Often when I see period pieces such as The Current War I will be surrounded by the elderly. They seem more interested in historic films such as this which is basically a story of the competition between Thomas Edison and his direct current vs. George Westinghouse and his alternating current.
It's amazing to know the history of how homes and businesses receive their electricity. While it's noted that Thomas Edison had invented the light bulb (most of us may remember this from school hopefully), it was essentially Westinghouse who may not be as well known aside from a company that bore his name who won this "current war" with his DC power.
And I was somewhat bothered by the three or so Black men in the movie. One was a reporter, another was portrayed a wealthy man, and the last one worked for Edison. Upon checking out the wiki page the Black man working for Edison is a Black inventor named Lewis Latimer. And somehow I believed he belonged there, the other two perhaps it was just Hollywood being very inclusive in a period movie where Blacks just weren't yet treated as equals.
I shouldn't forget the contribution of one Nicola Tesla. He was portrayed in this film as one odd character. I'm sure he was a genius who made the difference the competition between DC and AC. Sorry to know that he never profited from his contributions.
A Chicago connection in this film is Samuel Insull who worked for Edison who undeniable resembles Peter Parker as Spider-Man 😛. Insull had some holdings in a few Chicago-area utilities such as People's Gas and Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) and he definitely had some local transportation interests that includes the South Shore interurban and a predecessor to the Chicago Transit Authority. Alas he was another who ultimately died penniless.
I remember seeing trailers for this film over two years ago and had little idea it got caught up in that scandal involving Harvey Weinstein. I'm glad another company picked this film up and redistributed it. I'm glad to have seen this film depicting one of the great achievements of the late 19th century. It was great to see how the world we we knew it a century later came to be. [VIDEO]
It's amazing to know the history of how homes and businesses receive their electricity. While it's noted that Thomas Edison had invented the light bulb (most of us may remember this from school hopefully), it was essentially Westinghouse who may not be as well known aside from a company that bore his name who won this "current war" with his DC power.
And I was somewhat bothered by the three or so Black men in the movie. One was a reporter, another was portrayed a wealthy man, and the last one worked for Edison. Upon checking out the wiki page the Black man working for Edison is a Black inventor named Lewis Latimer. And somehow I believed he belonged there, the other two perhaps it was just Hollywood being very inclusive in a period movie where Blacks just weren't yet treated as equals.
I shouldn't forget the contribution of one Nicola Tesla. He was portrayed in this film as one odd character. I'm sure he was a genius who made the difference the competition between DC and AC. Sorry to know that he never profited from his contributions.
A Chicago connection in this film is Samuel Insull who worked for Edison who undeniable resembles Peter Parker as Spider-Man 😛. Insull had some holdings in a few Chicago-area utilities such as People's Gas and Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) and he definitely had some local transportation interests that includes the South Shore interurban and a predecessor to the Chicago Transit Authority. Alas he was another who ultimately died penniless.
I remember seeing trailers for this film over two years ago and had little idea it got caught up in that scandal involving Harvey Weinstein. I'm glad another company picked this film up and redistributed it. I'm glad to have seen this film depicting one of the great achievements of the late 19th century. It was great to see how the world we we knew it a century later came to be. [VIDEO]
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