Now old, ill, poor, and largely forgotten, William Freise-Greene was once very different. As young and handsome William Green he changed his name to include his first wife's so that it sounded more impressive for the photographic portrait work he was so good at. But he was also an inventor and his search for a way to project moving pictures became an obsession that ultimately changed the life of all those he loved.
Acting
Robert Donat's final role — frail, ferocious, unforgettable.
Direction
The Boulting twins craft elegiac British prestige.
Director
John Boulting
Robert Donat
William Friese-Greene
Margaret Johnston
Edith Harrison Friese-Greene
Maria Schell
Helena Friese-Greene
Renée Asherson
Miss Tagg
Richard Attenborough
Jack Carter
Robert Beatty
Lord Beaverbrook
Martin Boddey
Sitter in Bath Studio
Edward Chapman
Father in Family Group
Maurice Colbourne
Bride's Father in wedding group
Roland Culver
1st Company Promoter
John Howard Davies
Maurice Friese-Greene
Michael Denison
Reporter
Joan Dowling
Maggie
Henry Edwards
Fox Talbot's Butler
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Robert Donat was terminally ill during filming and died shortly after; his gaunt appearance in the 1921 sequences is alarmingly real.
The film premiered at the first-ever Festival de Cannes in 1946, then flopped — much like its subject, celebrated too late.
GB
