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      The Story of Alexander Graham Bell

      1939 1h 37m Biography List
      Reviews 58% 50+ Ratings Audience Score Alexander Graham Bell (Don Ameche) works as a teacher to the deaf while experimenting with sound waves. After assisting in the development of the telegraph, Bell is hired to teach a deaf woman, Mabel (Loretta Young), how to speak. They fall in love and, with the support of Mabel and the assistance of Thomas Watson (Henry Fonda), Bell creates his greatest invention of all: the telephone. But the device's success is threatened when Western Union wages a legal battle over the patent. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member The best inspiring movie ever made! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review kevin w Don Ameche does his best to get us to give a damn about his efforts to create the first version of perhaps the most omnipresent bit of technology in the world today, but he is hogtied by the insistence of the powers that were to focus on Loretta Young as the love interest. Fonda's part is not worth mentioning as his assistant, Watson. Only Charles Coburn manages to escape the prerequisite confines of this bio-schlockfest. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Don Ameche has the title role in "The Story of Alexander Graham Bell" in this 1939 film. The film really doesn't go into much detail about how the phone was created but instead it focuses on the pain that Bell went through while trying to create and market the device as well as Bell's relationship with his wife. Ameche does a great job as Bell and it became the role that he was most famous for. He gives a serious, intense, and sincere performance. Henry Fonda was equally as good as Bell's assistant Thomas Watson. This role became the springboard for his career as well. Loretta Young's performance as Bell's wife and helps to explain the motivation behind Bell. Her real life sisters -- Sally Blane, Polly Young, and Georgiana Young - play her sisters here. Gene Lockhart as Sanders is another standout in a poignant performance as a man who wants his deaf son to be able to speak. Charles Coburn ably rounds out the cast as Mable's no-nonsense, gruff father. The two major events in this period are well portrayed here; when Bell spills acid and Watson hears his call for help over the copper wire and when Bell is sued by Western Union for patent infringement. Although it often simplifies, and often exaggerates the details relating to the invention of and subsequent patent battles relating to the first practical telephone, it definitely succeeds as a theatrical presentation of Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member well crafted and acted bio-pic from that magical year 1939. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member The Hollywood Biography Version of the story of Graham Alexander Bell and I assume it's a little glossed over. Don Ameche gave a solid performance with the material he had, I was fascinated with Bell's side work working with Deaf Children but as the title suggests it's more about the telephone. Although clearly American & a little bias it's an interesting film & the Bio films still hold up quite well, an interesting film. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Finally I got the chance to see this quite rare flick, which I've been trying to purchase for some time now. Pretty much better than I expected, since I've seen a few of those "biography-movies" from the 1930s which tend to be a bit mediocre by today's standards. With all respect to Paul Muni, who I consider to be one of the best actors of the 20th century, but I find The Story of Louis Pasteur and The Life of Emile Zola rather dull, despite all the nominations they recieved at their time. But The Story of Alexander Graham Bell, however, I found much more appealing since they didn't put all the focus on his invention and work but also his personal problems. Don Ameche made a very good portrayal of Bell, who you follows through a span of years, as he progresses in making a machine that will be able to transmit human voices (today, commonly known as the telephone). It was actually his eager commitment in helping deaf people that fueled his interest for inventing what's became to be the telephone. This picture is really engaging as you later watch the Bell's struggle to get patent for his life's work and earn money so that he can marry the love of his life. Worth a watch, if not for the story, the actors Don Ameche, Loretta Young and Henry Fonda. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      The Story of Alexander Graham Bell

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis Alexander Graham Bell (Don Ameche) works as a teacher to the deaf while experimenting with sound waves. After assisting in the development of the telegraph, Bell is hired to teach a deaf woman, Mabel (Loretta Young), how to speak. They fall in love and, with the support of Mabel and the assistance of Thomas Watson (Henry Fonda), Bell creates his greatest invention of all: the telephone. But the device's success is threatened when Western Union wages a legal battle over the patent.
      Director
      Irving Cummings
      Production Co
      Cosmopolitan Productions, Twentieth Century Fox
      Genre
      Biography
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (DVD)
      Dec 11, 2012
      Runtime
      1h 37m