Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet is a 1940 American biographical film starring Edward G. Robinson and directed by William Dieterle, based on the true story of the German doctor and scientist Dr. Paul Ehrlich. The film was released by Warner Bros., with some controversy over raising the subject of syphilis in a major studio release. It was nominated for an Oscar for its original screenplay (by Norman Burnstine, Heinz Herald and John Huston), but lost to The Great McGinty.
Plot
Paul Ehrlich is a physician working in a German hospital. He is dismissed for his constant disregard for hospital rules, which are bound by bureaucratic red tape. The reason for his conflict is his steadily rising interest in research for selective color staining, the marking of cells and microorganisms using certain dyes and marking agents which have a certain 'affinity' for their target and nothing else. Emil von Behring, whom Dr. Ehrlich meets and befriends while experimenting with his staining techniques, is impressed with Dr. Ehrlich's staining methods and refers to it as 'specific staining,' adding that this optical microscopy diagnostic technique is one of the greatest achievements in science.
After attending a medical presentation of the eminent Dr. Robert Koch demonstrating that tuberculosis is a bacterial disease, Ehrlich is able to obtain a sample of the isolated bacterium. After an intense time of research and experimentation in his own lab, paired with a portion of luck and thanks to the empathy of his wife, he is able to develop a viable staining process for the microbe. This result is honored by Koch and medical circles as another highly valuable contribution to diagnostics.
During his work Dr. Ehrlich is infected with tuberculosis, then an often-deadly, uncurable disease. To recover, Ehrlich travels with his wife Hedwig to the hot dry climate of Egypt. There he starts to discover the properties of immunity. This discovery helps Ehrlich and colleague Dr. von Behring to fight a diphtheria epidemic that is killing off many children in the country. The two doctors are rewarded for their efforts.
Ehrlich concentrates on work to create "magic bullets" - chemicals injected into the blood to fight various diseases, thus pioneering antibiotic chemotherapy for infectious diseases. Ehrlich's laboratory has the help of a number of scientists like Sahachiro Hata. The medical board, headed by Dr. Hans Wolfert, believes much of Ehrlich's work is a waste of money and resources and fight for a reduction, just as Ehrlich begins to work on a cure for syphilis. Ehrlich is financially backed by the widow of Jewish banker Georg Speyer, Franziska Speyer, and after 606 tries he finally discovers the remedy for the disease. This substance, first called "606", then Salvarsan, is now known as Arsphenamine.
The joy of discovery is short-lived, as 38 patients who receive the treatment die. Dr. Wolfert denounces the cure publicly and accuses Ehrlich of murdering those who died from the cure. As faith in the new cure starts to dwindle, Ehrlich is forced to sue Wolfert for libel and in the process exonerate 606. Dr. von Behring (who had earlier told Ehrlich to give up his pipe dreams of cures by chemicals), is called by the defense to denounce 606. Behring instead states that he believes that 606 is responsible for a 39th death: the death of syphilis itself. Ehrlich is exonerated, but the strain and stress from the trial are too much for his weakened body and he dies shortly thereafter, his final words being counsel to his assistants and colleagues on the risks involved in advancing medicine.
Cast
Production
Warner Bros. Studios was concerned about Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet because it was about a venereal disease, syphilis, and because Ehrlich was Jewish. This was before the U.S. entry into the Second World War. Warner Bros. did not want the movie to be political or seem to have a Jewish agenda since Germany was still a market for American films. However, Warner Bros. had already produced a series of medical biographical films during the 1930s, including the Dieterle-directed The Story of Louis Pasteur (1935) and The White Angel (1936) about Florence Nightingale. In addition, U.S. Surgeon General Thomas Parran Jr. had in late 1936 begun a syphilis control campaign to get the public to consider it to be a medical condition and not a moral failure, suggesting that a film on Ehrlich' life would be acceptable.