A História de Louis Pasteur

What a pleasure to see a film so unabashedly idealistic! The film's emotional ending (a well-deserved and long-overdue tribute to Pasteur's work by his collegues) centers on a closing speech by Pasteur (Paul Muni) in which he explains, simply and with passion, that making a contribution to the wellbeing of mankind is the most important work of all.

Pasteur's discovery of the role of bacteria in spreading disease seems self-evident now, but he faced years of ridicule and isolation before his findings were accepted and played their part in transforming our world.

This film is a vaccine against the cynical, self-referential, "in it for me (and maybe my small circle of friends)" films of the recent decades. See it and feel good about being human.

Story of Louis Pasteur, The (1935)

*** (out of 4)

Bio pic of chemist Louis Pasteur (Paul Muni) who found a cure for the black plague but was then blacklisted when he made the claim that childhood fever was caused when doctors didn't wash their hands before delivering babies. This is a pretty strong film from start to finish that features a terrific performance by Muni who rightfully deserved his Best Actor Oscar. I was really shocked at how well Muni was here because I was a little skeptical going in. God knows he's given countless great performances throughout his career but I was shocked at how well he play Pasteur who of course used his brains more than his muscles or mouth like many of Muni's other roles. There's not a single second where Muni comes off as himself but the entire film he gives the performance that we think we're actually watching Pasteur work. The supporting cast is also very good with Josephine Hutchinson, Anita Louise and Donald Woods all turning in good work.

"The Stroy of Louis Pasteur" is an example of Hollywood's Golden Era at its best. The first of the Warner Bros "biopics", it can boast of a great performance by Paul Muni, with none of the mannerisms that became a trade mark in the last and sorry years of his career. It was an example of the "good citizenship" that Warner Broa boasted of: a highly educational film that at the same time was very entertaining. The screen play was masterful and won the Oscar it the deserved. Authors Sheridan Gibney and Pierre Collings were able to dramatize scientific struggles and investigations. This was also the beginning of the most fruitful period in William Dieterle's career, an from that moment on he shared with Michael Curtiz the top assignments at Warner. It is now known that The Story of Louis Pasteur was made with a very low budget. You don't notice it. It is a wonderful show, as was the following year "The Life of Emile Zola" and, with some reservations, "Juarez" in 1939. There are notable performances in the picture by Fritz Leiber and Akim Tamiroff among others.

... Both star Paul Muni in a historical biopic, the location is France, he's on the side of right but the French establishment - in this case the medical establishment - opposes him, he withdraws to a remote location at one point to escape persecution and even prosecution, and there are some tense situations where he could be facing a long prison term for putting his work into action.

This is not to say that the biopic is not worthwhile, and as far as the scientific facts go, it is pretty true to the facts. Because this is a 90 minute film, Pasteur's work is "boiled down" - pardon the expression - into two parts. First is his work in the germ theory of diseases. The second part of the film focuses on his work in the area of vaccines, first anthrax and then rabies.

In the first part on Pasteur's work on germ theory - that germs infect a living host and thus produce disease NOT that the germs somehow "rise up" from within the host - the film focuses on the prevention of childbirth fever. Although Pasteur was better known for his work in the prevention of silkworm disease, the studio probably rightly divined that the prevention of the death of new mothers has more human interest than the preservation of silkworms and would make a more compelling film. The same was probably true in the second part with its focus on the treatment of rabies victims.

There are some fictitious parts of course, for the purpose of dramatic license, such as Pasteur's daughter's marriage to a young scientific ally of his and the dramatic search for a doctor who will agree to deliver that daughter's baby according to Pasteur's principles so that his daughter does not contract the dreaded childbirth fever herself.

If you like the better made biopics of the 30s and appreciate Paul Muni's talents in such films, I'd recommend it.

This is a great film that is also very historically and scientifically correct. Almost everything in the movie REALLY happened to the real Louis Pasteur. I am a high school biology teacher and I show this film every year when we study viruses and bacteria. When I tell the students that it is a black and white film from 1935, I get moans and words of disapproval. But every year after they have viewed the film almost all students come away legitimately liking the film.

Paul Muni's performance is extraordinary and may be the best performance of his entire career. I highly recommend watching this film. It was nominated for BEST PICTURE, Paul Muni won BEST LEAD ACTOR, it won BEST WRITER, and won BEST EDITING that year.