The Magic Box (1951)

THE MAGIC BOX  (1951)  ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: John Boulting
    Robert Donat, Maria Schell, Margaret Johnston,
    Robert Beatty, Renée Asherson, Leo Genn,
    Marius Goring, Stanley Holloway, Michael Hordern, 
    Sidney James, Glynis Johns, Bessie Love, 
    Eric Portman, Dennis Price, Laurence Olivier,
    Michael Redgrave, Margaret Rutherford, Basil Sidney,
    Ernest Thesiger, Peter Ustinov, Kay Walsh, 
    Emlyn Williams, Googie Withers, Sybil Thorndyke
The argument over who invented moving pictures usually comes down to the rival claims of France (the Lumière brothers) and the U.S. (Thomas Edison). A third entry in the who-got-there-first sweepstakes is England's William Friese-Greene, who was tinkering with sprocket holes and celluloid in the late 19th century, too. There's some dispute over how practical Friese-Greene's inventions were, but he was definitely onto something. This sympathetic biopic leaves some gaps in Friese-Greene's story, like the time he spent in prison for bankruptcy, but it makes the case for Britain as film's possible birthplace. It's one of the movies Martin Scorsese saw as a kid that inspired him to become a filmmaker.