Film Review: The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
In 1936 Warner Bros. produced The Story of Louis Pasteur, a film which is considered to be one the first grand biopics in history of Hollywood. A year later Warner Bros. repeated a formula by reuniting director William Dieterle with Oscar-winning actor Paul Muni who would play another great figure of 19th Century French history in The Life of Emile Zola.
In the film Muni plays famous French author Emile Zola. The plot begins in 1862 Paris where Zola as young struggling writer lives in an attic with his best friend, young struggling painter Paul Cezanne (played by Vladimir Sokoloff). His fortunes begin to change when he is a given a desk job in publishing house which allows him to write in his spare time. The subject of his writing – plight of the poor, wretched and marginalised, as well as corruption within government and military – seems unattractive and draws ire of censors. However, chance encounter with prostitute called Nana (played by Erin O’Brien Moore) inspires Zola to write a novel which would, despite its scandalous content, become bestseller and bring him fame and fortune. Years later, Zola lives comfortable life and is all but ready to retire when another event starts a major scandal that would almost tear France apart. French General Staff discovers that one of its officers have been providing secrets to Germany and, without actually bothering to properly investigate matter, pick Captain Alfred Dreyfus (played by Joseph Schildkraut) as the most convenient perpetrator, try him for treason, deprive him of his rank and send to spend the rest of his life at Devil’s Island in infamous penal colony of French Guayana. Dreyfus maintains his innocence, but, even after French military brass discovers that the real spy was aristocratic Major Esterhazy (played by Robert Barrat), it chooses to acquit him in trial solely in order to save themselves from embarrassment. Dreyfus’ wife Lucie (played by Gale Sondergaard) comes to Zola and pleads to join her campaign to exonerate her husband. Zola agrees and publishes his most famous work – “J’accuse”, an open letter to French President in which attacks the top military officials for their shameful handling of Dreyfus. Generals react by suing Zola for label, which Zola sees as an opportunity to publicly expose scandal in the courtroom.
Dreyfus Affair ended three decades before the production of the film, but The Life of Emile Zola was actually quite relevant film for its time. Its premiere coincided with Great Purge in Soviet Union, during which tens of thousands of Red Army officers suffered similar (or in most cases worse) fate than Alfred Dreyfus. The reason why Dreyfus and not any other officer was chosen for the scapegoat was Dreyfus’ Jewish background; later, when the affair became public, anti-Dreyfus sentiments in French public were fuelled by rampant anti-Semitism, very much like the one that would gain ground in many countries during Great Depression, including Germany where it became part of official Nazi policy. 1937 film was, therefore, both a piece of entertainment and the warning about how bigotry and intolerance can wreck the innocent man and how it is difficult to right the wrongs caused by it. On the other hand, producer Henry Blanke and Warner Bros. were very careful not to make those views too explicit. Words like “Jew” and “anti-Semitism” are never uttered in the film and names of many real life historical personalities are simply replaced with their official titles in an obvious attempt to prevent lawsuits from those persons or their relatives. Script, while generally faithful to the historical detail, occasionally strays from the facts and rearranges certain events for dramatic purposes.
Despite those flaws, The Life of Emile Zola represents a very good recreation of history. Director Dieterle has built on his experience on previous film and handles Emile Zola better than he handled Louis Pasteur. The plot’s structure is more compact, divided in two parts – first one, that introduces Zola and his early work and career, lasting roughly half an hour; and second part, which is more than twice longer and deals almost exclusively with Dreyfus Affair. Paul Muni, who won Oscar for playing Pasteur, delivers another grand performance. Known for meticulously preparing his roles, he has read all Zola’s books and grew beard in order to attain as much physical resemblance with famous French author as possible. But it is his passionate speech at the courtroom that shows Muni’s talent at his best; it was so good that it received standing ovation from cast and crew on the set. Muni’s great performance is accompanied by Joseph Schildkraut who almost steals the film in smaller, but effective role of an officer who is falsely accused, publicly disgraced and forced to endure humiliating incarceration while claiming innocence and hoping that the history would absolve him of any guilt. Schildkraut won Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, one of three The Life of Emile Zola would gather following unprecedented ten nominations – for Best Picture and Best Screenplay. Film also benefits from minimalist but effective musical score by Max Steiner, one of the greatest composers of Classic Hollywood.
Although in today’s cynical world the name of Emile Zola might not mean much to anyone other French Literature students, this film is nevertheless relevant to our times. Bigotry, scandalous corruption within government circles, and innocent people being persecuted are, despite decades of progress, are the fact of life in modern world as they were in time when this film was made.
RATING: 8/10 (+++)
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