82 year old inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Alva Edison is honored in 1929 and he reflects back on his sixty year career of scientific achievement.
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Title: Edison, the Man (1940)
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Spencer Tracy | ... | Thomas A. Edison | |
| Rita Johnson | ... | Mary Stilwell | |
| Lynne Overman | ... | Bunt Cavatt | |
| Charles Coburn | ... | General Powell | |
| Gene Lockhart | ... | Mr. Taggart | |
| Henry Travers | ... | Ben Els | |
| Felix Bressart | ... | Michael Simon | |
| Peter Godfrey | ... | Ashton | |
| Guy D'Ennery | ... | Lundstrom | |
| Byron Foulger | ... | Edwin Hall | |
| Milton Parsons | ... | 'Acid' Graham | |
| Arthur Aylesworth | ... | Jack Bigelow | |
| Gene Reynolds | ... | Jimmy Price | |
| Addison Richards | ... | Mr. Johnson | |
| Grant Mitchell | ... | Snade | |
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Plot Summary
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Storyline
Hoored at a banquet for his sixty year career as an inventor, scientist, and businessman, 89 year old Thomas Alva Edison reflects back on his long career, which includes such achievements as the stock market ticker, the phonograph, the light bulb, and the motion picture. Written by duke1029@aol.com
Plot Keywords:
character name as title | thomas edison character | inventor | stock market | banquet |Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents »
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Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
10 May 1940 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Edison, el hombre See more »Filming Locations:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USACompany Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)Color:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1
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Thomas A. Edison: That is easy: time.
Nancy Grey: [surprised and puzzled] Time?
Thomas A. Edison: For all the money in the world you can not buy a minute of it.
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
In the film, Edison and his wife communicate with each other by tapping out Morse code. In the movie this is presented as a charming endearment, but in fact Thomas A. Edison was so deaf that the only way he and his wife could talk was by tapping Morse code on each other's hands. See more »Goofs
Thomas A. Edison's hearing ability is played in the movie as being much better than it was in reality. See trivia. See more »Quotes
Nancy Grey: Mr. Edison, what would you say is the most valuable thing in the world?Thomas A. Edison: That is easy: time.
Nancy Grey: [surprised and puzzled] Time?
Thomas A. Edison: For all the money in the world you can not buy a minute of it.
See more »
Crazy Credits
The opening credits appear as 19th Century sampler embroideries. See more »Connections
Referenced in Some of the Best: Twenty-Five Years of Motion Picture Leadership (1949) See more »Frequently Asked Questions
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You don't see these kind of old-fashioned biographies anymore. There have been very few in the last 40 years. Yes, many of the classic biographies sugar-coated the stories, ignoring a person's negative traits, but today's films mostly do the opposite, so it's nice to re-visit a movie in which an American hero is shown as just that. One gets tired of all the trashing.
Thomas Alva Edison certainly was a hero with his incredible inventions (i.e., the light bulb) which affected almost everyone on the planet to a significant degree. This movie goes to great lengths to show Edison's persistence in reaching his goals while also highlighting the dedication of the men who worked for him.
Spencer Tracy as Edison, along with Rita Johnson, Lynne Overman, Charles Coburn, Gene Lockhart, Henry Travers and Felix Bressart make this a pretty solid movie. It's not spectacular, probably not worth more than one look, maybe two, but it's a story that should be seen about an amazing period in history.