Director: WILLIAM DIETERLE. Screenplay and original Story: Sheridan Gibney and Pierre Collings. Uncredited script contributor: Edward Chodorov. Photography: Tony Gaudio. Film editor: Ralph Dawson. Art director: Robert M. Haas. Costumes: Milo Anderson. Make-up: Perc Westmore. Music composed by Heinz Roemheld and Bernhard Kaun, directed by Leo F. Forbstein. Dialogue director: Gene Lewis. Assistant director: Frank Shaw. Associate producer: Henry Blanke. Historical research: Herman Lissauer. Producer: Hal B. Wallis. Executive producer: Jack L. Warner.
Copyright 31 January 1936 by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. A Cosmopolitan (William Randolph Hearst) Production. New York opening at the Strand, 10 February 1936. U.S. release: 22 February 1936. U.K. release: 3 July 1936. Australian release: 20 May 1936. 85 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Chemist has a bug about germs.
NOTES: Academy Award, Best Actor, Paul Muni (defeating Gary Cooper in Mr Deeds Goes To Town, Walter Huston in Dodsworth, William Powell in My Man Godfrey and Spencer Tracy in San Francisco).
Academy Award, Original Story, Sheridan Gibney and Pierre Collings (defeating Fury, The Great Ziegfeld, San Francisco and Three Smart Girls).
Academy Award, Screenplay, Sheridan Gibney and Pierre Collings (defeating After the Thin Man, Dodsworth, Mr Deeds Goes To Town and My Man Godfrey). Also nominated for Best Picture (The Great Ziegfeld). Number 6 in the annual poll of U.S. film critics conducted by The Film Daily. Number 2 (after Mr Deeds Goes To Town) on the National Board of Review's 1936 list of Best American Pictures.
Negative cost: a paltry $260,000. Shot in 5 weeks from mid-August to late September 1935. The subject is also treated in the French film Pasteur (1935) from writer/producer/director/star, Sacha Guitry.
COMMENT: Dieterle's direction is not as impressive as his subject matter, though it has its memorable moments (the darkened laboratory as Pasteur goes to fetch his rabies vaccine and enters the door with the light behind him).
Fortunately, the film itself with its exceptionally lavish production values and its grand array of character performances, is one that can be enjoyed again and again.
The pace is brisk and the screenplay crystallizes Pasteur's opposition quite excitingly. I also liked the way Pasteur is shown working with a team of assistants. The film breathes authenticity.
And I loved Lister's ironic comment as the crowd cheers some acrobats, "Such is fame!".
Copyright 31 January 1936 by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. A Cosmopolitan (William Randolph Hearst) Production. New York opening at the Strand, 10 February 1936. U.S. release: 22 February 1936. U.K. release: 3 July 1936. Australian release: 20 May 1936. 85 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Chemist has a bug about germs.
NOTES: Academy Award, Best Actor, Paul Muni (defeating Gary Cooper in Mr Deeds Goes To Town, Walter Huston in Dodsworth, William Powell in My Man Godfrey and Spencer Tracy in San Francisco).
Academy Award, Original Story, Sheridan Gibney and Pierre Collings (defeating Fury, The Great Ziegfeld, San Francisco and Three Smart Girls).
Academy Award, Screenplay, Sheridan Gibney and Pierre Collings (defeating After the Thin Man, Dodsworth, Mr Deeds Goes To Town and My Man Godfrey). Also nominated for Best Picture (The Great Ziegfeld). Number 6 in the annual poll of U.S. film critics conducted by The Film Daily. Number 2 (after Mr Deeds Goes To Town) on the National Board of Review's 1936 list of Best American Pictures.
Negative cost: a paltry $260,000. Shot in 5 weeks from mid-August to late September 1935. The subject is also treated in the French film Pasteur (1935) from writer/producer/director/star, Sacha Guitry.
COMMENT: Dieterle's direction is not as impressive as his subject matter, though it has its memorable moments (the darkened laboratory as Pasteur goes to fetch his rabies vaccine and enters the door with the light behind him).
Fortunately, the film itself with its exceptionally lavish production values and its grand array of character performances, is one that can be enjoyed again and again.
The pace is brisk and the screenplay crystallizes Pasteur's opposition quite excitingly. I also liked the way Pasteur is shown working with a team of assistants. The film breathes authenticity.
And I loved Lister's ironic comment as the crowd cheers some acrobats, "Such is fame!".