Juarez (1939)

Juarez (1939)

A biography of a Benito Juarez (played by Paul Muni) the leader who fought to evict France e.g. Napoleon III (Claude Rains) and his empire from his native Mexico. Bette Davis plays Empress Carlotta wife of Napoleon’s newly appointed ruler of the land Maximilian (Brian Aherne who received his only Academy recognition a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination). But Juarez is supported by Abraham Lincoln who urges Napoleon to withdraw his support for Maximilian. Carlotta returns to France to try and influence Napoleon to the contrary but proves to be mentally unbalanced. John Garfield plays one of Juarez’s generals the somewhat overzealous Diaz who gets to know Maximilian. Gale Sondergaard plays Napoleon’s wife. The cast also includes Donald Crisp Joseph Calleia Henry O’Neill Louis Calhern and more. Could have been better should have been better but still pretty good and worth seeing. Directed by William Dieterle (The Life of Emile Zola (1937)) with a screenplay by John Huston Aeneas MacKenzie and Wolfgang Reinhardt that was fashioned from Bertita Harding’s novel and Franz Werfel’s play. The film also received a nomination for Tony Gaudio’s (Anthony Adverse (1936)) B&W Cinematography Oscar.

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