Our obsession with the telephone.
Every trendy invention has a past, and in case of today's outlandish use of gadgets, it began with a dream in 1875. Busy enough creating a form of communication for the deaf and dumb, Alexander Graham Bell (the likable Don Ameche) puts aside his desire to improve the telegraph to create something we now know as the telephone. More complex than two Styrofoam cups and a string, he tries, fails, and finally succeeds. And as always happens, someone comes along to step on his toes, claiming that they had a patent that pre-dated Bell's.
As there is always the case in these biography films, there is a lovely young woman, and in Bell's case, it is the deaf Loretta Young, the daughter of one of Bell's benefactors, the imperious Charles Coburn. Cynical against Bell's dreams, Coburn at first stands in their way, but the gentle Gene Lockhart (for once cast against type as a truly likable character) completely supports him as Bell has taken interest in his young deaf son (the adorable Bobby Watson), giving Lockhart a touching Christmas present that is a four hankie moment. In a smaller role, Henry Fonda plays Bell's assistant, Mr. Watson, who is there for the ground-breaking moment.
This lavish production features a huge cast of character performers, including Spring Byington (Coburn's dingy wife), Elizabeth Patterson (a cantankerous landlady), Beryl Mercer (the imperious Queen Victoria), Zeffie Tilbury (Lockhart's lovable mother) and Harry Davenport (as the judge in the patent trial). Loretta Young is joined on-screen by her real-life sisters as her character's sisters.
Overshadowed in memory because of so many masterpieces released in the same year (1939), it was still Ameche's most famous role among dozens in which he simply held court for leading ladies like Young, Alice Faye and Betty Grable. Ameche's wide-eyed enthusiasm, which has sometimes been mocked, is actually engaging. It is just what America needed in 1939 to remind them after a lengthy depression and the onslaught of war in Europe of the achievements of the past century in the wake of some truly tough times ahead.
Every trendy invention has a past, and in case of today's outlandish use of gadgets, it began with a dream in 1875. Busy enough creating a form of communication for the deaf and dumb, Alexander Graham Bell (the likable Don Ameche) puts aside his desire to improve the telegraph to create something we now know as the telephone. More complex than two Styrofoam cups and a string, he tries, fails, and finally succeeds. And as always happens, someone comes along to step on his toes, claiming that they had a patent that pre-dated Bell's.
As there is always the case in these biography films, there is a lovely young woman, and in Bell's case, it is the deaf Loretta Young, the daughter of one of Bell's benefactors, the imperious Charles Coburn. Cynical against Bell's dreams, Coburn at first stands in their way, but the gentle Gene Lockhart (for once cast against type as a truly likable character) completely supports him as Bell has taken interest in his young deaf son (the adorable Bobby Watson), giving Lockhart a touching Christmas present that is a four hankie moment. In a smaller role, Henry Fonda plays Bell's assistant, Mr. Watson, who is there for the ground-breaking moment.
This lavish production features a huge cast of character performers, including Spring Byington (Coburn's dingy wife), Elizabeth Patterson (a cantankerous landlady), Beryl Mercer (the imperious Queen Victoria), Zeffie Tilbury (Lockhart's lovable mother) and Harry Davenport (as the judge in the patent trial). Loretta Young is joined on-screen by her real-life sisters as her character's sisters.
Overshadowed in memory because of so many masterpieces released in the same year (1939), it was still Ameche's most famous role among dozens in which he simply held court for leading ladies like Young, Alice Faye and Betty Grable. Ameche's wide-eyed enthusiasm, which has sometimes been mocked, is actually engaging. It is just what America needed in 1939 to remind them after a lengthy depression and the onslaught of war in Europe of the achievements of the past century in the wake of some truly tough times ahead.