Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17905 in VHS
• Released on: 1997-06-09
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Formats: Black & White, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 103 minutes

Customer Reviews

Excellent Warners biography of famed chemist.
Edward G. Robinson should have netted an Oscar nom for his finest screen portrayal - as the dedicated chemist and researcher, Paul Ehrlich. This is one of the great Warners screen biographies (THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR, THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA, MADAME CURIE). The screenplay is literate and absorbing. The acting is excellent, the direction tight. Ehrlich introduced the idea of treatment with chemical substances and developed a cure for both diptheria and syphillis. The screenplay was deservedly nominated for an Oscar but it is Robinson who shines in an atypical but superb performance.

606 is the magic number...
Tugs at the heart-strings. A compassion-laden film about a true-life German Doctor seeking the cure to some of the world's worst ailments, including syphilis, polio and influenza.

When an epidemic hits the country, he goes about pulling out all the stops to find a so-called "magic bullet" as a veritable cure-all, and finally accomplishes his goal in pill 606, named after the number of tries to perfect this ideal drug. After some unfortunate losses in a few allergic reactions, despite his own warnings to the medical community that there still needed some tests to be done, he is vindicated and is eventually and rightfully awarded the Nobel Prize.

There are some really moving and inspiring moments in the film, with the contemplation of nobility, ingenuity, and the passionate pursuit of knowlege. It is all worth it in the end when you see the faces of those formerly ill children and grown-ups beaming with healthy life again.

Amazing !
Amazing !!! that a top-quality movie such as this is not out on DVD.