I recognised the title of this film as one of the films featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I didn't really know what it would be about, but I was hoping it would be a deserved entry. Based on the true story, it is the fictionalised account of the life of famed 19th century French novelist, playwright and journalist Emile Zola (Oscar nominated Paul Muni). Zola was a penniless writer sharing an apartment in Paris with painter Paul Cezanne (Vladimir Sokoloff) until he wrote and published his bestselling novel Nana. Zola has struggled to hold a job as he is outspoken and has been warned several times by a public prosecutor he could face charges if he does not moderate his writings. The main plot of the film is his involvement in the court case of Captain Alfred Dreyfus (Oscar winning Joseph Schildkraut) who is wrongly accused of giving secret military information to the Germans, he is falsely convicted as being a traitor, court marshalled and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. The prosecution and defence question the various people involved in the case, and Zola plays his part, but sufficient evidence from the military is found that proves Dreyfus is innocent. In the end the army decided to cover it up rather than face the scandal of having arbitrarily convicted the wrong man, and Zola dies of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning due to a faulty stove, the day before Dreyfus is exonerated. Also starring Gale Sondergaard as Lucie Dreyfus, Gloria Holden as Alexandrine Zola, Donald Crisp as Maitre Labori, Erin O'Brien-Moore as Nana, Robert Barrat as Major Walsin-Esterhazy, John Litel as Charpentier, Henry O'Neill as Colonel Georges Picquart, Morris Carnovsky as Anatole France and Louis Calhern as Major Dort. Muni is very similar to Lon Chaney, in that he always played parts under makeup, he gives a very good performance putting on the accent and being eccentric, and Schildkraut deserved his Oscar for the captain professing his innocence, I will admit the political stuff goes a little over my head, but I found the courtroom scenes and other bits interesting, I can see I suppose why it got the accolades it did, overall it's a worthwhile biographical drama. It won the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay, and it was nominated for Best Director for William Dieterle, Best Writing, Original Story, Best Art Direction, Best Sound, Recording, Best Assistant Director Best Music for Leo F. Forbstein and Max Steiner. Good!

. . . was cleverly disguised as a general interest Bio-Pic--THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA. This movie glosses over most of Zola's biography, doing the bare minimum to establish him as one of France's most famous and beloved citizens (with no particular affinity for Jewish people). Then he blows the whistle on all the top generals of his country's anti-Semitic Army, which has framed a random Jewish Army captain (Alfred Dreyfuss) for the treasonous espionage crimes of a Christian colonel. Though the colonel is a bitter malcontent turned German spy caught red-handed, the French Army refuses to admit its general incompetence in overlooking such an obvious and damaging traitor so high up on its general staff for so long. Instead, it rips uninvolved bystander Alfred away from his family to an all-but-certain death-by-torture on Devil's (Prison) Island. Just as many if not most Americans, when polled, say they now believe two Texas oil men then in the White House allowed if not facilitated the 9-11 Attacks, Hollywood's non-Christian elite knew that France in the late 1930s was so anti-Semitic that they would welcome any Nazis crossing the French border with open arms, helping them to herd French Jews to whatever form of doom German brains formulated. This, of course, actually came to pass as feared within a few years of ZOLA's release, as the French took a full measure of revenge against their Jews for being so embarrassed internationally by the so-called Dreyfuss Affair. I own copies of Readers' Digest Magazine from this period containing articles which predict most if not all of the main events of WWII, including the "sneak" attack on Pearl Harbor (let me emphasize these warning stories were published in many of America's leading magazines months and years before the Nostradamus-like predictions came true!). Obviously, the non-Christian segment of Hollywood moguls--as well as the Academy (which voted ZOLA "Best Picture" of 1937) read their Readers' Digests. ZOLA is even gassed to death himself at the end of this warning cry, showing that the screenwriters knew Germans would prove too cheap to eradicate their millions of victims with individual bullets. As history teaches us, Hitler controlled the oddly nicknamed "Grand Old Party" in the U.S. Congress, making European Jews "toast"--despite Hollywood's brave efforts to save millions (for which these same Fascists punished most of the Hollywood heroes the minute WWII ended, with the infamous American "Blacklists," as well as a long string of suspicious and shockingly premature deaths among Tinsel Town's human rights sympathizers as names like Wayne, Heston, Kazan, and Reagan came to control American culture and the White House for nearly a century to come).

Okay, before I begin my review, here's a quick little correction I have to make regarding my Great Ziegfeld review...twice: This film is not a Musical. I apologize for the mix-up; they have 2 things in common: A similar-sounding title (I always got them mixed up), and a specific genre they supposedly share (again, I always got them mixed up). And that genre is the Biopic, or Character Study as it were.And speaking of which, it was actually better than I thought going into this thing, but I don't know if I'd call it good. I'd certainly watch it over Cavalcade or The Great Ziegfeld, but how many times? What is it about? Well, the title is quite self-explanatory in that light, only trimmed down for our benefit (unlike Ziegfeld), but the question one should ask in this case is, who is Emile Zola? Well, Emile Zola was a French Author and his prolific writing career, including his friendship with French painter Paul Cezanne, and his involvement in the Dreyfuss Affair in which (an espionage-related scandal during the Militarized state of 19th Century France) he plays a part in until his untimely death. There's more to the story, obviously, but if you're curious, you could do one of 2 things: Research on the matter yourself, or see the movie.Now is it worth seeing? Well, I'll get to that later. The movie is written okay, it is directed okay, heck, even the acting is pretty darn good for its time. I can at least see why it won Best Picture in 1937, and it is a rather important film in the Biopic genre as it led to the Academy's recognition of the genre in a serious light. The cinematography and art direction is pretty good too (for the time), but it at least does well in the most important elements of the Character Study: The acting and the writing. However, the film, while important, is quickly dwarfed 4 years later by a film regarded as the Best ever made (which I'll cover later).With all that said and done, I would probably only recommend this film to hardcore film buffs, fans of character studies as a whole, and those who might be interested in, in more ways than one, the actual life of Emile Zola. This film does have an audience to this day; in fact, back in 2000, it was one of 25 films selected by the National Film Registry for immortalization in the Library of Congress. So it's not like the film is awful or unwatchable. Personally, it's not my thing, but people like it okay, so why ruin it for others. Take it for what it's worth; I'll give it a 6 out of 10.

"The Life of Emile Zola" won the Academy Award for best picture in 1937, thus earning Warner Bros. their first such honour. While ostensibly a biography, the film focuses mainly on Zola's involvement in the infamous Dreyfus affair, wherein he challenged the French government in an attempt to clear the name of a military officer falsely accused of treason.Of the three Oscars that the film won, perhaps the most significant was the award for best writing, screenplay. Co-writers Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg & Norman Reilly Raine may have taken a few liberties with the truth (which, frankly, is to be expected) but their script stays true to the spirit of the man and his outrage at the injustice perpetrated by the French military. While some have complained that the story is bland and over-earnest I found it compelling, perhaps in part because I wasn't familiar with the Dreyfus case except on a superficial level.Zola is portrayed by Paul Muni and I'd have to say that he did an excellent job. While some of his acting is a bit bold for today's tastes he nevertheless imbued his character with authenticity and passion. He justly received an Oscar nomination for his performance but Joseph Schildkraut did him one better by actually winning an Oscar for his supporting role as Captain Dreyfus. While I don't really recall anything that made him stand out I will say that the general level of acting on display was admirable.Longtime director William Dieterle garnered the only Oscar nomination of his career for his workmanlike direction here. The film was also recognized for its art direction, sound and score (by Max Steiner). In general, the film shows the polish of a serious production in all areas, a fact no doubt instrumental in landing the film its Best Picture Oscar.In conclusion, I found "The Life of Emile Zola" to be a satisfying film but I can understand why some deride it. It might have been better served by focusing solely on the Dreyfus affair but that would rob the film of important character development. In the end, what makes the film memorable to me is the passion in the writing and the acting that comes through on screen.