Editing Madame Curie (film)

{{short description|1943 American film by Mervyn LeRoy}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Madame Curie
| image          = Madame Curie (film) poster.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Mervyn LeRoy]]
| producer       = [[Sidney Franklin (director)|Sidney Franklin]]
| based_on       = {{based on|''Madame Curie''<br>1938 novel|[[Ève Curie]]}}
| writer         = [[Aldous Huxley]]<br>(uncredited)<br>[[Paul Osborn]]<br>[[Hans Rameau]]<br>[[Walter Reisch]]
| starring       = [[Greer Garson]]<br>[[Walter Pidgeon]]<br>[[Henry Travers]]
| music          = [[Herbert Stothart]]<br>[[William Axt]]
| cinematography = [[Joseph Ruttenberg]]
| editing        = [[Harold F. Kress]]
| studio = [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]
| distributor    = [[Loews Cineplex Entertainment|Loew's Inc.]]
| released       = {{Film date|1943|12|15}}
| runtime        = 124 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $1,938,000<ref name="Mannix">{{Citation | title = The Eddie Mannix Ledger | publisher = Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study | place = Los Angeles}}.</ref>
| gross          = $4,610,000<ref name="Mannix"/>
}}
'''''Madame Curie''''' is a 1943 American biographical film made by [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]].<ref>''Variety'' film review; November 24, 1943, page 18.</ref><ref>''[[Harrison's Reports and Film Reviews|Harrison's Reports]]'' film review; November 20, 1943, page 187.</ref> The film was directed by [[Mervyn LeRoy]] and produced by [[Sidney Franklin (director)|Sidney Franklin]] from a screenplay by [[Paul Osborn]], [[Hans Rameau|Paul H. Rameau]], and [[Aldous Huxley]] (uncredited), adapted from the biography by [[Ève Curie]]. It stars [[Greer Garson]], [[Walter Pidgeon]], with supporting performances by [[Robert Walker (actor, born 1918)|Robert Walker]],  [[Henry Travers]], and [[Albert Bassermann]].

The film tells the story of Polish-French physicist [[Maria Sklodowska-Curie|Marie Curie]] in 1890s Paris as she begins to share a laboratory with her future husband [[Pierre Curie]].

This was the third of eight onscreen pairings with Pidgeon and Garson.<ref name="TCM">[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/82296/madame-curie#articles-reviews "Madame Curie"]. [[Turner Classic Movies]]. Retrieved November 26, 2024.</ref>

In several versions, much of the scientific aspects of the film were cut or removed entirely. Turner Classic Movies has shown it unedited at 124 minutes.

==Plot==
[[File:Madame-Curie-LIFE-1944.jpg|thumb|left|[[Walter Pidgeon]], [[Greer Garson]] and [[Margaret O'Brien]] in ''Madame Curie'']]
[[Marie Curie|Marie Skłodowska]] 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 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" (primarily professors and their wives). Among the many guests is physicist [[Pierre Curie]], 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 until the last minute they have fallen in love. Even when Pierre asks Marie to be his wife, he does so in terms of reason, logic and chemistry.

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 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 it. In the midst of discussing this, she discloses offhandedly to Pierre's family that she is pregnant.

The physics department at the [[University of Paris|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 the inability to separate pure radium, they know something is definitely there, as Marie's hands are being burned. They hit on a tedious method of [[crystallization]] to isolate pure radium.  After four years, they find only a stain on the bottom of the dish that should have held the radium.  They return to the shed that night and find the dish glowing, confirming that they have isolated the radium.

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 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 he is run down and killed. Marie almost loses her mind, but after the concerned Prof. Perot counsels her, she remembers Pierre's words that if one of them is gone, the other must go on working just the same. Finally, Marie gives a speech at the 25th anniversary celebration of the discovery of radium, expressing her belief that science is the path to a better world.

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Greer Garson]] as [[Marie Curie]]
* [[Walter Pidgeon]] as [[Pierre Curie]]
* [[Henry Travers]] as {{Interlanguage link|Eugène Curie|lt=Eugène Curie|fr}}
* [[Albert Bassermann]] as [[Alfred Perot|Prof. Jean Perot]]
* [[Robert Walker (actor, born 1918)|Robert Walker]] as David Le Gros
* [[C. Aubrey Smith]] as [[William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin|Lord Kelvin]]
* [[Dame May Whitty]] as Madame Eugene Curie
* [[Victor Francen]] as President of University
* [[Elsa Bassermann]] as Madame Perot
* [[Reginald Owen]] as [[Henri Becquerel|Dr. Becquerel]]
* [[Van Johnson]] as Reporter
* [[Margaret O'Brien]] as [[Irène Joliot-Curie|Irène Curie]] (at age 5)
* [[James Hilton (novelist)|James Hilton]] as Narrator (voice)
* [[Lisa Golm]] as Lucille 
}}

==Production==
[[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] quickly bought the rights to Ève Curie's book, with [[Irene Dunne]] in mind to play Marie. Dunne traveled to Europe and met with Ève Curie to discuss the project, but Universal sold the property to [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] a few years later.<ref name="TCM" /> In March 1938, [[Anita Loos]] contacted [[Aldous Huxley]], then recently moved to Hollywood, saying she would put him in touch with MGM for a writing contract. ''Madame Curie'' was originally set for production in 1941 starring [[Greta Garbo]] with [[George Cukor]] directing.<ref>Sybille Bedford, ''Aldous Huxley: A Biography'' (1974), p. 369 and [[Barry Paris]], ''Garbo'' (1996)</ref> MGM ultimately rejected Huxley's script for ''Madame Curie'' as "too literary," and after Garbo's success in ''[[Ninotchka]]'', MGM wanted her to star in another romantic comedy. The project was shelved and Garbo left MGM for good in 1942.<ref name="TCM" />

MGM's star [[Joan Crawford]] was interested in the role Marie as she wanted to play serious characters, but her request was rejected by Mayer. The role went to [[Greer Garson]], and Crawford cited it as a reason to leave MGM and sign to Warner Brothers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2017/03/144695/feud-joan-crawford-oscar-in-bed-feud-real-story-photos|title=What This Real Moment In Feud Actually Looked Like}}</ref>

Mervyn LeRoy replaced [[Albert Lewin]], who was fired shortly before production began.

While the film is heavily fictionalized for dramatic purposes, the plot managed to adhere to the facts more than most biopics of the 1930s and 1940s.<ref name="TCM" />  ''Madame Curie'' completely omits any mention of Marie's family in Paris, including her sister Bronisława, an obstetrician, with whom she was very close. There is also virtually no mention of Marie's intense devotion to politics and the [[History of Poland (1918–39)|liberation/independence]] of her native Poland.

Author [[James Hilton (novelist)|James Hilton]] was the narrator for this film.

==Box office==
According to MGM records the film earned $2,575,000 in the US and Canada and $2,035,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $1,086,000.<ref name="Mannix"/><ref>[https://archive.org/stream/variety153-1944-01#page/n51/mode/2up "Top Grossers of the Season", ''Variety'', 5 January 1944 p 54]</ref>

==Accolades==
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
! Ref.
|-
| rowspan="7"| [[16th Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Outstanding Motion Picture]]
| [[Sidney Franklin (director)|Sidney Franklin]] (for [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]])
| {{nom}}
| rowspan="7" align=center|<ref name="Oscars1944">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1944 |title=The 16th Academy Awards (1944) Nominees and Winners |access-date=2013-10-04 |publisher=Oscars.org ([[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]) | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131014001522/http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/16th-winners.html | archive-date= 2013-10-14 | url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]
| [[Walter Pidgeon]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]
| [[Greer Garson]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration – Black-and-White]]
| [[Cedric Gibbons]], [[Paul Groesse]], [[Edwin B. Willis]] and [[Hugh Hunt]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography – Black-and-White]]
| [[Joseph Ruttenberg]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture]]
| [[Herbert Stothart]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Sound|Best Sound Recording]]
| [[Douglas Shearer]] (for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department)
| {{nom}}
|}

;'''Others'''
The film is recognized by [[American Film Institute]] in these lists:
* 2006: [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers]] – #97<ref>{{cite web|title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers |url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/cheers100.pdf |publisher=[[American Film Institute]] |access-date=2016-08-14}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
''Madame Curie'' was satirized in a 1976 episode of ''SCTV'' as ''Madame Blitzman'' (mistakenly shown on 'Monster Chiller Horror Theater') in which Frances Blitzman/Marie Curie (Andrea Martin) works alongside her husband Louis Blitzman/Pierre Curie (Eugene Levy) in creating a life-extension formula derived from radiation exposure. However, Louis suffers from painful recurring headaches which kill him eventually; at a meeting of the 'Academy of Science', an aged Frances reveals that Louis's experiments caused a plaque to grow in his brain, causing the painful headaches which killed him, and which are also affecting her.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Madame Curie (film)}}
* {{IMDb title}}
* [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/madame-curie-am31320 ''Madame Curie'' at AllMovie]
* {{TCMDb title}}
* {{AFI film}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes}}
* {{Mojo title}}

{{Mervyn LeRoy}}
{{Marie & Pierre Curie}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madame Curie (film)}}
[[Category:1943 films]]
[[Category:1940s biographical drama films]]
[[Category:American biographical drama films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Biographical films about scientists]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Pierre Curie]]
[[Category:Films about Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Films directed by Mervyn LeRoy]]
[[Category:Films set in Paris]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1890s]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1900s]]
[[Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Aldous Huxley]]
[[Category:Films scored by Herbert Stothart]]
[[Category:Films scored by William Axt]]
[[Category:Films about Marie Curie]]
[[Category:1943 drama films]]
[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
[[Category:1940s American films]]
[[Category:Films about physicists]]
[[Category:English-language biographical drama films]]