Tajna Nikole Tesle (1980)

Director:

Krsto Papic

Writers:

Ivo Bresan (writer)
Ivan Kusan (writer)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

Life and times of Nikola Tesla, famous scientist whose inventions were stolen, but whose greatest contribution...

Cast

Petar Bozovic	...	Nikola Tesla
Strother Martin	...	George Westinghouse
Orson Welles	...	J.P. Morgan
Dennis Patrick	...	Thomas Alva Edison
Oja Kodar
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Demeter Bitenc
Boris Buzancic	...	Robert Johnson
Petar Dobric
Vanja Drach
Igor Galo
Ana Karic
Antun Kujavec
Marijan Lovric
Charles Millot
Kristijan Muck
Andrej Nahtigal
Edo Perocevic
Zoran Pokupec
Zorko Rajcic
Lojze Rozman
Branko Spoljar
Zvonko Strmac
Zvonimir Torjanac

Also Known As:

Tesla
The Secret Life of Nikola Tesla
The Secret of Nikola Tesla

Runtime:

Canada:115 min

Country:

Yugoslavia

Language:

Serbo-Croatian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Kinematografi

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Phenomenon: The Lost Archives: Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nicola Tesla (#1.14)" (1998)

A unique genius as the dawn of the scientific revolution

The movie's English title, "The Secret of Nikola Tesla" alludes to goofy claims made by Tesla in his declining years. In his 80s, Telsa made claims that scientists now doubt were valid. For example, Tesla claimed to have solved the unified field theory of gravity, but never published it. Other claims, like a death ray that could bring down enemy airplanes hundreds of miles away, gave Tesla the reputation of being a mad scientist.

But Tesla should not be remembered for the eccentricities of his later years. As a young man, Tesla was indeed an amazing genius of electricity and magnetism who was eventually honored on the cover of Time Magazine. He designed in his brain a thing that every person reading these words has used every day of their lives, the electric AC motor. (Until this, alternating current couldn't run a motor!) Before the year 1900, he had invented the first radio transmitter, invented the spark plug, designed a radio controlled torpedo, created several kinds of fluorescent tube lights, designed generators for Edison, and created images of the bones of his hand prior to Röntgen's discovery of x-rays.

I would encourage readers to see this movie about a very unique scientist. Particularly since every other comment here ignores the movie to make partisan political claims. Apparently this is why Yugoslavia was plunged in a bloody civil war.

The Movie's English title "The Secret of Nikola Tesla" is misleading, but the amazing accomplishments of Tesla himself make this movie worth seeing.