I came to watch this old film because I'd just lately watched another William Dieterle / Paul Muni bio-pic collaboration "The Life Of Emile Zola", only to realise, as I watched it during the current coronavirus lockdown, just how topical it actually was.
I don't know how close to the real Pasteur's life and times the movie actually is, but even so, the basis of the great man's revolutionary research on microbe warfare and insistence on the sterilisation of medical equipment and scrupulous personal hygiene before carrying out medical treatment have obviously passed down to us today and he is still recognised as one of the great medical pioneers of all time.
Paul Muni won the Oscar for this change of pace part for him which set him off, often with Dieterle in the director's chair, on a run of similarly historical biographies including the afore-mentioned life of Zola. Muni portrays Pasteur as a rebel against the then medical establishment, striving to modernise procedures against the outdated thinking of the day, a lone voice in the wilderness. Sure some of the episodes depicted seem apocryphal and highly fictionalised, but they all contribute to the perception of Pasteur as a crusader against outmoded practices for the benefit of his fellow man and I'm okay with that. Even amongst these tallish tales, there were some neat touches like Pasteur's triumph in the search for an anthrax cure when the sheep he's tested spring seemingly to life to prove the efficacy of his cure when in fact they were only sleeping and the final acclaim he receives from the French Academy, presented with an award by the great anaesthetist from Britain, Joseph Lister.
I could have done without the addition of a romance between one of Pasteur's assistants and his daughter but even this led to a neat turnabout in the narrative as his most sceptical opponent ends up delivering his grandchild, but only after caving at last to Pasteur's long-standing demands that he carefully boil his equipment and wash his hands (twice).
Muni is very good in the title role, lending the necessary gravitas to the part, imparting a likeable roguishness to the character and Dieterle directs in an unflashy manner again as befits the serious subject matter.
A worthy film on a most worthy subject.
I don't know how close to the real Pasteur's life and times the movie actually is, but even so, the basis of the great man's revolutionary research on microbe warfare and insistence on the sterilisation of medical equipment and scrupulous personal hygiene before carrying out medical treatment have obviously passed down to us today and he is still recognised as one of the great medical pioneers of all time.
Paul Muni won the Oscar for this change of pace part for him which set him off, often with Dieterle in the director's chair, on a run of similarly historical biographies including the afore-mentioned life of Zola. Muni portrays Pasteur as a rebel against the then medical establishment, striving to modernise procedures against the outdated thinking of the day, a lone voice in the wilderness. Sure some of the episodes depicted seem apocryphal and highly fictionalised, but they all contribute to the perception of Pasteur as a crusader against outmoded practices for the benefit of his fellow man and I'm okay with that. Even amongst these tallish tales, there were some neat touches like Pasteur's triumph in the search for an anthrax cure when the sheep he's tested spring seemingly to life to prove the efficacy of his cure when in fact they were only sleeping and the final acclaim he receives from the French Academy, presented with an award by the great anaesthetist from Britain, Joseph Lister.
I could have done without the addition of a romance between one of Pasteur's assistants and his daughter but even this led to a neat turnabout in the narrative as his most sceptical opponent ends up delivering his grandchild, but only after caving at last to Pasteur's long-standing demands that he carefully boil his equipment and wash his hands (twice).
Muni is very good in the title role, lending the necessary gravitas to the part, imparting a likeable roguishness to the character and Dieterle directs in an unflashy manner again as befits the serious subject matter.
A worthy film on a most worthy subject.