IMDb RATING
7.2/10
9.2K
YOUR RATING
The biopic of the famous French muckraking writer and his involvement in fighting the injustice of the Dreyfus Affair.The biopic of the famous French muckraking writer and his involvement in fighting the injustice of the Dreyfus Affair.The biopic of the famous French muckraking writer and his involvement in fighting the injustice of the Dreyfus Affair.
- Won 3 Oscars
- 8 wins & 7 nominations total
Erin O'Brien-Moore
- Nana
- (as Erin O'Brien Moore)
Best Picture Winners by Year
Best Picture Winners by Year
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis was the first film to break double digits in Academy Award nominations, receiving an astonishing ten nods.
- GoofsThe young Zola is shown sharing a garret with Paul Cezanne. While they were friends, they did not live together in Paris. Also, they are shown as being friends long after Zola published the novel L'Oeuvre, whose main character is based on Cezanne. In fact, the book ended their friendship.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Breakdowns of 1938 (1938)
- SoundtracksLa Marseillaise
(1792) (uncredited)
Written by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle
Variations often in the score
Featured review
This is the most un WB-like 1930s Warner Brothers film I've ever seen..
... and I've seen a lot of them, in particular the precodes.
Warner Brothers did make heavy use of Paul Muni in the 1930s, particularly in their prestige pictures, capitalizing on his ability to completely physically transform into a role, and he uses that talent here, where he plays Emil Zola. The odd casting includes two actors well known as portraying villains - Joseph Schildkraut and Gale Sondergaard - as Captain Alfred Dreyfus, the wrongly accused and convicted member of the French army and his faithful wife, trying to find somebody who will help him, even after he is shipped out to Devil's Island. They are the only two completely likeable characters in the film, with the images of other treacherous characters they had portrayed somehow erased by their performances.
Even Zola is not likeable through the entirety of the film. He starts out likeable, shown in his youth, looking for, finding, and writing about topics on injustice, but then he grows complacent as he ages, to the point that when Mrs. Dreyfus comes to him for help when he is late in life at first he resists her plea. But her case is compelling and he quickly changes his mind.
The other thing I noticed in this film - It sure is good to be an American and have protections for free speech. Throughout his career Zola comes up against state censors who try to suppress his writings if they make France look bad. Then whenZola takes up Dreyfus' case he is prosecuted for "criminal libel" which is basically a law against making France look bad, with even the judge in the matter seeming to be in cahoots. No wonder the officers involved felt free to keep Dreyfus imprisoned even after they found out who the actual spy was.
I'd recommend this film as a worthwhile watch, but I'm not sure it was the best film of 1937. I'd probably give that honor to The Awful Truth.
Warner Brothers did make heavy use of Paul Muni in the 1930s, particularly in their prestige pictures, capitalizing on his ability to completely physically transform into a role, and he uses that talent here, where he plays Emil Zola. The odd casting includes two actors well known as portraying villains - Joseph Schildkraut and Gale Sondergaard - as Captain Alfred Dreyfus, the wrongly accused and convicted member of the French army and his faithful wife, trying to find somebody who will help him, even after he is shipped out to Devil's Island. They are the only two completely likeable characters in the film, with the images of other treacherous characters they had portrayed somehow erased by their performances.
Even Zola is not likeable through the entirety of the film. He starts out likeable, shown in his youth, looking for, finding, and writing about topics on injustice, but then he grows complacent as he ages, to the point that when Mrs. Dreyfus comes to him for help when he is late in life at first he resists her plea. But her case is compelling and he quickly changes his mind.
The other thing I noticed in this film - It sure is good to be an American and have protections for free speech. Throughout his career Zola comes up against state censors who try to suppress his writings if they make France look bad. Then whenZola takes up Dreyfus' case he is prosecuted for "criminal libel" which is basically a law against making France look bad, with even the judge in the matter seeming to be in cahoots. No wonder the officers involved felt free to keep Dreyfus imprisoned even after they found out who the actual spy was.
I'd recommend this film as a worthwhile watch, but I'm not sure it was the best film of 1937. I'd probably give that honor to The Awful Truth.
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Story of Emile Zola
- Filming locations
- Goff Island, Laguna Beach, California, USA(Devil's Island scenes)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 56 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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By what name was The Life of Emile Zola (1937) officially released in India in English?
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