The Life of Emile Zola (1937)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

William Dieterle

Writers:

Norman Reilly Raine (screenplay) &
Heinz Herald (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

2 October 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

He'll Hold You In Silence As Deep As Your Emotions !

Plot:

The biopic of the famous French muckraking writer and his involvement in fighting the injustice of the Dreyfuss Affair.

Plot Keywords:

Writer | Devil's Island | Writing | Paris France | Court Martial

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Paul Muni	...	Emile Zola
Gale Sondergaard	...	Lucie Dreyfus
Joseph Schildkraut	...	Capt. Alfred Dreyfus
Gloria Holden	...	Alexandrine Zola
Donald Crisp	...	Maitre Labori
Erin O'Brien-Moore	...	Nana (as Erin O'Brien Moore)
John Litel	...	Charpentier
Henry O'Neill	...	Colonel Picquart
Morris Carnovsky	...	Anatole France
Louis Calhern	...	Major Dort
Ralph Morgan	...	Commander of Paris
Robert Barrat	...	Major Walsin-Esterhazy
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Paul Cezanne
Grant Mitchell	...	Georges Clemenceau
Harry Davenport	...	Chief of Staff
Robert Warwick	...	Major Henry
Charles Richman	...	M. Delagorgue
Gilbert Emery	...	Minister of War
Walter Kingsford	...	Colonel Sandherr
Paul Everton	...	Assistant Chief of Staff
Montagu Love	...	M. Cavaignac
Frank Sheridan	...	M. Van Cassell
Lumsden Hare	...	Mr. Richards
Marcia Mae Jones	...	Helen Richards
Florence Roberts	...	Madame Zola
Dickie Moore	...	Pierre Dreyfus
Rolla Gourvitch	...	Jeanne Dreyfus
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Arthur Aylesworth	...	Chief Censor (uncredited)
Maurice Black	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Stanley Blystone	...	(uncredited)
Egon Brecher	...	Brucker (uncredited)
Iphigenie Castiglioni	...	Madame Charpentier (uncredited)
Robert Cummings Sr.	...	Gen. Gillian (uncredited)
Frank Darien	...	Albert (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum	...	(uncredited)
Holmes Herbert	...	Commander of Paris (uncredited)
Paul Irving	...	La Rue (uncredited)
Alexander Leftwich	...	Maj. D'Aboville (uncredited)
Eric Mayne	...	Member of the Court (uncredited)
Frank Mayo	...	Mathieu Dreyfus (uncredited)
Alex Novinsky	...	Member of the Court (uncredited)
Moroni Olsen	...	Capt. Guignet (uncredited)
Frank Reicher	...	M. Perrenx (uncredited)
Walter O. Stahl	...	Sen. Scheurer-Kestner (uncredited)
Wilhelm von Brincken	...	Swartzoppen (uncredited)
Pierre Watkin	...	Prefect of Police (uncredited)
Harry Worth	...	Lieutenant (uncredited)

Directed by
William Dieterle

Writing credits
Norman Reilly Raine		(screenplay) &
Heinz Herald		(screenplay) &
Geza Herczeg		(screenplay)
Heinz Herald		(story) and
Geza Herczeg		(story)
Matthew Josephson		(source material "Zola and His Time")

Original Music by
Max Steiner

Cinematography by
Tony Gaudio		(photography)

Film Editing by
Warren Low

Art Direction by
Anton Grot

Set Decoration by
Albert C. Wilson

Costume Design by
Milo Anderson
Ali Hubert

Makeup Department
Perc Westmore	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Irving Rapper	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Harper Goff	....	set designer (uncredited)

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	musical director
Hugo Friedhofer	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Irving Rapper	....	dialogue director

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1937) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:G (video rating) | Brazil:Livre | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #3212)

Filming Locations:

Goff Island, Laguna Beach, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The film was shot in reverse order; Paul Muni grew his own beard for the role, and it was trimmed and darkened as he proceeded to scenes where Zola is younger. His makeup took 3-1/2 hours to apply each morning.

Quotes:

Émile Zola: [reading from his letter "I Accuse"] I shall tell the truth. Because if I did not, my nights would be haunted by the spectre of an innocent man expiating under the most frightful torture a crime he never committed.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Majestic (2001)

A Well-Crafted, Worthwhile Memorial to Zola

This well-crafted film is a worthwhile memorial to Émile Zola, one of the finest writers of his era, and one who deserves to be better-known today outside of his own country. It seems likely that Zola, a naturalistic writer who always used lifelike, genuine characters who had both strengths and weaknesses, would probably have been satisfied with the way he is portrayed by Paul Muni and by the screenplay. Zola is shown not as a flawless hero or as a larger-than-life icon, but as a real person with a talent for writing, who was willing to struggle both to establish himself and to remain true to his principles.

The movie makes a good selection of events from Zola's life, looking both at his earlier years, when he was struggling to establish himself, and at his later years, when as a respected member of society he had to fight his own reluctance to remain true to his ideals. The supporting cast have smaller parts, but they generally do quite well. Vladimir Sokoloff has a couple of nice scenes as Cézanne, and his interactions with Muni are quite helpful in defining the main character, especially as he changes once attaining personal success. Joseph Schildkraut makes good use of his scenes as Dreyfus.

Zola's lifetime was also an interesting and often tumultuous period in France's own history, and the movie provides at least a small taste of that.

There was, for example, even more to the Dreyfus situation than is shown here, but it and other historical events are shown mainly as they involved Zola himself - otherwise, to do justice to the events in themselves, the movie would have had to be several times as long. There's plenty here as it is to make it worthwhile, both as a good drama and as a believable portrait of Zola.