Cebalord
Very best movie i ever watch
Tetrady
not as good as all the hype
Beystiman
It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
ChampDavSlim
The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.
wes-connors
Polish science student Greer Garson (as Marie Sklodowska) goes to study in Paris and is accepted as an intern by reserved physicist Walter Pidgeon (as Pierre Curie). Ms. Garson's amazing beauty immediately causes Mr. Pidgeon and young assistant Robert Walker (as David Le Gros) to become distracted in the laboratory, but they grow accustomed to her attractiveness. When Garson graduates, she plans on returning to Poland, but Pidgeon proposes she stay and become "Madame Curie". Garson has noticed an irregularity which leads the couple to discover the element radium...This was a prestige project from MGM, which they secured for Greta Garbo. She telegrammed, "Wonderful plans," but requested a complete manuscript. After some scrambling, there was no complete script. At the time, Garbo felt the roles the MGM offered to her were too repetitive. In hindsight, "Madame Curie" doesn't appear all that different from other Garbo roles, so it may have ended well. Garson and "Two-Faced Woman" (1941) photographer Joseph Ruttenberg certainly showed he would good with Garbo, if she was interested in hiving him another shot. The MGM team shows their usual skill throughout, although the resulting film was less than indicated by seven "Academy Award" nominations.****** Madame Curie (12/15/43) Mervyn LeRoy ~ Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Albert Bassermann, Robert Walker
pmknotts
I'm the first to admit I knew little about Marie Curie until watching "Madame Curie" on Turner Movie Classics today. I knew she was a renowned French scientist long before women were accepted in such fields.Madame Curie--as a historical drama--succeeds in telling her incredible and painstaking contributions to science in the discovery of Radium. The story never lulls, not even for one minute. This film succeeds in providing a unique perspective of the sacrifice and dedication great scientists of all generations have put forth for the betterment of all mankind. Perhaps more surprising to me was how this movie moved me to tears due to the artful portrayal of Madame Curie by Greer Garson. She was truly a great actress and the chemistry she shared with Walter Pidgeon (movie after movie) just does not happen on screen often. I really thought I would be bored to tears. Instead, my tears resulted from a compelling story and equally compelling performances--especially from Ms. Garson.
dbdumonteil
You do not change a winning team:so they took Mr and Mrs Minniver to portray Pierre Curie et Madame Curie.The movie got chilly reviews in France ,some critics going as far as to write Mrs Garson was not well cast as Madame Curie and that the movie was boring and languid.I'm French and I do not agree with them. Even if Greer Garson does not resemble Marie Curie ,she is very convincing as the scientist ;only a small part of her life was filmed ;the movie stops with Pierre's tragic death :her second Nobel prize ,her role during WW1 ,her daughter Irene who became a great scientist too,all this is passed over in silence.After Pierre 's death,Marie had a love affair with a married man,which did not fit well into the picture of the absolutely perfect woman the screen writers wanted to show to the world.Male chauvinism,which was rampant at the time,did not spare Marie either.This is minor quibble:the movie is good,sometimes excellent,mainly in the scenes depicting the long research in an icy ware-house.People interested in Marie Curie should try and watch "Une Femme Honorable" ,a MTV work starring Marie -Christine Barrault ,a miniseries which covers the whole life of Madame Curie.
tjonasgreen
This picture illustrates everything wonderful about the confidence, expertise and narrative power of Hollywood films near the end of the classic period: it is entertaining, intelligent and carefully made in every department. A smooth celebration of scientific theory and of the romantic partnership of two scientists.The first third of the film is in many ways the best: a very funny and sensitive depiction of the courtship of two gauche scientists. Often filmed in long-shot on beautifully detailed, cavernous sets, we see Garson and Pigeon sometimes isolated in space, sometimes haltingly moving through crowds, tentatively finding their way to each other. Though Mervyn Leroy could be a stolid director, here he shows great delicacy and judgment and he perfectly sets a mood of gentle comic romance.The middle third deals with the engrossing scientific mystery that led to the discovery of radium. The lightness of touch and the humor of the first third are not entirely abandoned here, but there is a greater seriousness and a kind of reverence for knowledge and scientific endeavor that is virtually absent from films today (the exception would be A BEAUTIFUL MIND, which I kind of hated). There are some striking visuals, including a tracking shot across hundreds of bowls of evaporating chemicals and a haunting image of a glowing dish of radium in a large, dark shed.The last third is the dullest and most conventional portion of the film: fame and celebration for the Curies and a renewal of their love just before Pierre died prematurely in a traffic accident. The high point here is what surely won Pigeon his Oscar nomination for Best Actor: the speech to a jeweler in which he describes the beauty of his wife just before his untimely death. There is also the evocative image of a wet umbrella broken under a wagon wheel.Of course, what you think of this idealistic, creamy and sure-footed vehicle (which must have packed 'em in at Radio City Music Hall) depends entirely on what you think of Greer Garson, as well as your opinion of the popular Garson-Pigeon screen team. Their looks and personalities were perfect matches, templates of feminine and masculine 'virtues'. There was nothing sexy about them but they suggested a platonic ideal of what every child would wish their parents to be. They were the last stars to make middle age look glamorous and desirable.As for me, I like her. Her mannerisms are kept to a minimum in this restrained performance. The famous tinkling laugh, the arched eyebrow, the flaring nostrils -- so overused in some other films -- are not much in evidence here. But her best qualities are: the sense of intelligence, of quiet watchfulness, self-possession, dignity and tact are all here. The source of her screen personality has always seemed sane and tranquil, relaxing to watch and finally, to me, admirable. I can understand why some people (like critic Pauline Kael) felt that Hollywood's ladylike stars presented an outdated, oppressive ideal for women. But from this distance, Garson's confidence and ease, her capability, her self-containment all strike me as civilized and even sophisticated traits. She played grownups, and we have never had enough of those on screen . . .