In hindsight, I wonder why they chose to do a biography of William Friese-Greene. After all, on one hand, it isn't firmly established that he did create motion pictures (this can also be claimed by several others as well). In addition, his work with color cinematography (for which he is most famous) was mostly a failure. But most importantly, he was not a particularly nice person. He apparently was a bit of a Schizoid Personality or perhaps had Asperger's Syndrome--emotional disorders where an individual has extreme difficulty relating to or caring about others. He was so obsessed with his work, that according to the film he was a terrible father and husband. The bottom line is that THINGS were much more important to him than people. In other words, he was a jerk--at least as portrayed in the film.
So what's left? Why watch the film if the man's inventions had limited impact and he was a pretty detached and self-absorbed individual?! No matter how well the film was made (and it was decent--but not outstanding even with this amazing cast), it was severely hampered at the onset. Overall, passable but that's all. At least it was filmed in color...just not using Friese-Greene's process.
So what's left? Why watch the film if the man's inventions had limited impact and he was a pretty detached and self-absorbed individual?! No matter how well the film was made (and it was decent--but not outstanding even with this amazing cast), it was severely hampered at the onset. Overall, passable but that's all. At least it was filmed in color...just not using Friese-Greene's process.