The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936)

The biography of the pioneering French microbiologist who helped revolutionize agriculture and medicine.

Director:

William Dieterle

Writers:

Sheridan Gibney (story and screenplay), Pierre Collings (story and screenplay)

Stars:

Paul Muni, Josephine Hutchinson, Anita Louise

Won 3 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Paul Muni	...	Louis Pasteur
Josephine Hutchinson	...	Marie Pasteur
Anita Louise	...	Annette Pasteur
Donald Woods	...	Dr. Jean Martel
Fritz Leiber	...	Dr. Charbonnet
Henry O'Neill	...	Dr. Emile Roux
Porter Hall	...	Dr. Rossignol
Raymond Brown	...	Dr. Radisse
Akim Tamiroff	...	Dr. Zaranoff
Halliwell Hobbes	...	Dr. Lister
Frank Reicher	...	Dr. Pfeiffer
Dickie Moore	...	Joseph Meister
Ruth Robinson	...	Mrs. Meister
Walter Kingsford	...	Napoleon III
Iphigenie Castiglioni	...	Empress Eugénie

Storyline

In 1860 Paris, chemist Louis Pasteur is considered a quack within the medical community for advocating that doctors and surgeons wash their hands and boil their instruments to destroy microbes that can kill their patients. He came across this belief when discovering microscopic organisms in sour wine, the organisms which could be killed if heated sufficiently. The belief among the scientific community at large is that the organisms are the result of disease and not the cause. This belief is despite the fact that thirty percent of women die in childbirth due to child bed disease, accounting for twenty thousand annual deaths in Paris alone. The debate takes Pasteur all the way to a meeting with Emperor Napoleon III and his physician, Dr. Charbonnet, who is one of the leading opponents of Pasteur. Several years later - France now a republic - much of Pasteur's reputation changes as a government sanctioned experiment with anthrax and sheep shows that a vaccine created by Pasteur proves ...

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Plot Keywords:

microbe | vaccine | france | anthrax | rabies | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Russian

Release Date:

February 1936 (USA)

Also Known As:

Louis Pasteur

Filming Locations:

Stage 12, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min (Turner library print)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on November 23, 1936 with Paul Muni reprising his film role.

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Goofs

This movie is about a Frenchman, and is set in France; however, the written and printed texts are in English.

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Quotes

Dr. Louis Pasteur: [to his assistants] Remember our aim: Find the microbe - kill the microbe.

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Connections

Referenced in Four Mothers (1941)

User Reviews

Wisdom And Perseverance

1936 was the career turning point year for Paul Muni. It was the year that he got the first of three biographical films at Warner Brothers that would forever give him his place in cinema history. The Story of Louis Pasteur (1827-1895) was also the film that got Muni his Academy Award for Best Actor that year.

It's hard to imagine the world of science and medicine without the contributions of Pasteur. He was a chemist and as such his scientific experiments when they encroached on the medical field was greeted with suspicion and hostility. His chief critic Dr. Charbonnet played by Fritz Lieber nearly sank Pasteur's work with a bold move that I cannot tell about, but will make you gasp when you see it on screen.

Josephine Hutchinson is Muni's ever faithful wife Marie and she does well by what is really a rather colorless part. It was the same for Muni in his biographical picture the following year of Emile Zola where Gloria Holden also had a part that called for little, but to look faithful. There is a nice subplot involving Donald Woods as an early convert to Pasteur's way of thinking wooing and winning daughter Anita Louise.

The film goes through Pasteur's main achievements of sterilization during medical procedures and cures for anthrax and hydrophobia. The story and screenplay which also won Oscars for 1936 is simple and straightforward enough for any lay person to follow.

There are several good performances of men of science who opposed and/or supported Pasteur's work, in some cases opposed then supported. Porter Hall, Akim Tamiroff, and Halliwell Hobbes who has a small part as Joseph Lister, the English scientist.

Pasteur fought hard for his ideas against the medical and scientific establishment of his day and lived long enough to receive due acclaim from his nation of France and the world. It's still an inspirational story about a man convinced of the rightness of his cause and having the wisdom and perseverance to see it through.