The Great Moment (1944 film)

The Great Moment is a 1944 biographical film written and directed by Preston Sturges. Based on the book Triumph Over Pain 1940 by Ren FlpMiller, it tells the story of Dr. William Thomas Green Morton, a 19thcentury Boston dentist who discovered the use of ether for general anesthesia. The film stars Joel McCrea and Betty Field, and features Harry Carey, William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn and Porter Hall.

The titles and credits open with a scene in 1846 of a triumphant street procession and a jubilant crowd hailing William Morton Joel McCrea with signs such as Pain is no more, followed by a long, written prologue pointing out, in part, that before ether there was nothing. Next, an old Eben Frost William Demarest is seen heading through the snow to the farmhouse of Mortons aging widow Lizzie Betty Field. On the way he stops at a pawn shop and redeems a medal once awarded to Morton inscribed To the benefactor of mankind. At the Morton home, Lizzie reminisces to Frost about her late husband and their life together, although the nature of Mortons achievement is vague.In the brief first flashback which takes place several years after his discovery, though this is not at all clear, Morton mortgages his farm to pay for a trip to Washington, D.C. to meet President Franklin Pierce Porter Hall. The president declares his intention to ratify a large monetary sum awarded to Morton by a grateful Congress, but says Morton should first legitimize his claim in court by filing a patent infringement suit against some army or navy doctor. The newspapers loudly denounce Mortons greed, the court declares his discovery unpatentable, and Morton runs amok in a shop which is capitalizing on his discovery with no credit or royalties to him. ........

Source: Wikipedia