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The Life of Emile Zola
[1937] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Starring: Paul Muni, Gale Sondergaard, Joseph Schildkraut, Gloria Holden, Donald Crisp
Director: William Dieterle
Format: Closed-captioned Colour DVD-Video Full Screen Subtitled NTSC
Released: 01 Feb 2005
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Muni at his best in classic barnstorming period biopic - By: Trevor Willsmer, 12 Dec 2006
'The Life of Emile Zola' is more about the Dreyfuss affair than the author's life - only 'Nana' is given more than a passing nod ('Germinal' gets 30 seconds of screentime while the rest of his novels are dismissed in a montage of covers) while his demise is signposted from the very first scene - & it does falll prey to the usual biopic problems ("Nana, pull up a chair next to Cezanne"), but it's such terrific entertainment, who cares? Muni is great value as Zola, much like the offscreen young Chaplin in the early scenes before becoming the great man of letters, where he walks the tightrope between over & underplaying, & he's given two great setpiece speeches - J'accuse & his address to the court - that are foolproof crowdpleasers that he handles with relish & aplomb. It's like one of Warners' crusading social issue pictures that just happens to have been set in the late 19th century & shot on an epic scale, & it has an immediacy & sense of moral outrage that is surprisingly powerful & deeply felt & even, ultimately, quite moving. Dated, yes, but undeniably impressive stuff despite Donald Crisp's very unfortunate haircut.

The DVD is a great package - a good transfer plus traler & radio adaptation & a couple of incongrous short films - that is well worth adding to any classic collection.