Genre Grandeur – The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936)

“You young men – doctors and scientists of the future – do not let yourselves be tainted by apparent skepticism; nor discouraged by the sadness of certain hours that creep over nations. Do not become angry at your opponents, for no scientific theory has ever been accepted without opposition. Live in the serene peace of libraries and laboratories. Say to yourselves, first, “What have I done for my instruction?” And as you gradually advance, “What am I accomplishing?” Until the time comes when you may have the immense happiness of thinking that you have contributed in some way to the welfare and progress of mankind. ” – Dr. Louis Pasteur

Number of Times Seen – 2 (25 Jun 2001 and 29 Oct 2014)

Brief Synopsis – The story of how famed scientist Louis Pasteur changed the world with his numerous vaccines for deadly diseases for man and animals in the mid to late 1800’s in France

My Take on it – We all have grown up knowing the name of Louis Pasteur due to his discovery of the vaccine for Rabies in the late 1800’s.

What isn’t so widely known was the difficulties he faced from the scientific community of the time while trying to further science and knowledge of germs.

This movie eventhough it is close to 80 years old, successfully is able to show us how science was perceived and changed by the discoveries of what important man.

Besides Rabies, Pasteur also helped discover the cure for Antrax in animals and helped doctors realize how important it is the sterilize equipment before use.

Paul Muni won an Oscar for his role here and it is easy to see how great a job he does.

Great piece of trivia about this movie is that one day a man told Muni that his son asked for a microscope as a present after seeing this movie.  Muni always claimed that hearing that was more important to him than winning the Oscar itself.

Bottom Line – Great biopic for its time. Muni was amazing in this role and although it’s 78 years old, it’s very interesting to watch how science was perceived and changed just over 150 years ago

Rating – Oscar Worthy

_______________________________________

Check out my *updated* movie stats here

To see my reviews of Oscar Winning Performances check out this link

To see my reviews of all Oscar Best Picture Winners click here (now complete)

Here is a link to my movie index A-Z