Young Tom Edison (DVD)

In the 1930s and early '40s, fans flocked to biopics. So Hollywood had a great idea: take the stars of Boys Town and reteam them ' with a twist ' to tell the compelling life story of America's greatest inventor, Thomas Edison. So Mickey Rooney portrayed Young Tom Edison and Spencer Tracy headlined Edison, the Man. The films opened two months apart, and each garnered huge, enthusiastic audiences. In this tale of Edison's youth, Tom's scientific curiosity and experiments gone wrong are subjects of scorn in his hometown... and in his family. Tom shows heroism in the face of great danger, and even invents a device to help the doctor save his mother's life. But will that be enough to win over the folks who call him addled?

Starring: Mickey Rooney, Fay Bainter, George Bancroft, Virginia Weidler, Eugene Pallette, Bobbie Jordan, J. M. Kerrigan, Clem Bevans, Eily Malyon, Harry Shannon, Wade Boteler, Joe Whitehead, J.M. Kerrigan, Victor Kilian, Lloyd Corrigan, John Kellogg, Mickey Rentschler, Sherwood Bailey, Mitchell Lewis, Marvin Stephens, Emory Parnell, Art Belasco, Olin Howland, Jack Daley, Claire McDowell, Frances Morris, Al Thompson, John Ince, Wally Maher, John Webb Dillon, Polly Bailey, Jessie Arnold, Mitchell Ingraham, Jack Baxley, Milton Kibbee, Maude Allen, Harry Strang, Stanley Blystone, Lee Phelps, Victor Potel, Eddie Chandler, John Beck, Sam Blum, Bud Fine, George Magrill, Forrest Taylor, Ernie Adams

Director: John W. Considine, Jr.