Juarez **** (1939, Paul Muni, Claude Rains, Bette Davis, Gale Sondergaard, Brian Aherne, John Garfield) – Classic Movie Review 2704

Director William Dieterle’s stirring and starry 1939 historical epic stars Paul Muni as the Mexican lawyer, politician and revolutionary Benito Pablo Juárez García (21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872).

Juárez resisted the French occupation of Mexico, overthrew the  brought down the Mexican Emperor Maximilian von Hapsburg, restored the Republic, served as President of Mexico for five terms and used liberal measures to modernize the country.

Based on the novel The Phantom Crown by Bertita Harding and the play Juarez and Maximilian by Franz Werfel, it clearly aims at greatness – and it almost succeeds in achieving it. It’s a complex and difficult true-life story to compress into an intelligent 132 minutes and the unwieldy screenplay by Aeneas MacKenzie, John Huston and  Wolfgang Reinhardt betrays that difficulty at times.

MacKenzie’s initial script was long enough for two films, but Huston and Reinhardt cut and honed it, and Abem Finkel also worked uncredited on the dialogue. The film focuses on the conflict between Mexican President Juárez and Maximilian I, the European political dupe installed by the French as the puppet ruler of Mexico.

Dieterle, the maker of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), directs with his customary great meticulous skill and craftsmanship. Thanks to the lavish here Warner Bros budget, there are stunning sets and costumes, as well as a great score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who composed 3,000 bars of music, at times in the style of Frédéric Chopin and Franz Schubert.

The stars and an incredible 1,186 supporting players get to perform on 54 sets designed by art director Anton Grot and his assistant Leo Kuter. The largest is an 11-acre replica of Mexico built on a ranch in Calabasas.

On the acting front, there are fiery, sublime performances from Claude Rains (as Napoleon III), Bette Davis (his wife Carlota), Gale Sondergaard as Empress Eugénie and Brian Aherne (Maximilian), who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

But also notable are John Garfield as Porfirio Diaz, Donald Crisp as General Marechal Achille Bazaine, Joseph Calleia as Alejandro Uradi, Gilbert Roland as  Colonel Miguel Lopez, Louis Calhern as LeMarc, Walter Kingsford as Prince Klemens Metternich, Harry Davenport as  Dr Samuel Basch, and Henry O’Neill as General Miguel Miramon.

Only Muni’s stodgy and dated acting slightly lets the side down, though as he is the main star that is a problem. Makeup artist Perc Westmore transformed his face to resemble Juarez a process that took three hours each day, but studio head Jack L. Warner was unhappy with the results: ‘You mean we’re paying Muni all this dough and we can’t even recognize him?’ Muni was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, grew up in Chicago and started his acting career in the Yiddish theatre. It all a long way from Mexico.

Aherne lost to Thomas Mitchell in Stagecoach. Tony Gaudio was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Black and White Cinematography but lost to Gregg Toland for Wuthering Heights.

Davis welcomed the opportunity to portray an historical figure, even in a star support role, especially one who goes mad during a clash with Napoléon III.

Also in the smart cast are Grant Mitchell, Pedro de Cordoba, Montagu Love, Robert Warwick, John Miljan, Irving Pichel, Monte Blue and Vladimir Sokoloff.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2704

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