Der große Edison

Originaltitel: Edison, the Man

1940
Approved
1 Std. 47 Min.

IMDb-BEWERTUNG

7,0/10

1866

IHRE BEWERTUNG

Spencer Tracy in Der große Edison (1940)

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.

trailer wiedergeben2:26

1 Video

18 Fotos

Biography Drama

Der 82-jährige Erfinder und Unternehmer Thomas Alva Edison wird 1929 geehrt, und er blickt auf seine sechzigjährige wissenschaftliche Laufbahn zurück.Der 82-jährige Erfinder und Unternehmer Thomas Alva Edison wird 1929 geehrt, und er blickt auf seine sechzigjährige wissenschaftliche Laufbahn zurück.Der 82-jährige Erfinder und Unternehmer Thomas Alva Edison wird 1929 geehrt, und er blickt auf seine sechzigjährige wissenschaftliche Laufbahn zurück.

Siehe Produktionsinformationen bei IMDbPro

IMDb-BEWERTUNG

7,0/10

1866

IHRE BEWERTUNG

Siehe Produktionsinformationen bei IMDbPro

Für 1 Oscar nominiert
- 1 Nominierung insgesamt

Videos1

Trailer 2:26

Official Trailer

Fotos18

+ 11

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Wissenswertes
This was one of the films that Spencer Tracy really believed in and actively supported not because he starred in it, but because he was a great admirer of Thomas A. Edison. This was unusual, as Tracy was known throughout most of his career to disparage his own gifts as well as the importance of motion pictures. Also, prior to this film, Tracy had been a very active member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He even hosted the awards show on at least one occasion. However, when the nominations came out for the best films of 1940, Tracy was appalled that "Edison, the Man" was so overlooked in the nominations, being nominated for only Best Writing. He swore he would never attend another Academy Award ceremony again, and he never did. Not without irony is that, although he was nominated another six times over the next 28 years, Tracy never won another Oscar after that (after having won two in a row in the previous two years).

Patzer
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 in fact developed not by Thomas A. Edison but by Nikola Tesla. (Tesla held over 700 patents, including Radio. Guglielmo Marconi stole the radio patent from Tesla. The US Patent office has since revoked Marconi's claim, giving it to Tesla.) Edison insisted on powering his lights with direct current, which could only travel short distances from the generators that produced it. Tesla 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. Tesla's alternating current, not Edison's direct current, quickly became the standard and is what is used today.

Zitate
Ben Els: I keep worryin' about Bunt. I guess I won't get a wink of sleep tonight.
Thomas A. Edison: Ah, Mr. Els, you shouldn't try to do two things at once. If you're gonna sleep, sleep. If you're gonna worry, why stay awake and make a good job of it.

Crazy Credits
The opening credits appear as 19th Century sampler embroideries.

Verbindungen
Featured in Hollywood: Style Center of the World (1940)

Soundtracks
Sweet Genevieve
(1869) (uncredited)
Music by Henry Tucker
Lyrics by George Cooper
Played often in the score
Sung a bit by Spencer Tracy

Benutzerrezensionen27

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Ausgewählte Rezension

7/10

Classy Biopic from Hollywood's Golden Age

Spencer Tracy stars as the famous inventor Thomas Edison. This movie deals primarily with his struggles to invent the electric light. Beautiful Rita Johnson plays Edison's wife. Excellent supporting cast includes Henry Travers, Charles Coburn, Grant Mitchell, Felix Bressart, and Gene Lockhart -- solid character actors all. Grand MGM polish and production values make for a great-looking picture.

This is the second MGM biopic of Edison released in 1940. The first, Young Tom Edison, starred Mickey Rooney and covered the inventor's early years. Edison, the Man is sort of a sequel to that film. Both are excellent. These old biopics were usually solid, uplifting character-driven stories. Yes they take liberties with the details but the more cynical defamatory biopics we get these days do the same. I'll take an inspirational biography that builds people up and leaves you with the warm fuzzies over some deconstructionist tabloid trash any day.