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Summary

Alexander Graham Bell falls in love with deaf girl Mabel Hubbard while teaching the deaf and trying to invent means for telegraphing the human voice. She urges him to put off thoughts of marriage until his experiments are complete. He invents the telephone, marries and becomes rich and famous, though his happiness is threatened when a rival company sets out to ruin him.

Cast

Don Ameche

Alexander Graham Bell

Loretta Young

Mrs. Mabel Hubbard Bell

Henry Fonda

Thomas Watson

Charles Coburn

Gardner Hubbard

Gene Lockhart

Thomas Sanders

Spring Byington

Mrs. Hubbard

Sally Blane

Gertrude Hubbard

Polly Ann Young

Grace Hubbard

Georgiana Young

Berta Hubbard

Bobs Watson

George Sanders

Russell Hicks

Mr. Barrows

Paul Stanton

Chauncey Smith

Jonathan Hale

President of Western Union

Harry Davenport

Judge Rider

Beryl Mercer

Queen Victoria

Elizabeth Patterson

Mrs. MacGregor

Charles Trowbridge

George Pollard

Jan Duggan

Mrs. Winthrop

Claire Du Brey

Landlady

Harry Tyler

Joe Eliot

Ralph Remley

D'Arcy - Singer

Zeffie Tilbury

Mrs. Sanders

Jack Kelly

Banker's Son (uncredited)

Esther Brodelet

Telephone Operator

Tyler Brooke

Mr. Calhoun

Nora Cecil

Miss Jenkins

Davison Clark

Court Attendant at Door

Dick Elliott

Man Laughing at Demo

Edmund Elton

Banker at Demo

Fern Emmett

Mac Gregor's Maid

Mary Field

Piano Player

George Guhl

Mr. Winthrop

Otto Hoffman

Pawnbroker

Warren Jackson

Tom

Frank Jaquet

Edward

Sheldon Jett

New England Telephone Company Executive

Edward Keane

Banker at Demo

Crauford Kent

General

Edward LeSaint

Banker at Demonstration

Jarold Clifford Lyons

Infant

Dave Morris

Telegrapher

Ottola Nesmith

Nora

Ruth Robinson

Nurse

John Graham Spacey

Sir John Cowell

Landers Stevens

Manager of New England Telephone Exchange

Charles Tannen

Court Clerk

William Wagner

Eddy Waller

Storekeeper

Jack Walsh

James J. Starrow

Lillian West

Sanders' Nurse

John Elliott

Banker at Demo

Crew

Director

Irving Cummings

Screenplay

Lamar Trotti

Story

Ray Harris

Reviews

Geronimo1967

June 22, 2022

Don Ameche takes the title role in this biopic of the Boston-based Scotsman credited with the invention of the telephone, and he does bring a certain passion to an otherwise rather procedural drama. The story traces the development of his experiments with his friend Thomas Watson (Henry Fonda) and parallels with his budding romance with Mabel (Loretta Young) and for much of the time, it rather uncomfortably straddles the line between science and melodrama. The last twenty minutes - including a visit to Queen Victoria and a court case to establish the legitimacy of his patents, livens the thing up a bit and the supporting cast of Charles Coburn and Gene Lockhart add value, but it needed to focus more of the reason we know of the man, and of the huge significance of his technological advancement. Worth a watch for Ameche's performance, still, though.