The Magic box

A dramatised biography of William Friese-Greene (1855-1921), a British pioneer of the cinema. Adapted by Eric Ambler from the controversial biography by Ray Allister, the film contends that Friese-Greene was the true father of motion pictures, rather than the better known Thomas Edison. Told largely in flashback, the film details Friese-Greene’s tireless experimentation with the moving-image which mostly ended in failure and which eventually cost him his family and his reputation. The legitimacy of the claims for Friese-Greene became a central issue in the criticism of the film. Made for the 1951 Festival of Britain, ‘The Magic Box’ features Robert Donat in the lead role and a huge supporting cast including such British film luminaries as Joyce Grenfell, Miles Malleson, Michael Redgrave, Eric Portman, Emlyn Williams, Richard Attenborough, Peter Ustinov, Cecil Parker, Kay Walsh, and Laurence Olivier.