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Edison, the Man (1940) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.2/10   485 votes
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Director:
Clarence Brown
Writers:
Hugo Butler (story)
Bradbury Foote (writer)
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Contact:
View company contact information for Edison, the Man on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
10 May 1940 (USA) more
Genre:
Biography | Drama more
Plot:
In flashback, fifty years after inventing the light bulb, an 82-year-old Edison tells his story starting... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. more
User Comments:
1% Inspiration And 99% Perspiration more (12 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Spencer Tracy ... Thomas A. Edison
Rita Johnson ... Mary Stillwell
Lynne Overman ... James J. Cavatt
Charles Coburn ... General Powell

Gene Lockhart ... Mr. Taggart
Henry Travers ... Ben Els
Felix Bressart ... Michael Simon
Peter Godfrey ... Bob Ashton
Guy D'Ennery ... Lundstrom
Byron Foulger ... Edwin Hall
Milton Parsons ... Acid Graham
Arthur Aylesworth ... Jack Bigelow
Gene Reynolds ... Jimmy Price
Addison Richards ... Johnson
Grant Mitchell ... Shade
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
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Runtime:
107 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Black and White
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Certification:
Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl
Company:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The World Premiere for this film in Edison's hometown of West Orange, New Jersey, serves as the backdrop for the mystery novel, ‘Dead at the Box Office’ by John Dandola. The novel explains in great detail how M.G.M. went about planning and carrying out the festivities. more
Goofs:
Factual errors: The montage sequence depicting Edison's inventions lists "electric power transmission" over a shot of a massive transmission line and the tower that holds it up. That technology was actually developed not by Edison but by his contemporary rival, Elihu Thomson. Edison insisted on powering his lights with direct current, which could only travel sort distances from the generators that produced it. Thomson used alternating current, which could be run through transformers to increase its voltage so it could be moved over long distances, then reduced in voltage again for home use. Thomson's alternating current, not Edison's direct current, quickly became the standard and is what we use today. more
Quotes:
Thomas A. Edison: [to the Gold Exchange clerk, who once told him he'd have to wait until next Christmas to see Mr. Taggart, before Edison fixed the gold ticker and got an appointment with Taggart:] Merry Christmas. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Servant of Mankind (1940) more

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User Comments

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9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful.
1% Inspiration And 99% Perspiration, 23 November 2006
6/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

If anyone is looking for a factual account of the life of Thomas Alva Edison this ain't the film for you. In fact Edison the Man is the second film that MGM did on him. Young Tom Edison had come out before this one and Mickey Rooney played a boy's life version of him. At the conclusion of that film there was a preview that Edison the Man would be coming out soon starring Spencer Tracy.

The widow Edison who was still alive at the time gave her personal stamp of approval on casting Spencer Tracy as her husband. Who wouldn't want his life's story portrayed by Tracy. But among the many things not shown was the fact that she was the second Mrs. Edison. The first Mrs. Edison, played by Rita Johnson in the film died in the 1880s and Edison married again the Gay Nineties. He had three children with each wife. So you can see a lot of the personal life has been left out.

The film is told in flashback as an aged Edison is sitting at a banquet table listening to the toastmaster tell of his life. We only see about 10 years of it from the time he arrives in New York to when he proves the validity of the electric light by powering a section of New York.

One of the great quotes from Edison is that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Inventing the electric light was the result of trial and error running into the thousands of methods and that is the part of Edison graphically shown.

Edison is always held up as the great example of the American success story. He was a man with little formal education at all who had ideas and the natural ability and will to see them through. It should always be remembered that Edison gained his fame during the Horatio Alger era. He was the living embodiment of those stories about the poor kid who succeeds through hard work.

The part of Edison that's not so nice, his battles over patents with other inventors, his ruthlessness in business exploiting those patents, that all comes later. It would take a mini-series to really do his life justice.

But I think Edison himself would have loved to see the way MGM handled his life in both films. He certainly would have seen himself as Spencer Tracy plays him, the wise benevolent man, with an iron perseverance.

Just don't anyone doing serious research on Edison use this film as a guide to his life.

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