The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936) on Netflix
Passed19361h 26mBiographyDramaHistory
In 1860 Paris, chemist Louis Pasteur argues that microbes cause disease, so doctors should wash their hands and boil their instruments. Dr. Charbonnet leads the academy in calling him a crank.
- Netflix4.1/5
- IMDb7.2/103,597 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes90%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1860 Paris, a distraught man kills the doctor who attended his wife, who died of puerperal fever after she gave birth. Chemist Louis Pasteur has publicly argued that microbes cause disease and that doctors spread them with unwashed hands and unsterilized instruments, and the academy holds his ideas responsible for the murder. Its most vocal critic, Dr. Charbonnet, calls the recommendations witchcraft. Pasteur first found the organisms in sour wine, where sufficient heat destroys them. He points to the risks of Charbonnet's methods and predicts that a patient Charbonnet is attending will die the same way. When Emperor Napoleon III comes down against him, Pasteur leaves Paris for Arbois.
Cast
- Raymond Brownas Dr. Radisse
