The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
This movie was so stinky, I actually had to split it into three installments to finish watching it. It was only for love of Paul Muni that I did finish it, otherwise I surely would have turned it off and never turned it back on again. The Life of Emile Zola won Oscars for Best Picture of 1937, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Joseph Schildkraut, who only had about seven minutes of screen time. Paul was nominated for Best Actor, and Max Steiner’s lousy music was honored with a nomination as well.
I’ve never been one to sympathize with starving artists, or radical muckrakers, so it’s no wonder Emile Zola’s life story left me cold. Paul Muni, normally an extremely good-looking man, once again donned tons of age makeup to become unattractive. If you’ve never seen him in a movie, don’t start with this one, otherwise you’ll never have a crush on him. The film follows Zola from his youth as he starved in a drafty attic before his writing had been discovered, through his chance meeting with Nana, the prostitute he wrote about in his first book, to his involvement in the accusation of treason of a French officer, Dreyfuss. While he is very convincing as an old man, he doesn’t even attempt to put on a French accent, and the script doesn’t give him much to do besides shout and complain.
As long as I’m talking about the script, it’s very uneven and choppy. One life event cuts to another, without any transitional scene to connect them. The dialogue is unrealistic and feels like a first draft. With all the competition that year, In Old Chicago, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Good Earth, The Hurricane, and Lost Horizon, I’m surprised this film was nominated for any awards.
Want to watch it? Click here to watch it on ok.ru. And thanks "Classic Movies Kristine Rose" for posting!
More Paul Muni movies here!
I’ve never been one to sympathize with starving artists, or radical muckrakers, so it’s no wonder Emile Zola’s life story left me cold. Paul Muni, normally an extremely good-looking man, once again donned tons of age makeup to become unattractive. If you’ve never seen him in a movie, don’t start with this one, otherwise you’ll never have a crush on him. The film follows Zola from his youth as he starved in a drafty attic before his writing had been discovered, through his chance meeting with Nana, the prostitute he wrote about in his first book, to his involvement in the accusation of treason of a French officer, Dreyfuss. While he is very convincing as an old man, he doesn’t even attempt to put on a French accent, and the script doesn’t give him much to do besides shout and complain.
As long as I’m talking about the script, it’s very uneven and choppy. One life event cuts to another, without any transitional scene to connect them. The dialogue is unrealistic and feels like a first draft. With all the competition that year, In Old Chicago, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Good Earth, The Hurricane, and Lost Horizon, I’m surprised this film was nominated for any awards.
Want to watch it? Click here to watch it on ok.ru. And thanks "Classic Movies Kristine Rose" for posting!
More Paul Muni movies here!