Madame Curie
original movie poster
Directed by	Mervyn LeRoy
Produced by	Sidney Franklin
Written by	Aldous Huxley (uncredited) Paul Osborn
Starring	Greer Garson Walter Pidgeon Henry Travers
Music by	Herbert Stothart
Cinematography	Joseph Ruttenberg
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	15 December 1943 (Los Angeles premiere)
Running time	124 min.
IMDb profile

Madame Curie is a 1943 biographical film made by MGM. It was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Sidney Franklin from a screenplay by Paul Osborn, Paul H. Rameau and Aldous Huxley (uncredited), adapted from the biography by Eve Curie. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Mervyn LeRoy (October 15, 1900 - September 13, 1987) was an American film director, producer and sometime actor. ... Sidney Franklin, (born Sidney Frumkin, 1903-1976), was the first American to become a successful bullfighter. ... Aldous Leonard Huxley (July 26, 1894 – November 22, 1963) was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. ... Paul Osborn (September 4, 1901-May 12, 1988) was a playwrite and screenwriter most well known for writing the screen adaptation of East of Eden as well as South Pacific, The Yearling, and Sayonara. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Walter Pidgeon Walter Pidgeon (September 23, 1897 – September 25, 1984) was a Canadian actor. ... Henry Travers (March 5, 1874 – October 18, 1965), born Travers Heagerty, was a British-born actor. ... Herbert Stothart (11 September 1885 - 1 February 1949) was a composer, born of Scottish and Bavarian descent in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ... Joseph Ruttenberg (July 4, 1889 - May 1, 1983) was a photojournalist and Academy Award-winning cinematographer. ... For alternate meanings of MGM, see MGM (disambiguation). ... is the 349th day of the year (350th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The year 1943 in film involved some significant events. ... Poster for Man on the Moon (1999), a biopic A biographical picture— often shortened to biopic— is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... Mervyn LeRoy (October 15, 1900 - September 13, 1987) was an American film director, producer and sometime actor. ... Sidney Franklin, (21 March 1893, San Francisco, USA - 18 May 1972, Santa Monica, USA), was an American film director and producer. ... Paul Osborn (September 4, 1901-May 12, 1988) was a playwrite and screenwriter most well known for writing the screen adaptation of East of Eden as well as South Pacific, The Yearling, and Sayonara. ... Aldous Leonard Huxley (July 26, 1894 – November 22, 1963) was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. ... Eve Denise Curie Labouisse (born December 6, 1904 in Paris) is a U.S. (French-born) author and writer. ...

It stars Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Henry Travers, Albert Bassermann, C. Aubrey Smith, Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Van Johnson, and Margaret O'Brien and featuring narration read by James Hilton. The film tells the story of Polish-French physicist Marie Curie. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Walter Pidgeon Walter Pidgeon (September 23, 1897 – September 25, 1984) was a Canadian actor. ... Henry Travers (March 5, 1874 – October 18, 1965), born Travers Heagerty, was a British-born actor. ... Albert Basserman (September 7, 1867 – May 15, 1952) was an actor. ... Sir Charles Aubrey Smith (known as Sir Aubrey Smith) (21 July 1863-20 December 1948) was an English cricketer and actor. ... Dame May Whitty DBE (19 June 1865–29 May 1948), born Mary Louise Whitty, was an Oscar-nominated English theatre and cinema actress. ... Reginald Owen, or John Reginald Owen, (August 5, 1887–November 5, 1972) was a British character actor known for playing in many film roles in British and American movies and later in television programs. ... Van Johnson (born Charles Van Johnson on August 25, 1916, in Newport, Rhode Island) is an American film and television actor and dancer. ... Margaret OBrien during her career as a child star. ... James Hilton (September 9, 1900 - December 20, 1954) was a popular English novelist of the first half of the 20th century. ... Maria Skłodowska-Curie. ...

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Walter Pidgeon), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Greer Garson), Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, Best Picture and Best Sound, Recording. Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ... The Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the awards given to actors working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. ... Walter Pidgeon Walter Pidgeon (September 23, 1897 – September 25, 1984) was a Canadian actor. ... The Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the awards given to actresses working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. ... Charles Rosher the first recipient in 1928 The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is awarded each year to a cinematographer for his work in one particular motion picture. ... The Academy Award for Original Music Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer. ... // The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Academy Awards, awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which are voted on by others within the industry. ... The Academy Award for Sound Mixing is an Academy Award that recognizes the finest or most aesthetic sound mixing or recording, and is generally awarded to the production sound mixers and re-recording mixers of the winning film. ...

Garson and Pidgeon had starred together in the previous year's Best Picture Mrs. Miniver. // The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Academy Awards, awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which are voted on by others within the industry. ... Mrs. ...

Summary

Marie Sklodowska (Greer Garson) is a poor, idealistic student living in Paris and studying at the Sorbonne. She neglects her health and one day faints during class. Her tutor, Prof. Perot (Albert Bassermann) is sympathetic and, finding that she has no friends or family in Paris, invites her to a soirée his wife is throwing for a "few friends". Among the many guests is physicist Pierre Curie (Walter Pidgeon), an extremely shy and absentminded man completely devoted to his work. He allows Marie to share his lab and finds that she is a gifted scientist. Appalled that she plans on returning to Poland to teach after graduation, rather than devoting her life to further study, he takes her to visit his family in their country home. Marie and Pierre both tend to concentrate on science to the extent that they don't realize they have fallen in love. Even when Pierre asks Marie to be his wife, he does so in terms of reason, logic and chemistry. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Albert Basserman (September 7, 1867 – May 15, 1952) was an actor. ... Walter Pidgeon Walter Pidgeon (September 23, 1897 – September 25, 1984) was a Canadian actor. ...

Fascinated by a demonstration she saw as an undergraduate, of a pitchblende rock that seems to generate enough energy to take small photographs, Marie decides to make the rock's energy that the subject of her doctoral study. The measurements she takes don't seem to add up, and she decides there must be a third radioactive element in the rock in addition to the two she knows are in there. (In the midst of discussing this, she discloses offhandedly to Pierre's family that she's pregnant.) Uraninite is a uranium-rich mineral with a composition that is largely UO2 (uranium oxide), but which also contains UO3 and oxides of lead, thorium, and rare earths. ...

The physics department at the Sorbonne refuses to fund their research without more proof of the element's existence, but allows them to use a dilapidated old shed across the courtyard from the physics building. In spite of its disadvantages, they import eight tons of pitchblende ore and cook it down to look for the element they call radium. In spite of inability to separate out pure radium, they know something is definitely there, as Marie's hands are being burned. They hit on a tedious method of crystallization to arrive at pure radium. Frost crystallization on a shrub. ...

Now world-famous, they go on vacation to rest after all the press conferences and the Nobel Prize. They're granted a new laboratory by the university; before its dedication Marie shows off her new dress, inspiring Pierre to go get her a set of earrings to go with it. Walking home in the rain, he absentmindedly crosses the street in front of a delivery wagon and is run down and killed. Marie almost loses her mind, but after the concerned Prof. Perot counsels her, she rallies when she remembers Pierre's words that if one of them should die, the other must go on just the same. The film concludes with a speech she gives at the 25th anniversary celebration of the discovery of radium, expressing her belief that science is the path to a better world.

Trivia

The film is heavily fictionalized for dramatic purposes and completely omits any mention of Marie's family in Paris, including her sister Bronislawa, an obstetrician, with whom she was very close. There is also virtually no mention of Marie's intense devotion to politics and the liberation / independence of her native Poland. This article needs cleanup. ...

External links

• Madame Curie at the Internet Movie Database
• Classic Film Guide review/synopsis