Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet

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Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet
1940 Theatrical Poster
Directed byWilliam Dieterle
Written byNorman Burnstine
Heinz Herald
John Huston
Produced byHal B. Wallis
Jack L. Warner
Wolfgang Reinhardt (executive producer)
StarringEdward G. Robinson
Ruth Gordon
Otto Kruger
Donald Crisp
CinematographyJames Wong Howe
Edited byWarren Low
Music byMax Steiner
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • February 23, 1940 (1940-02-23)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet is a 1940 American biographical film starring Edward G. Robinson and directed by William Dieterle, based on the true story of the German doctor and scientist Dr. Paul Ehrlich. The film was released by Warner Bros., with some controversy over raising the subject of syphilis in a major studio release. It was nominated for an Oscar for its original screenplay (by Norman Burnstine, Heinz Herald and John Huston), but lost to The Great McGinty.

Plot

Paul Ehrlich is a physician working in a German hospital. He is dismissed for his constant disregard for hospital rules, which are bound by

diagnostic
technique is one of the greatest achievements in science.

After attending a medical presentation of the eminent Dr.

bacterial disease
, Ehrlich is able to obtain a sample of the isolated bacterium. After an intense time of research and experimentation in his own lab, paired with a portion of luck and thanks to the empathy of his wife, he is able to develop a viable staining process for the microbe. This result is honored by Koch and medical circles as another highly valuable contribution to diagnostics.

During his work Dr. Ehrlich is infected with tuberculosis, then an often-deadly, uncurable disease. To recover, Ehrlich travels with his wife Hedwig to the hot dry climate of

immunity. This discovery helps Ehrlich and colleague Dr. von Behring to fight a diphtheria
epidemic that is killing off many children in the country. The two doctors are rewarded for their efforts.

Ehrlich concentrates on work to create "magic bullets" - chemicals injected into the blood to fight various diseases, thus pioneering antibiotic chemotherapy for infectious diseases. Ehrlich's laboratory has the help of a number of scientists like Sahachiro Hata. The medical board, headed by Dr. Hans Wolfert, believes much of Ehrlich's work is a waste of money and resources and fight for a reduction, just as Ehrlich begins to work on a cure for syphilis. Ehrlich is financially backed by the widow of Jewish banker Georg Speyer, Franziska Speyer, and after 606 tries he finally discovers the remedy for the disease. This substance, first called "606", then Salvarsan, is now known as Arsphenamine.

The joy of discovery is short-lived, as 38 patients who receive the treatment die. Dr. Wolfert denounces the cure publicly and accuses Ehrlich of murdering those who died from the cure. As faith in the new cure starts to dwindle, Ehrlich is forced to sue Wolfert for

libel and in the process exonerate 606. Dr. von Behring (who had earlier told Ehrlich to give up his pipe dreams of cures by chemicals
), is called by the defense to denounce 606. Behring instead states that he believes that 606 is responsible for a 39th death: the death of syphilis itself. Ehrlich is exonerated, but the strain and stress from the trial are too much for his weakened body and he dies shortly thereafter, his final words being counsel to his assistants and colleagues on the risks involved in advancing medicine.

Cast

Production

Thomas Parran Jr. had in late 1936 begun a syphilis control campaign to get the public to consider it to be a medical condition and not a moral failure, suggesting that a film on Ehrlich' life would be acceptable.[1]

Ehrlich was one of the greatest Jewish doctors, and in 1908 his work on immunity won a

Pentateuch (books of Moses in the Bible). Nevertheless, the film's story writer Norman Burnside declared "There isn't a man or woman alive who isn't afraid of syphilis, and let them know that a little kike
named Ehrlich tamed the scourge. And maybe they can persuade their hoodlum friends to keep their fists off Ehrlich's coreligionists."

One prohibited topic of the

Production Code Administration for approval. Aware of the restrictions of the Code, Warner executives seriously considered not mentioning the word "syphilis" in the movie. However, Hal B. Wallis, Warner Bros. head of production, while advising caution, wrote to the PCA that "to make a dramatic picture of the life of Dr. Ehrlich and not include this discovery [the anti-syphilis drug Salvarsan] among his great achievements would be unfair to the record." Following negotiations, the film received approval under the Production Code provided no scenes showing treatment of patients with syphilis were shown, and advertising of the film could not mention syphilis.[1]

The movie's title role star Edward G. Robinson, himself Jewish, was keenly aware of the increasingly desperate situation of the Jews in Germany and Europe, and anxious for the opportunity to break out of the police and gangster roles in which he was in danger of being forever stereotyped. He met with Paul Ehrlich's daughter who had fled to the US and he corresponded with Ehrlich's widow, who was a refugee in Switzerland. "During the filming," Robinson later recalled with regard to his role as Ehrlich: "I kept to myself, studied the script, practiced gestures before the mirror, read about his life and times, studied pictures of the man, tried to put myself in his mental state, tried to be him."[3]

Reception

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8412-2824-5
  2. ^ The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1908 nobelprize.org.
  3. ^ "Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940) - Articles - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2020-09-06.

External links

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