Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet

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Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet

film by Dieterle [1940]

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Last updated

July 23, 2026

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The film Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet, directed by William Dieterle in 1940, is a biographical drama about the German scientist Paul Ehrlich. Edward G. Robinson stars as Ehrlich, who pioneered work in hematology, immunology, and chemotherapy. The film highlights Ehrlich's groundbreaking discovery of the first effective treatment for syphilis, a discovery he famously referred to as a "magic bullet". This scientific achievement revolutionized medical diagnostics and therapeutics, laying the foundation for modern chemotherapy.12

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William Dieterle
Warner Brothers
Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (1940) was another tasteful screen biography; Edward G. Robinson starred as the German scientist who discovered a cure for syphilis, and Ruth Gordon played his wife. A Dispatch from Reuter’s (1940) featured Robinson as yet another famous 19th-century German, the founder
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Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (1940) was another tasteful screen biography; Edward G. Robinson starred as the German scientist who discovered a cure for syphilis, and Ruth Gordon played his wife. A Dispatch from Reuter’s (1940) featured Robinson as yet another famous 19th-century German, the founder
Read More

Ruth Gordon
Mary Todd Lincoln; William Dieterle’s Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (1940); Two-Faced Woman (1941; Greta Garbo’s final film); Edge of Darkness (1942); and Action in the North Atlantic (1943), with Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey. She then returned to the stage and did not appear in another movie for 22
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Mary Todd Lincoln; William Dieterle’s Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (1940); Two-Faced Woman (1941; Greta Garbo’s final film); Edge of Darkness (1942); and Action in the North Atlantic (1943), with Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey. She then returned to the stage and did not appear in another movie for 22
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John Huston
Films of the 1940s
…then cowrote three exceptional films: Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (1940) for Dieterle, High Sierra (1941) for Raoul Walsh, and Sergeant York (1941) for Howard Hawks, the last of which earned Huston his first Academy Award nomination, for best original screenplay in 1942.
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…then cowrote three exceptional films: Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (1940) for Dieterle, High Sierra (1941) for Raoul Walsh, and Sergeant York (1941) for Howard Hawks, the last of which earned Huston his first Academy Award nomination, for best original screenplay in 1942.
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Edward G. Robinson
…considered his title role in Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (1940) to be his best performance. The story of the doctor who found the cure for syphilis, the film was further proof that Robinson could give a distinguished performance even without a gun in his hand or a cigar in his…
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…considered his title role in Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet (1940) to be his best performance. The story of the doctor who found the cure for syphilis, the film was further proof that Robinson could give a distinguished performance even without a gun in his hand or a cigar in his…
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