SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

utgard14 Spencer Tracy stars as the famous inventor Thomas Edison. This movie deals primarily with his struggles to invent the electric light. Beautiful Rita Johnson plays Edison's wife. Excellent supporting cast includes Henry Travers, Charles Coburn, Grant Mitchell, Felix Bressart, and Gene Lockhart -- solid character actors all. Grand MGM polish and production values make for a great-looking picture. This is the second MGM biopic of Edison released in 1940. The first, Young Tom Edison, starred Mickey Rooney and covered the inventor's early years. Edison, the Man is sort of a sequel to that film. Both are excellent. These old biopics were usually solid, uplifting character-driven stories. Yes they take liberties with the details but the more cynical defamatory biopics we get these days do the same. I'll take an inspirational biography that builds people up and leaves you with the warm fuzzies over some deconstructionist tabloid trash any day.

vincentlynch-moonoi I had to chuckle when I read a couple of the other reviews here for the mentioning of Nikola Tesla. I remember as a teenager, my best friend idolized Tesla and was so negative about Edison. And, although MGM hired advisers from The Edison Institute and Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (of course, they may have had a perspective about Edison that was just a bit prejudiced in his favor), this movie does give unrealistic homage to Edison. But, that was exactly the intent of the film. To portray an American hero whose many inventions and business efforts helped transform America. It's as accurate as the typical movie bio-pic of the era, but those of us who live today cannot quite imagine how Edison and his inventions captured the American spirit.The first amazing thing about this film is in the opening and closing scenes where Tracy (with makeup) resembles the elderly Edison to an extent that is amazing.Tracy had a remarkable range, and this picture reminds me of his performance in the two Boys Town movies, while during the same time period he played quite different roles in "Northwest Passage" and "Boom Town". I can't think of an actor of that era (or this) who was more perfect for the role of Edison.Rita Johnson is good here as Edison's wife. A tragedy led to the virtual end of her career. Charles Coburn has an all too short role as an investor, and Gene Lockhart is very good as one of Edison's competitors. A number of fine character actors portray Edison's assistants, including Felix Bressart and Henry Travers.The plot of the story simply follows some of Edison's inventions, with the most attention being given to his light bulb. The story is particularly inaccurate in terms of his family life -- he was married twice (only once in the movie) and had quite a few more children than the movie depicted. But the topic of the movie is Edison, the hero. And in that it accomplishes its goals.Highly recommended, and it's certainly found a place on my DVD shelf.

dwpollar 1st watched 9/11/2009 - 7 out of 10 (Dir- Clarence Brown): Wonderful chronicle of a maverick man and his inventions played by the always likable Spencer Tracy. The movie starts with the elderly Edison(with a nice set of makeup) being honored for his invention of the lightbulb, and then the story goes back to his early days before his first major invention. He was already twiddling with telegraph machines at this point, so we don't really get to see where his motivation came from -- just that he liked to do this. He is personally very ambitious from the beginning and knows that he has to have funds to do what he wants, so he stalks one of the richest men in town for his attention. He gets it after fixing one of his machines and he is hired and is given the space and time to create. He and his ragtag group start putting together quite a few accomplishments to the point where they have their own building and steady workforce. He's shown as having a good comraderie with his close knit fellows but has to let them go when things get rough. At least until the lightbulb is created, then things explode. I'm sure this story isn't 100% true when it comes to Edison as a person, but they do make good entertainment with it. Tracy also gives a good performance and is given a couple of nice speeches(that obviously come from the real Edison). Overall, this is light family entertainment, good for everyone, with an educational message. This doesn't happen often in the movies and MGM did well with this one as the usually did in this era.

whpratt1 Viewed this film a long time ago and enjoyed seeing the great acting performance that Spencer Tracy portrayed as Thomas A. Edison. Tracy must have put a great deal of study into Mr. Edison's life and his laboratory in Menlo Park, N.J. because he looked just like him. Tom Edison had a very rough times being without money and struggling many long hours with very disappointing results. Gene Lockhart,(Mr.Taggart) had a great deal of stock in the gas companies and was trying to stop Edison from producing the electric light. However, Charles Coburn,(General Powell) had great confidence in Tom Edison's inventions and he gave a great deal of financial support among the stock brokers in New York. This is a very nice story of a great inventor and many generations will enjoy this story.