The review about this product
I saw this documentary in my local art-house theatre here in Cincinnati last April, and now 6+ months later, I am very surprised that Amazon still does not have this listed yet as a future DVD release (which it usually does for movies which have played in the theatres). But to avoid any misunderstanding: this is a review of the MOVIE, not the poster.
"Genius On Hold" (2013 release; 90 min.) is a documentary from writer-director Gregory Marquette, looking at the life and times of an inventor, Walter Shaw, who worked at AT&T (a legal monopoly of the entire telephone system in the country until its forced break-up in the early 80s) in the 1940s and 50s, and how upon leaving AT&T to start his own telephone business, he is thwarted and obstructed by AT&T on multiple occasions from doing so. As the movie reminds us, Shaw was a prolific inventor, eventually obtaining 39 patents for things like conference calling, forward calling, voice-activated speaker phones, etc. The second story line in the documentary is how all of this impacted Walter's family, and in particular his son Thiel, who eventually (for reasons I really don't want to explain here) ends up working for organized crime.
Several comments: separate and apart from the immediate story of the Shaw family (which in and of itself is quite compelling), the movie focuses on the bigger implcations of the interplay between big business (AT&T) and government (Congress voting to establish a legal monopoly), and more importantly, whether this can happen again, or in fact is it already happening (the financial industry's giant swindle during the crisis a few years ago). This documentary raises some very pointed questions in that regard. Concepts like "corporatism" vs. "capitalism" get examined closely, with chilling results. Walter's kids, Thiel and Linda, are interviewed extensively for this documentary, and Frank Langella is the narrator. Please note that Thiel is one of the producers of this documentary, so the Shaws' story is perhaps slanted in a certain way, but it doesn't take anything away from the bigger picture issues. I love a good documentary and I would readily recommend this. The screening I saw this at here in Cincinnati was poorly attended, and this ended up playing only for a week. Do not miss it when the DVD comes out!
