Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

William Dieterle

Writers:

Norman Burnstine (original screenplay and idea)
Heinz Herald (original screenplay)

Release Date:

2 March 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

Two women stood by him while all the world jeered...a world he was trying to save!

Plot:

True story of the doctor who considered it was not immoral to search for a drug that would cure syphillis.

Plot Keywords:

Medical | Breakthrough | Medical Discovery | Sexually Transmissible Disease | Lab Experiment

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Edward G. Robinson	...	Dr. Paul Ehrlich
Ruth Gordon	...	Hedwig Ehrlich
Otto Kruger	...	Dr. Emil Von Behring
Donald Crisp	...	Minister Althoff
Maria Ouspenskaya	...	Franziska Speyer
Montagu Love	...	Professor Hartman
Sig Ruman	...	Dr. Hans Wolfert
Donald Meek	...	Mittelmeyer
Henry O'Neill	...	Dr. Lentz
Albert Bassermann	...	Dr. Robert Koch
Edward Norris	...	Dr. Morgenroth
Harry Davenport	...	Judge
Louis Calhern	...	Dr. Brockdorf
Louis Jean Heydt	...	Dr. Kunze
Charles Halton	...	Sensenbrenner

Also Known As:

The Story of Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (UK)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:S | Sweden:15

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

This is the first usage of the phrase "Magic Bullet".

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Rhineland Chemical is shipping boxes of 606 to cities around the world, one box is labeled "St. Mary's Hospital, Sidney, Australia." A second box to a different hospital shows the city correctly spelled as Sydney.

Movie Connections:

Featured in You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story (2008) (V)

Biographical Melodrama Well Done

How I long for the era when Hollywood was capable of producing films based upon the lives of great scientists and physicians. Current moguls may consider the material too trite, but that just proves how they misjudge quality cinema.

Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet is a great old biographical melodrama that probably does overstate certain emotional moments, nonetheless it helps recall the bigger-than-life accomplishments of scientists who otherwise would be forgotten.

Edward G. Robinson, though apparently too mature for the role, knew a good script when he read it, and ended up with the finest performance of his long career. Credit goes to the Warner Studio, too, for making a film about the cure for syphilis when even the mention of the disease was prohibited in motion pictures. Those who enjoy films like Edison, The Man will find this more involved with science and less with personal matters than the MGM/Spencer Tracy epic.

This is grand Warner's entertainment with a lesson or two for all of us.