The Magic Box (1952) on Netflix
In 1921, the inventor William Friese-Greene attends a London film conference where no one will listen to him. His work on moving pictures and color processes has left him in financial distress.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.0/101,587 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
William Friese-Greene is in severe financial distress in 1921 when he goes to a London conference of the film industry, and he finds the other attendees concerned only with the commercial side of the business. No one listens when he tries to speak. His memories reach back to his beginnings. Edith Friese-Greene recalls meeting Willie, their marriage and their four sons, and the money troubles that followed his drive to develop color film. Earlier, Willie learns his trade in the studio of the photographer Maurice Guttenberg, who gives him little freedom, and after a disagreement over portrait techniques he opens his own studio with his wife Helena, once a client of his. The studios do well at first, but his attention turns to moving pictures and color processes and away from the portrait work that pays.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Magic Box (1952)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Film historian Terry Ramsaye attacked The Magic Box for depicting William Friese-Greene as the father of motion pictures, calling it a perversion of history; the producers replied that he was prejudiced against Friese-Greene.
- To get The Magic Box made, Festival Film Productions was set up as a semi-cooperative: every major British film company contributed its services either free or at a reduced rate.
- The Magic Box dramatizes the life of the real inventor William Friese-Greene, described as one of the earliest men to design and patent a working cinematic camera.
