The Story of Louis Pasteur (USA, 1936)
Biopic starring Paul Muni. Won three Academy Awards (Best Actor, Best Screenplay and Best Story). Note that the distinction between original and adapted screenplay did not exist back then, and that the Award for Best Story has ceased to exist.
My expectations were high but the film fell short of them. To be fair, its subject is a very difficult one. Pasteur lived the life of an academic and a researcher. Absorbed in science his personal life was by no means exceptional - this is hardly good material for a Hollywood movie. The filmmakers try to compensate this by making an educational film: there is no music at all, very little dramatic tension, and the film focuses on highlighting the struggles that Pasteur met in his life and the importance of his work for humanity.
But here comes a second, perhaps even more serious flaw: although The Story of Pasteur feels like a documentary, much of the information contained in it is inaccurate. I quote from the French Wikipedia:
"The film being strongly romanticized, it goes without saying that as a history of science it is outrageously concealed and oriented to meet certain needs. A number of events are entirely fabricated: Napoleon III forbade Pasteur any activity, when in reality he appointed him senator for life. In the same way, Pasteur was struck down by a hemiplegia in 1868 when the film began and not after the war, as the plot claims. Other elements are above all sensational: the public demonstration of 1881 which consists of verifying the effect of vaccination on fifty sheep suffering from anthrax, and the Alsatian rescued from rabies in 1885, are among them."
I have some quibbles with the above (afaik there was indeed a boy that cured from rabbis) but overall it is spot on. The screenwriters wanted to have a Pasteur that conflicted with the scientific establishment, but Pasteur met with recognition quite early in life. At the age of 26 he was already a university professor in Strasbourg - the beginning of a career that was in every sense brilliant and met with support of the government. If they wanted a biopic to educate the general public about vaccination Brandon Jenner was a better choice, as he was a maverick rather than an academic.
This film has in heart in the right place, but the outcome is flat and even dull. There is no character development, and you feel emotionally detached even at moments when you expect to feel strong empathy (the treatment of the Alsatian boy). Still, Paul Muni's amazing performance comes to the rescue and turns what would have been an indifferent film into a memorable experience. There is no doubt in my mind that Muni is among the Hollywood's greats in the same league as Marlon Brando and Orson Welles.