Madame Curie Reviews

This fine film stirs the heart and stays closer to the facts of its subject's life than might be expected for its time. Greer Garson plays Marie, a Polish student studying in Paris near the turn of the century, who shares a lab with scientist Pierre Curie (Walter Pidgeon). The shy Pierre grows not only to respect Marie's scientific knowledge, but also falls in love with her, and the two soon marry. Together they observe the odd behavior of certain samples of pitchblende, eventually leading, after five years of study, to Marie's discovery of radium. Years pass as the Curies struggle to continue financing their work, until finally they extract one decigram of radium from thousands of pounds of pitchblende. The breakthrough makes the couple famous, but tragedy awaits them as well. MADAME CURIE maintains its dignity throughout and, if this occasionally weighs down the picture a bit, it also lends a certain low-key intensity to scientific research which proves quite gripping. Garson and Pidgeon are fully into the spirit of the film, and their teaming here is much more satisfying than in the more acclaimed MRS. MINIVER.