The Life of Emile Zola: Difference between revisions

no edit summary
(Created page as a stub, using the LOC's National Film Registry brief description (which is in the public domain))
 
No edit summary
Line 3:
{{Needs Image}}
 
[[MGM]] was the studio generally associated with "prestige" pictures -- those with lavish sets and costumes, often boasting literary source material. However, for '''''The Life of Emile Zola''''', the high-brow opulence is courtesy of [[Warner Bros]]., typically known for modern "ripped-from-the-headlines" stories, and the experiment in grandeur earned the studio an [[Academy Award|Oscar]] for Best Picture and another for best screenplay.
 
William Dieterle directed [[Paul Muni]] as French novelist [[w:Émile Zola|Émile Zola]], who defends the falsely-accused Captain Dreyfus ([[Joseph Schildkraut]] in an Oscar-winning performance). The [[w:Dreyfus affair|Dreyfus affair]], which was a cause célèbre of antisemitism during the latter years of the Nineteenth Century, formed an exciting climax to Zola's career as a champion of truth and liberty, and is, consequently, the dramatic highlight of this film biography.