[4] The film stars Robert Donat as William Friese-Greene, with numerous cameo appearances by performers such as Peter Ustinov and Laurence Olivier.

[4] The film was a project of the Festival of Britain and adapted by Eric Ambler from the controversial biography by Ray Allister.

[6] This biographical drama gives an account of William Friese-Greene, who designed and patented one of the earliest working cinematic cameras.

[7] Told in flashback, the film follows Friese-Greene's obsessional pursuit of recording the "moving image", to the neglect of his financial situation, and the problems this causes in his two marriages.

[8] The first section of the film is told from the perspective of Mrs Friese-Green telling the story of how she met Willie to a friend.

Coming out of her flashback, back in 1921, William Friese-Greene, is still in dire financial straits, he attends a film conference in London.

Excited, he rushes out and drags in a passing policeman (Laurence Olivier credited as Larry Oliver), he says "it is almost as if he was alive".

Examining the contents of his pockets in an attempt to identify him, the doctor comments that all the money he could find was just enough for a ticket to the cinema.

[9] In The New York Times, Bosley Crowther wrote: "it seems to have no ground beneath it—no association with historic events—and it turns out to be, in large measure, just a handsome exercise in pathos and sentiment.

As his two wives, Margaret Johnston and Maria Schnell [sic] are excellent, and a host of the best British performers are all fine in smaller roles.

While Eric Ambler's script, based on a biography of Friese-Greene by Ray Allister, is understandably vague and extended, it is quaintly eventful and literate, and John Boulting's direction is finished and polished to the nines.

Excellent color (by Technicolor) and superb setting and costuming all around add to the lustre of a picture that has everything but a major theme.