PIC of the Week – The Story of Louis Pasteur
Article series by Ray Schillaci
The Hollywood of yesteryear had a tendency for exaggerating the facts to make good fiction. With that in mind, Warner Archive collection unearths the 1936 Academy award winning The Story of Louis Pasteur, just in time for Oscar. Sure, there are plenty of notable releases this week including the much talked about The Florida Project, the critically touted French animated film The Girl Without Hands, and the fun-filled 1941 comedy A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob starring Lucille Ball and produced by silent film star and funny legend Harold Lloyd.
But, Warner Archive has a pedigree of a film with Paul Muni (Scarface (1932), The Life of Emile Zola) as Louis Pasteur, and he won an Oscar for Best Actor at the time. The film also garnered four Oscar nominations including Best Picture and won 3 out of 4 Academy Awards. The film is both entertaining and informative. A wonderful history lesson about one of the greatest minds bringing to light his knowledge in regards to microbes, germs, and how people were getting sick from small pox and rabies. Some people nowadays are not even aware of why we call sterilizing certain liquids “pasteurization”.
To some, this may sound like a bore, but the direction and writing keep us captivated along with Muni’s Oscar-winning performance as Pasteur. There are teachers out there that have used this film as a biology lesson, and the young people ended up retaining the information better than sitting through some lectures. Does the film play with the facts? Of course, but the most important aspects are left untarnished. Aside from all that, this is also a great film for the family. Have your pre-teens and teens set aside their cell phones and iPads for about an hour-and-a-half, and dedicate some family viewing time to enjoy this magnificent film.
Now, with all that being said, the folks at Warner Archive are sadly looking at the bottom-dollar economics with little insight to classic films. I can only imagine it was some under 30-something that could not imagine giving this Oscar winning movie anything more than a DVD-R release with no extras to speak of. Still, for all you collectors out there, the picture is of the best quality to date, and can always be upgraded if played on a 4K player with a 4K TV.
Best price – a tie – Amazon and Best Buy: $17.99
