Madame Curie (1943) Movie Review, Cast & Crew, Film Summary

Happy recollections of a movie slightly disappointed: distinctly overlong and terribly mushy in its first third, Curie takes a long time to get to the phase that justifies its existence, the lengthy and riveting sequences of Pierre (Walter Pidgeon) and Marie (Greer Garson) relentlessly working through their obsession with locating that pesky new element radium. Here, director Mervyn Le Roy works with Joseph Ruttenberg’s excellent, atmospheric photography to conjure a fervent envisioning of scientific research and marital bliss as both requiring backbreaking labour and almost saintly dedication, leading to the priceless moment of the loving couple entwined above the eerily glowing dish of distilled energy which is as much symbol as element.

Pidgeon is uncharacteristically adept at playing Pierre as an introverted savant who discovers his own romantic side as accidentally as another scientist first uncovers the presence of the mysterious element. But the pressure to play the story as romantic melodrama, the presence of Garson, whose screen persona seemed to work more as bromide for overexcited war-time wits rather than as anything like an interesting actress, and some paltry comedy relief from Robert Walker, make the film difficult to penetrate initially, and it trundles home after its climax to a dead stop.