"Madame Curie"...

I had the opportunity to watch Greer Garson in another memorable movie, Madame Curie. The last movie was Random Harvest. This black and white film set in Paris, is outstanding. Greer plays Marie Sklodowska, a young Polish student of science who has the tenacity and enduring character that it takes to discover a new scientific element "laying the foundation for future discoveries in nuclear physics and chemistry".

Along the way she falls in love with Professor Curie, played by Walter Pidgeon, and together they embark on an adventure of a lifetime that wins them the Nobel Prize in Physics. Marie is fascinated by the discovery that pitchblende radiates light without being exposed to sunlight. After marrying Pierre Curie, she continues her doctoral study in her husbands lab working on finding out why this is possible.

Marie and Pierre work very hard (physically as well as mentally) to discover a minute element that they call radium. They use a process of crystallization to boil down 8 tons of pitchblende ore. Several years later when they get to what they think is their last test, they are discouraged that they don't find crystals of radium in the bottom of the bowl. Only a stain. They end up going to a New Year's Eve party, all the while Marie can't let go of why they failed in separating the radium.

Later that night, or early morning when Marie is telling Pierre about her concerns they realize that "it may only be a matter of quantity and that stain could be radium!" As Pierre unlocks the door, they can see through the shed windows a glow coming from test bowl number 5677!

On the day that Pierre and Marie are to dedicate a new laboratory to further their explorations in science, Pierre is struck down by a horse drawn delivery wagon and dies instantly. In the movie, the professor that introduced Marie to Pierre comes to her aide, when she is stunned into inactivity by her husbands' death. He reminds her of something he said, in a lecture 9 years before, in his classroom at the University of Paris. He was drawing the analogy that not very many students reach for a star and touch it with their fingertips to achieving ones life goals. As she sits in a state of depressed silence, he tells her that she has achieved what others have not and that there are other stars "out there"!

Marie goes on to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, being the only women to be awarded the prize in two different fields of science.



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"Random Harvest"...

UPDATE: This post has been entered in the "England Goes Gonzo" Blog Carnival being held on October 1st. For carnival details contact Naomi over at Diary From England!

The days go by so quickly I don't get near enough completed like I would like. I keep busy from dawn till dusk and into the twilight hours and still have more to do the next day than I did on the previous day. However, I will not ever be able to say that I am bored and have nothing to do!

I did the most delicious thing tonight. No, I am not talking about eating something, I am talking about watching a movie all the way through! From start to finish!!! The drama was "Random Harvest" a 1942 movie about a World War I major that had amnesia. Set in England, the major escaped an asylum where he was the ward of a very caring and astute doctor.

The major walks into town amidst the celebration that the war was over. A young actress finds him and takes him in, eventually taking him to the country when she sees that he is going back into his shell, after she told him he would have to go back to the asylum.

The major, or Smithy as Paula calls him, is learning to speak confidently again and tries his hand at writing, earning a check for a couple quid. As Smithy is sitting under a tree that is by a wonderful pond, Paula rides up on her bike with a picnic lunch and she has an envelope for Smithy. He appears to be asleep, as she struggles with wanting to know what the letter is about. Underneath his hat where he appeared to be napping, Smithy tells her she better open the letter. With a future starting before him Smithy asks Paula to marry him and she accepts.

They live in a little cottage by a stream with a kitchen door that the milkman brings fresh milk to every morning. On the day that their little boy is about a week old, Smithy receives a job offer in Liverpool. He is supposed to be gone for one day and does not return to the cottage for 15 years.

I could tell you the rest of the story, but that would ruin your chance to see a truly wonderful love story filled with heartache and tradegy mingled with happiness and hope...

The "England Goes GONZO!" banner was created by Kilroy over at Fear and Loathing - The Gonzo Papers.