Edward G. Robinson As Dr. Paul Ehrlich Searching For The Cure To Syphilis

The most surprising thing about Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet is not that it stars the usually typecast gangster Edward G. Robinson as a doctor. The fact that it was made in 1940 when the Motion Picture Production Code enforced strict rules about what could be shown, said or even hinted at in a movie. Syphilis? Sex? VD? All very shocking.

For instance, in any movie, no character could say the word pregnant or show an obviously expectant mother.

So for Warner Bros. to make a film about a doctor conducting research about venereal disease and searching for a cure to syphilis is astounding.

The film is shown occasionally on TCM. If you ever get a chance to see it you should. Robinson’s performance as Dr. Paul Ehrlich is among the best of his career and the story moves along briskly.

As one reviewer (robert-temple-1) on imdb.com points out: “This is something of a classic, and, frankly, films of this sort should be shown in the science classes of schools in order to inspire young people to become heroes of science in the service of humanity. Or is that a hopeless notion in today’s Society of Narcissism?”