Film Review
With its lavish sets, ambitious action sequences and cast of over a
thousand,
Juarez was one of
Warner Brothers' most expensive productions - and it might have been a
masterpiece if the vanity of its star actor hadn't got in the
way. When he realised how small a part his character had in the
film, Paul Muni - one of the most highly paid actors in Hollywood at
the time - insisted that several additional scenes (taking up an extra
fifty pages of dialogue) be added to "beef up" his character. If
the film appears slow, uneven and at times boring, this is the reason
why.
Originally, the film - based on Bertita Harding's novel "The Phantom
Crown" - was to have centred on Emperor Maximilian and his wife
Carlotta. It was meant to tell the tragic tale of a man who,
discovering he has been duped into being a puppet emperor of the French,
attempts to rule Mexico with a fair hand, until events turn against
him. With Muni's heavy handed insertions, the film loses its
focus and at times feels like a laboured polemic on the virtues of
democracy over imperialist dictatorships.
The film has its strengths, scoring very highly in the art design and
cinematography departments. There are also some great
performances, the best by some margin being Brian Aherne's sympathetic
portrayal of the ill-fated Emperor Maximilian (for which the actor
earned an Oscar nomination). Bette Davis veers close to
over theatricality in her early scenes but redeems herself later on
when her character slides into paranoid insanity and all but steals the
show. Claude Rains is a surprising but effective choice for
the part of Napoleon III, the actor's best portrayal of villainy since
his appearance - or rather
non-appearance
- in
The Invsible Man
(1933). The only cuckoo in the nest is the heavily made-up
Paul Muni - his phlegmatic characterisation and drawn out delivery just
about drains the life out of the film and, come to that, anyone
watching it.
Juarez may not be perfect but
on the scales of artistic merit its virtues outweight its sins. One of the
interesting things about this film is its frequent allusions to the
events that were taking place in Europe at the time. There are
several references to the impending conflict between democracy and
fascism, and Napoleon III is often likened to Hitler - notably in
the chillingly expressionistic scene where Bette Davis sees him transformed
into the Devil.
© James Travers 2008
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next William Dieterle film:
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
Film Synopsis
1864. When Mexico reneges on its debt payments, the Emperor
Napoleon III of France sends an army to depose the Mexican president
Benito Juarez and take control of the country. Maximilian of
Habsburg, Archduke of Austria, is appointed Emperor of Mexico, not
realising that the French have rigged the outcome of a plebiscite to
favour imperial rule. The Mexicans' sympathies remain with Juarez
and they are determined to see him reinstated as president...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.