The Basics – The Life of Emile Zola (1937) – Director – William Dieterle; Paul Muni, Gale Sondergaard, Joseph Schildkraut; Run Time – 116 mins. – Biography, Drama – “The biopic of the famous French muckraking writer and his involvement in fighting the injustice of the Dreyfuss Affair.”
Prior Knowledge
Kristy – The only thing I know is that Emile Zola was a well-known French author and activist.
Koob – The only knowledge that I have of this movie was what I read on Wikipedia about Emile Zola; that he was a French writer and that he wrote “J’accuse” and was involved in the Dreyfus Affair
Fun Facts from IMDB
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.
Considered highly contentious in France, the film wasn’t granted a proper release in that country until 1952
Viewing Source – Amazon Instant Video ($2.99 rental)
Post Viewing Responses
Ratings (with 1 star = the worst and 5 stars = the best)
Koob: 2 stars
Kristy: 2 atars
Double Gobble Score: 2 stars
The Takeaway: A fairly standard biopic with some solid acting and an interesting history lesson.