The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I was approached by the movie props department for a model of the 1877 tin foil phonograph for the film (I don't have one to loan them unfortunately)however the action, I was told it was set in the 1890s I knew that the original machine was in the Science Museum in London from 1880 to 1926 so would not have been in New Jersey at the period of the movie.
I tried to understand what they wanted to do and help them get it right but there seemed to be little commitment to historical accuracy.
I would be interested to know if the tinfoil machine makes it into the movie.
I was also not convinced that the casting of Cumberbatch as Edison was the most logical choice.
The other casting looks OK but I am inclined to think the Tesla good (or possibly GOD ) Edison Bad internet narrative is possibly strong in this one.

recordmaker wrote: I am inclined to think the Tesla good (or possibly GOD ) Edison Bad internet narrative is possibly strong in this one.

Tesla wasn't even a major player in this scheme- more like an inventor with a finger in the pie commenting on the sidelines.

AZ* wrote:

JerryVan wrote:
He also shouldn't have capitalized "Scientist", you missed that one. Geez....

The comma goes inside the quotation marks, not after. You missed that one, but Henry got it right. Doh!

Thanks!! I really had never noticed that before! You must be word "scientist."

Now that the movie has been out for a while what are your comments? I saw it tonight and was seriously underwhelmed.

I saw it a few weeks ago. It is a movie that interests us, but it seems to be like how the Bolden Movie turned out, kind of disconnected. The way his laboratory was set up through the movie did not seem right at all, the timeline was all over the place. I think most of this Edison bashing though is a political stunt to undermine every historical character in the U.S., to bring up their flaws instead of accomplishments. It did though a touch on the grief Edison felt when he lost Mary. Dr. Paul Israel told me that several letters from Tesla to Edison are at the laboratory in Orange and they are friendly letters. Yes, Tesla in public was vocal against Edison, but it was more of how you get ahead in a capitalist world, competition my fellow constituents competition. You can still be friends, to a certain extent and be a competitor. Edison's ways are not any different than Microsoft or Apple. It did though show that financially both were backed by Morgan.