The Life of Emile Zola
1937 film by William Dieterle · Released 1937
The Life of Emile Zola is a 1937 American biographical film about the 19th-century French author Émile Zola starring Paul Muni and directed by William Dieterle. It premiered at the Los Angeles Carthay Circle Theatre to great critical and financial success. Contemporary reviews ranked it as the greatest biographical film made up to that time. In 2000, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Produced during the Great Depression and after the Nazi Party had taken power in Germany, the film failed to explore the key issue of antisemitic injustice in France in the late 19th century, when Zola became involved in the Dreyfus affair and worked to gain the officer's release.
Cast ages at release (1937)
- Joseph Schildkraut, as Captain Alfred Dreyfus: 40–41
- Paul Muni, as Émile Zola: 41–42
- Gale Sondergaard, as Lucie Dreyfus: 37–38
- Gloria Holden, as Alexandrine Zola: 33–34
- Donald Crisp, as Maitre Labori: 54–55
- Henry O'Neill, as Colonel Picquart: 45–46
- Louis Calhern, as Major Dort: 41–42
- Ralph Morgan, as Commander of Paris: 53–54
- Robert Barrat, as Major Walsin-Esterhazy: 47–48
- Vladimir Sokoloff, as Paul Cézanne: 47–48
- Grant Mitchell, as Georges Clemenceau: 62–63
- Harry Davenport, as Chief of Staff: 70–71
- Robert Warwick, as Major Henry: 58–59
- Paul Everton, as Assistant Chief of Staff: 68–69
- Montagu Love, as M. Cavaignac: 59–60
- Marcia Mae Jones, as Helen Richards: 12–13
- Dickie Moore, as Pierre Dreyfus: 11–12
- Charles Richman, as M. Delagorgue: 71–72
- Erin O'Brien-Moore, as Nana: 34–35
- Florence Roberts, as Madame Zola: 75–76
- Gilbert Emery, as Minister of War: 61–62
- John Litel, as Charpentier: 44–45
- Lumsden Hare, as Mr. Richards: 62–63
- Morris Carnovsky, as Anatole France: 39–40
- Walter Kingsford, as Colonel Sandherr: 54–55
- Frank Sheridan, as M. Van Cassell: 67–68