Life of Émile Zola, The

Life of Émile Zola, The, motion picture about the French writer Émile Zola and his efforts to save a Jewish man from wrongful imprisonment, based on the story of the Dreyfus Affair. Released in 1937, the film won Academy Awards for best picture and best screenplay. Joseph Schildkraut earned an Academy Award for his performance as Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who was convicted of treason in 1894, mainly because he was Jewish. The movie chronicles Zola’s writing career and his devotion to Dreyfus’s cause.

Director

• William Dieterle

Cast

• Paul Muni (Emile Zola)
• Gale Sondergaard (Lucie Dreyfus)
• Joseph Schildkraut (Captain Alfred Dreyfus)
• Gloria Holden (Alexandrine Zola)
• Donald Crisp (Maitre Labori)
• Erin O'Brien Moore (Nana)
• John Litel (Charpentier)
• Henry O'Neill (Colonel Picquart)
• Morris Carnovsky (Anatole France)
• Louis Calhern (Major Dort)
• Ralph Morgan (Commander of Paris)
• Robert Barrat (Major Walsin-Esterhazy)
• Vladimir Sokoloff (Paul Cezanne)
• Harry Davenport (Chief of Staff)
• Robert Warwick (Major Henry)
• Charles Richman (Monsieur Delagorgue)
• Dickie Moore (Pierre Dreyfus)
• Rolla Gourvitch (Jeanne Dreyfus)
• Gilbert Emery (Minister of war)
• Walter Kingsford (Colonel Sandherr)
• Paul Everton (Assistant chief of staff)
• Montagu Love (Cavaignac)
• Frank Sheridan (Van Cassell)
• Lumsden Hare (Mr. Richards)
• Marcia Mae Jones (Helen Richards)
• Florence Roberts (Madame Zola)
• Grant Mitchell (Georges Clemenceau)
• Moroni Olsen (Captain Guignet)
• Egon Brecher (Brucker)
• Frank Reicher (M. Perrenx)
• Walter O. Stahl (Senator Scheurer-Kestner)
• Frank Darien (Albert)
• Iphigenie Castiglioni (Madame Charpentier)
• Arthur Aylesworth (Chief censor)
• Frank Mayo (Mathieu Dreyfus)
• Alexander Leftwich (Major D'Aboville)
• Paul Irving (La Rue)
• Pierre Watkin (Prefect of police)
• Holmes Herbert (Commander of Paris)
• Robert Cummings, Sr. (General Gillian)
• Harry Worth (Lieutenant)
• William von Brincken (Schwartzkoppen)

Awards

• Academy Award for Best Picture (1937): Hal Wallis—Producer, Henry Blanke—Producer
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (1937): Joseph Schildkraut
• Academy Award for Best Writing—Screenplay (1937): Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg, Norman Reilly Raine

Quote

• Émile Zola (in court): “Not only is an innocent man crying out for justice, but more, much more—a great nation is in desperate danger of forfeiting her honor!”