Madame Curie (1943)

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

Ève Curie (book)
Paul Osborn (writer)
(more)

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)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mariska Aldrich	...	Tall woman (uncredited)
Tony Carson	...	Man at accident (uncredited)
Ruth Cherrington	...	Swedish queen (uncredited)
Ray Collins	...	Lecturer (voice) (uncredited)
George Davis	...	Cart driver (uncredited)
Harold De Becker	...	Professor (uncredited)
Guy D'Ennery	...	Professor (uncredited)
Franz Dorfler	...	Assistant tailor (uncredited)
Justine Duney	...	Woman at accident (uncredited)
William Edmunds	...	Cart driver (uncredited)
Nestor Eristoff	...	Board member (uncredited)
Al Ferguson	...	Man at accident (uncredited)
Edward Fielding	...	Board member (uncredited)
Howard Freeman	...	Prof. Constant (voice) (uncredited)
Linda Lee Gates	...	Perot granddaughter (uncredited)
Marie Louise Gates	...	Perot granddaughter (uncredited)
Ben Gerien	...	Man at accident (uncredited)
Lisa Golm	...	Lucille (uncredited)
Ilka Grüning	...	Seamstress (uncredited)
Lumsden Hare	...	Prof. Roget (uncredited)
Teddy Infuhr	...	Son (uncredited)
James Kirkwood	...	Board member (uncredited)
Isabel La Mal	...	Woman at accident (uncredited)
Gene Lockhart	...	Bit part (uncredited)
Miles Mander	...	Businessman (uncredited)
George Meader	...	Singing professor (uncredited)
Dickie Meyers	...	Master Michaud (uncredited)
Noel Mills	...	Wedding guest (uncredited)
Leo Mostovoy	...	Photographer (uncredited)
Alan Napier	...	Dr. Bladh (uncredited)
Moroni Olsen	...	President of Businessman's Board (uncredited)
Maria Page	...	Woman at accident (uncredited)
Gigi Perreau	...	Eve (at age 18 months) (uncredited)
Francis Pierlot	...	Monsieur Michaud (uncredited)
Nita Pike	...	Woman at accident (uncredited)
Dorothy Raye	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Almira Sessions	...	Madame Michaud (uncredited)
Arthur Shields	...	Businessman (uncredited)
Wyndham Standing	...	King Oscar (uncredited)
Ray Teal	...	Driver (uncredited)
Charles Trowbridge	...	Board member (uncredited)
Michael Visaroff	...	Proud papa (uncredited)
Marek Windheim	...	Jewelry salesman (uncredited)
Frederick Worlock	...	Businessman (uncredited)
Eustace Wyatt	...	Doctor (uncredited)

Directed by
Mervyn LeRoy

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ève Curie		book
Aldous Huxley		uncredited
Paul Osborn		writer
Paul H. Rameau		writer

Produced by
Sidney Franklin	....	producer

Original Music by
Herbert Stothart

Cinematography by
Joseph Ruttenberg

Film Editing by
Harold F. Kress

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
Edwin B. Willis

Costume Design by
Irene
Irene Sharaff
Gile Steele

Makeup Department
Jack Dawn	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Al Shenberg	....	first assistant director (uncredited)
Wallace Worsley Jr.	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Wallace Worsley Jr.	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Paul Groesse	....	associate art director
Hugh Hunt	....	associate set decorator

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director

Special Effects by
Warren Newcombe	....	special effects

Music Department
Daniele Amfitheatrof	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
William Axt	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Murray Cutter	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Bronislau Kaper	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
David Snell	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Edward Ward	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Franz Waxman	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Eugene Zador	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1943) (USA) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (19??) (USA) (VHS)

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)

"A Wonderful Collaboration"

Following their success as a romantic pairing in "Mrs. Miniver", the wartime morale-booster, Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon were twice more placed in romantic vehicles by MGM, this being the more successful of the two.

In the late nineteenth century, a beautiful young Polish woman enrols at the Sorbonne. Mademoiselle Sklodowska is a brilliant physicist, and before long she has been attached to Doctor Curie, the shy boffin with the large laboratory. One day, the lives of both scientists are profoundly affected when a colleague shows them the strange radiant properties of certain rocks. Marie and Pierre decide to devote their careers to understanding how minerals can cause changes in a photographic plate.

Mervyn LeRoy ("I Am A Fugitive", "Gold Diggers", etc) directed this conservative little biopic with quiet professionalism. If the film never truly hits the heights, it has to be said that it is a near flawless piece of workmanship. The writers, Osborne and Rameau, produced a literate and well-paced screenplay, and the incipient romance between the two shy scientists is depicted with delicacy and gentle humour.

Doctor Curie gradually falls for his gifted student. The graduation ceremony is cleverly depicted as a crowded sell-out, which the absent-minded doctor almost misses. We hear, but do not see, Marie receive the first prize.

The critical point in the relationship comes when Pierre invites Marie to spend a weekend at his parents' country villa. Marie retires to bed, and the agitated Pierre spends the night pacing up and down in his room, not entirely sure what is bothering him. When he finally resolves to propose marriage, we see him ascend the stairs walking away from the camera: this emphasises his nervousness, because he is moving 'out there'. After Marie accepts, Pierre is shot from the reverse angle going back down the stairs - now he 'belongs' to Marie, and we see him from her point of view. The scenes which follow are deeply attractive. The studio sets of the villa garden and Grenoble are sumptuous, and the location shots of the honeymoon absolutely idyllic. The hard labour back in Paris will seem all the grimmer after this interlude.

The film is almost an hour old before Marie embarks on her discovery of radium. The experiment to separate uranium and thorium is lit from below, resembling the dramatic paintings of Joseph Wright of Derby. Infinite patience was required during the four years of toil which culminated in the preparation of radium, and the film conveys a vivid sense of the Curies' dedication. The new century begins with the gentle glow of the isolated radium sample, a beacon heralding the wonders of the dawning age.

Interesting side issues include the appearance of a very young Robert Walker as David, the lab assistant, and an equally callow Van Johnson as the cub reporter. Some lines in the script were perfectly innocent in their day, but raise a titter now. Telling Marie how much she will like his father, Pierre goes on to add, "And my mother's quite gay - you'll enjoy them both!" When Pierre leaves the house in pouring rain on some purpose of his own, Marie calls after him, "Don't forget your rubbers!"

Marie's reaction to the news of the accident is well done, but her final speech to the Faculty of Science fails to inspire. It is her work that is uplifting, not her oratory, and the film puts this across.

Verdict - Solid, well-made biopic which doesn't quite ignite.