La jeunesse d'Edison

Thomas Edison (Mickey Rooney) is a young boy with many gadgets. He's protective of his younger sister Tannie. His experimenting sometimes causes mayhem and he often gets the blame. He is not only ingenious but also entrepreneurial. During the Civil War, he creates his own paper and sells it on the trains. Despite his many heroic efforts, he is constantly maligned and dismissed by his father and many in town until he rescues a train full of passengers.

This is a biopic of Thomas Edison as a young boy. I won't assume any of this is actually true. It certainly builds up Edison as an American hero and icon. I really like the sibling relationship. The constant and outright anger directed at Thomas is a little over the top but it's obviously used to create the underdog story. I can forgive that but I would do it more skillfully. This is a Rockwellian telling of the Edison origins story.

Captivating Americana based on the boyhood of the famed inventor, played here by Mickey Rooney, who is kicked out of school for his intense inquisitiveness - and his habit of staring out the window, and that big explosion - is branded "addle-pated" by the townsfolk, but ultimately comes good. Rooney's stock persona was as a brash, cartoonish know-it- all who gets a lesson in humility (at which point he starts crying and saying sorry), but his best performances came when he was asked to calm down and actually act, doing extraordinary work in The Human Comedy and National Velvet. He's superb here - using slightly broader strokes than in those seminal later performances - and surrounded by a cast of top character actors, including Virginia Weidler as his affectionate sister, Fay Bainter as his protective mother and George Bancroft as a stern patriarch with impressive sideburns but an unfortunate propensity to ignore his son's protestations of innocence. It's a wonderfully-mounted production, with a literate script that mixes things that actually happened, things you wish had happened and MGM staples like the family sing-along. And it climaxes with two extraordinary, unbearably tense suspense sequences. If you're a cynic, just don't bother. For everyone else, this is a rosy primer on Edison's early years and a poignant, exciting and flavourful example of MGM at its absolute best.

Like most people, I have always been an admirer of Thomas Alva Edison, probably the most prolific inventor of all time. But as I watched the movie, I wondered how much of it was fabricated. According to the world book encyclopedia, pretty much all of the incidents depicted in the movie happened, although some of the time frames were changed to allow Mickey Rooney to play the part throughout the film. And Rooney, always a very underrated actor, is terrific. With very good support from Fay Bainter, Virginia Weidler and George Bancroft as members of Edison's family, this is a film easily enjoyed by everyone. And look for a cameo by Spencer Tracy, who already had been cast in the sequel, "Edison, the Man (1940)," which was in production when this film was released.

This was always a favorite of mine when I would see it on television many years ago but I had forgotten how good a film it still is. I just saw it today on TCM and I have to say something about this under-appreciated gem. The cast is a terrific ensemble of filmdom's great character actors such as George Bancroft who appears in countless films, among them Stagecoach. He plays Tom's father with great heart and finally when he realizes who is son really is, they share a heartwarming thumping of the town's most obnoxious father, son pairing. Virginia Weidler is very good as Tom's sister. Another of Hollywood's most talented children, she appeared frequently with Mickey and Judy and also had a high profile role in The Philadelphia story.

Fay Bainter has one of her best roles ever as Tom's mother, easily worthy of an academy nod. While the story may not resemble reality, it communicates some very important human truths about family. This film is every bit as good as The Yearling and should be considered a must for family viewing.

This movie is a biopic about the young years of famous inventor and movie-making pioneer Thomas Alva Edison but above all this movie is an entertaining one to watch.

The movie could had also be easily named "The Adventures of Young Tom Edison", since the movie itself is quite adventurous, with young Tom Edison embarking on some adventurous dealings in the normal world and in his own world of inventing and experimenting.

It above all is a movie that at all times entertains, with also some comical characters in it and some fun typical comedy dealings. Guess its also insightful about the early years of Thomas Edison's life, though its hard to tell how much in this movie actually also occurred in real life. Some things are certainly hard to believe and obviously fabricated for the movie, to also make it more fun and tense. This is really not a bad things, since it definitely improves the movie so much. I'm sure the movie would had been really boring and simplistic if it was done in a completely serious dramatic kind of biopic style. It's entertainment value is mostly what makes this movie such a great watch.

It's a typical '40's movie, made in typical '40's movie style, with typical '40's way of story-telling, typical '40's kind of characters, typical '40's kind of humor and a typical '40's musical score. Needless to say, fans of '40's movie shall probably enjoy the most watching this movie.

Mickey Rooney fits the role really well, even though he at the time was already much older than the character in the movie was supposed to be. He carries the movie mostly and handles everything in it very well. He especially seems at ease with the comical aspects in the movie. Other child-star Virginia Weidler also plays a good role. The parents of Tom Edison are also portrayed nicely by Fay Bainter and George Bancroft. The movie provides a good view of the home situation which also definitely helps to make the more dramatic and serious aspects of the movie work out.

The movie is followed by "Edison, the Man", starring Spencer Tracy in the role of Thomas Edison, who also makes a cameo at the end of this movie, to prepare- and get viewers to the theater for its sequel. An in-movie teaser trailer!

A really greatly made and entertaining movie to watch! Very recommendable.

8/10

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