Monday 11 February 2019

THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR no stars

Another of Warner Brothers' famous biopics and a 'prestige' production, (it won 3 Oscars, including Best Actor for Paul Muni's performance in the title role), but it's deadly dull, despite the best efforts of director William Dieterle to make it 'cinematic'. "The Story of Louis Pasteur" is more of a civics lesson than a proper motion picture; it just grinds on and on through this cure and that but for a mercifully short 86 minutes. Did a Saturday night audience really get fired up by all these microbes? I mean, where was the sex, (and let's not count the romance of Donald Wood's eager young doctor and Anita Louise as Pasteur's daughter)? Nevertheless, it was a hit and for a time people thought Muni the greatest actor in the movies. I suppose the best that can be said for it is that it tried to stick to the 'basic' facts; I just wish the facts were more interesting.

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