entertaining. Among them, there are some standouts, such as Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet and Madame Curie. This film was reasonably faithful to her real story, though most notably Greer Garson was a tall lady and Ms. Curie was, according to everything I have read, a tiny little woman. And, thankfully, the MGM people didn't change how her husband died (such as having him survive in order to give the movie an upbeat ending). So what we have is a good primer for kids and teens about the accomplishments of this great lady.

Garson and Pigeon did a nice job--give it a try.