source: Madame Curie

Trailer—Madame Curie

Madame Curie

The movie depicts very realistically and very endearingly, the dedication of Pierre and Marie Curie in search of the new element radium. Flawless acting from Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. Takes you back in time to the turn of the 20th century.

At first, "Madame Curie" left me bored and unentertained. However, as the film goes on it gets far better and enjoyable. There's some great performances scattered throughout the film, especially by the two leads, the great Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. I found their love story to be charming, emotional, and romantic and I enjoyed both of their characters. I also enjoyed the scientific aspect of the film. Because this film is based on the true story of Marie Curie, the scientist who, along with her husband, discovered the element radium and won the noble prize for doing so,there's quite a bit of scientific discussion that I found to be pretty fascinating. It's not often that classic romantic dramas contain a scientific angle. The film is also very well directed by master filmmaker Mervyn LeRoy, and it is overall recommended for fans of classic cinema and science history.

Fine old Hollywood biopic starring the queen of biopics, Greer Garson. Greer plays Marie Curie and her frequent costar Walter Pidgeon plays her husband Pierre. It goes without saying these two have perfect chemistry (no pun intended) and both give excellent performances. The supporting cast is terrific. Henry Travers and Dame May Witty play Pierre's parents and pretty much steal every scene they're in. Robert Walker is Pierre's assistant. His reaction upon first setting eyes on lovely Greer Garson is priceless. Vets Albert Bassermann, C. Aubrey Smith, and Reginald Owen are among the other great actors in the cast. Van Johnson has a small role as a reporter. They don't make biopics like this anymore. If they made it today there would be much more focus on tragedy and scandal rather than the inspirational. You should definitely check this one out, even if you have no knowledge of the Curies. It's a good movie made with the elegant touch one expects from classic MGM.

This is the biography of the Curies, who discovered radium. This one gets off to a fine start as the socially awkward scientist Pidgeon finds himself drawn to Garson, a student with great scientific aptitude. Having worked with each other so often, the two stars have terrific chemistry (and physics?) and are quite believable in the roles of the famed scientists. Then comes the experimentation that lead to the discovery of radium and the concept of radioactivity. This is fascinating stuff but does not make for great cinema, causing things to bog down in the latter parts of the film. Still, it's a handsome production that's well worth watching.

I've watched a lot of Hollywood films with an eye for those that feature Polish or Polish-American characters. Paris in the early part of the last century is the backdrop for this beautiful love story starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, released in 1943 as World War II raged in Europe. My favorite parts are the references to Poland and the stubborn Polishness that made Marie Skłodowska one of the greatest scientists who ever lived. If you've never seen a Greer Garson film, or haven't seen one lately, she is one of the most beautiful and talented actresses Hollywood ever produced, and totally under- appreciated today. Listen for these lines: "She's a very obstinate girl," says Pierre Curie to his mother. "Well, after all, Poland is her home," the mother explains.

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.