One of Warner Brothers premiere big budget pictures from 1939—it is a really solid film- it just got swallowed up, historically, in the tsunami of great films from Hollywood’s golden year.
Muni is one of the original- if not THE original- shapeshifter actor who could disappear in a role like PSH or Gary Oldman- he’s a great chameleon- heavy makeup and prosthetics here- it’s really hard to believe he’s the same guy from scarface– fantastic range
Amazing supporting cast from Claude Rains to John Garfield, Bette Davis, Donald Crisp, Calhern, and others
Written by John Huston
Large epic battle sequences with lots of extras
3rd collaboration between Dieterle and Muni- the story of louis pasteur and the life of emile zola – biopics
There are two great forward dolly tracking shots near the end of the film- one is of bette davis laying down with light pouring in on her through the window and one is of a Mexican woman singing—and it’s shot from the emperor’s perspective behind bars and Dieterle shoots through the bars— both of these are really well done
[…] Juarez– Dieterle […]