Genius on Hold

2013 • 91 minutes

About this movie

Narrated by Academy-Award Nominated Frank Langella, Genius On Hold is the story of Walter L. Shaw - a brilliant telecommunications inventor who created call forwarding, touchtone dialing, speakerphone, voice recognition, the presidential "red phone" and many other creations we use every day. He held over 39 patents and his creations should have earned him great fortune and lasting fame. Instead, this brilliant man was held down by corporate greed and government monopolies and ended up so desperate to provide for his family he ended up working for the mafia; creating the infamous "black box." His unimaginable decline led his son, Walter T. Shaw to turn to a life of crime rising to become the world's most notorious jewel-thief.

Ratings and reviews

Excellent documentary about the problems with corporate monopolies that are really about greed instead of providing a standard universal service.