Customer Reviews

Juarez [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This 1939 film is an ambitious historical drama that, while based on history, takes creative license in dramatizing the story of Benito Juarez, the legendary Mexican freedom fighter who liberated the Mexican people from the French Empire and the puppet rule of the Habsburgs. Studded with an all star cast, it is an entertaining venture, though somewhat historically inaccurate.

Paul Muni in the role of the legendary Juarez eerily resembles the humble Mexican peasant of Indian stock who liberated the Mexican people from their foreign oppressors. Briane Aherne is almost saintly in the role of the doomed Maximilian Von Habsburg, who, having become head of the puppet government in a move engineered by the despotic Emporor of France, Louis Napoleon III (Claude Rains), believes that he and Juarez are not so far apart in their ideology, a belief with which Juarez begged to differ.

Bette Davis, surprisingly enough, looks positively beautiful as Maximilian's beloved wife, the tragic Carlotta, and does a wonderful job with this supporting role, understated until she becomes unbalanced towards the end, when the political perfidy of which she and her husband were victims becomes unbearable for her, causing her to go over the brink into madness.

Donald Crisp, Gilbert Roland, John Garfield, and Gale Sondergaard round out this excellent cast. The film is an intriguing blend of political propaganda, political correctness (for the time), and creative license. Still, it manages to capture the flavor of a Mexico desperate for independence from its European oppressors, the French and the Spanish Grandees and landowners, who looked down upon the predominantly Indian peons that constituted the majority of the Mexican people. All in all, it is a film well worth watching and one that will be enjoyed by all those who love classic, vintage films.

This movie really should have been called CARLOTTA AND MAXIMILIAN, because the doomy erstwhile emperor and empress get far more screentime than Juarez in this insane Hollywood concoction. Puppet emperors always make for interesting film stories (as in Bertolucci's THE LAST EMPEROR), but the Manichaean demands of classic Hollywood made Warner Brothers realize that no matter how much screen time they'd give to Bette Davis and Brian Aherne as the Hapsburg couple they could never sell them as heroes. So, they recruited Paul Muni, the studio's favorite portrayer of noble biopic subjects, as the glum President Beinto Juarez, and two of Hollwyood's most recognizable essayers of villainous roles, Claude Rains and Gale Sondergaard, to wear the black hats as Napoleon III and his empress Eugenie (Sondergaard is so archly evil she may as well be preparing to play the Spider Woman).

Muni doesn't make much of an impression plodding around impassively as Juarez, and with his stony facial expression the screenwriters and director clearly decided they'd better do **something** to remind the audience he was playing the good guy. So, Muni is always photographed in front of pictures of Abraham Lincoln (to remind viewers he's the republican). Aherne and Davis fare much better as the tragic Hapsburgs, and the film does have one great scene when Davis has to go to France to plead Naopeon and Eugenie for support and goes mad before their very eyes. Though you'd never guess it from the film's general free-and-easy approach to history, this scene actually happened in real life, and the dialogue in the scene pretty much follows the historical record--and there's a great visual touch when Davis, convinced the Bonapartes are trying to poison her, runs out of into the Tuileries gardens as if possessed into the night, her beautiful silver silk traveling dress billowing like a cloud around her as she shrinks into the blackness of the night (and her madness). But this, and the film's lovely use of "La Paloma" as a recurrent musical theme, are hardly enough to sustain you through the longeurs of Muni stalking around like a zombie.

This movie was made at the outset of WWII, under Roosevelt's "good neighbor" policy, aimed at winning Latin America's hearts and minds against the rising threat of fascism. There was strong sympathy at the time throughout the region for the Axis powers, specially for Franco, who was percieved by many as waging war against godless, priest-murdering communism. Roosevelt would have none of that.

What better story, then, than that of Benito Juárez, the destitute-born president who saved democracy fighting against French foreign rule from autocrat Louis Napoleon III's interventing troops and puppet regime in mid XIX century Mexico. A great politically-correct history lesson, tailor-made for the current menacing times. However, Hollywood had serious second thoughts about this film being made, most of them regarding Juárez himself.

Screenwriter Aeneas Mackenzie thought the movie wouldn't sell because Juárez's indian features resembled "a pithecantropus" while Maximilian and Carlotta were young, white and handsome. American audiences would have difficulty seeing the doomed couple as "bad guys", much less rooting for such an ugly hero. Not only that, Don Benito was rabidly anticlerical, a liberal freemason who took on the pope and nationalized all Church properties; Catholics at the box office wouldn't like that either. Warner Bros then hired a young John Huston to ammend the script: Juárez would carry a portrait of Lincoln at all times to make him more amiable, the Church would be written off, replaced by some imaginary "landowners", and Louis Napoleon's evilness would be emphasized by dark, contrasted, horror-movie-like lighting.

Even so the movie didn't do well, neither in the States nor in Mexico. There it was premiered in a gala screening at the Bellas Artes Palace, a rare honor for any film even today. The sequence where the American ambassador warns Napoleon against defying the Monroe Doctrine was suppressed altogether, and the finale, where Juárez apologizes to Maximilian at his coffin, drew loud protests from the audience. Mexican critics tore the film apart in their reviews, calling it a Hollywood sugarcoated version of Mexican history (it is) and an affront to national pride (it is not). In that sense, the movie's best intentions clearly backfired.

But is the movie that bad? Well, yes and no: it's your average Hollywood period romance. Wonderful sets and costumes but lots of preachy dialogue and not much historical truth. Then again, not many pictures at the time cared about those things. Bette Davis does an interesting Carlotta, Muni is a deadpan bore, and Claude Rains -as usual- steals the show (as Napoleon III). Oddly enough, the film had an influence on another quite different movie. Director Terence Young liked William Dieterle's filmmaking so much, he borrowed for 'Dr. No' the scene where Juárez is shown for the first time: one just sees his back while he speaks, and when someone asks his name, he turns around and says: "Juárez", giving him an air of mystery and awe. Young introduced his movie's main character the same way: you only see his hands playing cards at the casino table, then a gorgeous girl asks his name, the camera goes up and... voila!, a classic is born: "Bond, James Bond". Thank Juárez, Benito Juárez, for that one.

Benito Who?

This hollywood classic stays pretty close to the history for a change. In clear B&W this film has all the little touches of 1930s productions, but considering its time period it is pretty heavy as far as the history is concerned. This is no light weight "Gone With the Wind" set in Mexico. Betty Davis as Carlotta, who was actually a Belgium princess married to Maximillian, is great. This is a real substantial, historical role for her to play for a change. The way she lets lose at the end at Napolean III, played brilliantly by Claude Reines is classic. Her dovation to her doomed husband is accurately played, showing the mental unbalance that later overcame Carlotta at the end.

Louis Napolean's adventure in Mexico was typical of the politics of the parveneau emperor. With all the show, but none of the talents of his great grandfather, Louis Napolean soon embroiled France in a conflict that resembled the Iberian Peninsular of 1808. Another debacle where the French had to contned with a People's Movement. Marshall Achille Bezaine, shown briefly in the film, could never completely conquer the Juaristas. There were some famous actions in this conflict, including the celebrated stand by a handful of French Foreign Legion against three thousand Mexicans at Camerone. But such heroics were not enough to win the land for an imported Hapsburg monarch via France. Paul Muni plays a grim and determined Juarez. His portrayal is not that far off from the truth. For a big budget Hollywood epic this movie gets itself into some pretty weighty issues, such as the inner Mexican conflicts between natives and those of imported Spanish blood, and the loyalties of some of Maximillan's officers, including the native born Tomas, who all came to grief in the end.

While some events may be condensed to fit a 2 hr movie, this production gets high marks for being as truthful as possible. This is no boring historical epic, the action is pretty non-stop. The character of Maximillan himself is brilliantly played. A decent man who got himself mixed up in bad politics. Even to this day Mexicans may hate the circumstances that brought him to their country, but they remain sympathetic to the man himself. Those wanting a big budget classic from the 1930s, with some fine acting and good historical content should find a happy marriage between all three here.

A corpse-like Paul Muni stars as Benito Juarez, the Mexican leader who helped established democracy in his country, fighting against Emperor Maximilian von Habsburg, who had been made head of the country through the machinations of Napoleon III. From the outset, the unwanted Emperor is doomed, since he does not have the support of the people, and he is fighting against a man universally respected by the Mexicans. Muni is heavily made up and does not change his expression from beginning to end. To say he is understated would be putting it mildly. Brian Aherne is quietly affecting as the Emperor, a man I suspect could not have been as saintly as portrayed here. Bette Davis is the Emperor's wife, Carlotta. She uses her famous eyes to great effect as a woman who can barely contain her emotions, until a remarkable moment near the end when Davis lets loose. Claude Rains again steals scenes, this time as Napoleon, while the rest of the supporting cast is saddled with less than riveting dialogue and barely registers. The dialogue and direction is pretty heavy-handed and preachy at times, needing a dose of energy. It's a safe bet that the history is inaccurate (Warner Brothers had a poor track record with this), but that can be overlooked if the drama makes up for it. The sets and costumes establish the period well, but the film really never gets going enough, needing more drama and action to inject some life. It's not a bad film at all, but I expected more.

Juarez features Bette Davis as the Empress Carlotta, who, with her husband, Maximillian, assume monarchial status in Mexico and incur the wrath of Juarez, who has Maximilian killed. Bette tries to save her husband by going to the King of France and this portion of the film is not to be misssed. She storms Claude Rains as the King, and she withers him with her words, and then goes mad, and with such conviuction. The images of Davis careening down corridors of blackness screaming are not to be forgotten. Never mind the camp of Paul Muni as JUarez, it's all Bette Davis, and there are a thousand lessons in screen acting here.

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Every time I view this beautifully done movie, "Juarez" I find something different and more tragically romantic about this period of Mexican History. The cast represents a true Pantheon of Hollywood stars of the time, Claude Raines, Betty Davis, Paul Muni and John Garfield just to mention a few. All the power of fiction couldn't dream up such a tale of the poor Indian boy Benito Juarez becoming El Presidente, fighting for all the good things Mexico needed only to be foiled by deception in his own camp. If that isn't drama enough, his opposition, Maximillian, the Hapsburg Prince duped by Louis Napoleon III of France into believing the Mexican populace wanted him to be the Mexican Emperor is portrayed as a caring individual rather than an arrogant crowned-airhead. He is deeply in love with his wife Charlotta and even opts to adopt a young Mexican boy to succeed him as Emperor when he finds that his beloved Charlotta is unable to have a child of their own. Much of the intrique and action is portrayed against the back drop of beautiful Mexican music, mainly the haunting melody-"La Paloma." Alas, as history bears out Juarez is only partially successful and Max and Charlotta meet with different fates. If you're sick of horror flicks and other thin story lines now masqerading as movies perhaps, this movie, old though it is with its great music, real acting and a genuine, exciting story is just what the doctor ordered.

The problem with enjoying an historical biopic like JUAREZ is that director William Dieterle tried too hard to pass off over the top acting as reasonably correct historical drama. Paul Muni had previously established himself as king of the biopics (bios of Louis Pasteur and Emil Zola), and Dieterle figured that Muni could carry the picture as Benito Juarez, the Indian mestizo who rose from the ashes to become President of Mexico. This is one of Muni's most embarassing performances. If you look carefully, he seems to have his eyes closed in nearly every scene as he tries vainly to portray Juarez as a dedicated revolutionary but instead comes off as a stiff-faced and even stiffer-laced fount of moralistic platitudes. Muni speaks in a stultifying monotone as he sounds like a poltically correct pre 2005 Master Po, who thinks all his fellow actors are all named Grasshoppper. It is not difficult for Brian Aherne as Emperor Maximilliano to steal the movie as the noble if misguided puppet that Louis Napoleon (Claude Raines) installed into power in a fraudulent election. Aherne as Maximilliano is impossibly saintly and courageous as he learns the truth of his origins of power. Surprisingly, it is Muni who comes off as a prudish leader and Aherne who emerges as a figure of real dignity and sympathy. I found myself rooting for Aherne even though I knew that it would be Muni who would emerge as the one who would order the execution of the other. It took Brando more than twenty years later in VIVA ZAPATA to show how a peasant leader of the peons could rouse the Mexican rabble and still hold the viewers' interest with all the political intiguing that must have accompanied each revolt. Muni's uncharacteristic sleepwalking through the titular role forces the audience to pay more attention to the supposed second string with predictably boring consequences for all concerned.

The incomparable Paul Muni in not one of his most memorable roles, stills casts a formidable shadow playing a stoic and mostly taciturn deposed president of the Mexican republic Benito Juarez. The French led by the sleazy and devious emperor Louis Napolean played by the talented Claude Rains have conquered Mexico at the time of the Civil War. Rains installs the naive archduke Maximilian von Habsburg played by a stylishly coiffed Brian Aherne, to rule as emperor of Mexico aided by his pop eyed wife Carlotta played by the immortal Bette Davis. He dupes them into believing that his assention to the throne has been mandated by the natives of the land.

This is a recipe for disaster as the populace is solidly behind the democracy loving Juarez. Once the French withdraw their support of Maximilian by removing their troops, his rule is doomed.

The movie while possessing an all star cast lacks the fiery drama that the portrayal of this extremely tumultuous chapter of world history demands. The venerable Muni often appears wooden and emotionless in his portrayal of Juarez. John Garfield as General Diaz, Gail Sondergaard as Empress Eugenie and Gilbert Roland as Colonel Lopez give excellent performances in supporting roles.

A historical vehicle virtually immobilised by its own stateliness. An excellent, lavishly beautiful production (which obviously cost the studio a bundle to film) it nevertheless reeks of classy prestige which was, in the thirties the vogue - especially in Paul Muni's biographical epics. As Benito Pablo Juarez, Muni is heavily made up to resemble the man he plays - which he does almost uncannily - and his acting, as usual is generally excellent; his wife Bella would be present on the set and would nod affirmitively if he did a scene correctly! The great Claude Rains (who played the Senator in MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON in the same year) does his usual excellent job as Emperor Louis Napoleon and Brian Aherne does as well as one could expect as the Emperor Maximilian Von Habsburg. Bette Davis plays Carlota Von Habsburg - in a black wig - her mad scene is the most unforgettable in the film. 1939 has never been surpassed for the number of class "A" - i.e. classic, well-loved movies made in a single year. Of the four money-making films Davis made for Warner's during 1939, this is perhaps the least memorable. Davis began the year with her classy tear-jerking masterpiece of emotional manipulation -DARK VICTORY - which was released during Eastertime. After JUAREZ, Davis sank her teeth into THE OLD MAID and, eventually weighing under 100 pounds, she made THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX (it was released in December, 1939 as was GWTW). In this particular instance, I tend to agree with Leonard Maltin in that JUAREZ isn't quite as inspiring as it was intended to be.