I have to say, this came as a really nice surprise. After enduring 1954's abysmal DÉSIRÉE, I thought a movie about the Hapsburg Empire's dalliances in French Mexico would be absolute cheese... but I was really rather impressed by the levels of detail and research that went into the making of this movie. Warner Bros was clearly trying to make as accurate a movie as possible and despite the odd bit of fiction (like Miguel Lopez's role in the fall of Querétaro, who betrayed the imperialists for a large payment of gold and not out of some misplaced desire to see Maximilian spared), they achieve that pretty well. Most of the important events of the French intervention are addressed: the staged plebiscite, Maximilian's hushed-up contraction of syphilis, the Black Decree, the capture of Porfirio Díaz, the first (and last) Crown Prince of Mexico, the madness of Carlotta and the actual execution of Emperor Maximilian. Being a "Golden Age" movie, they're all shown in a typically "Hollywood" short of fashion (with bland battle scenes and far too much of a score) but for a film made in 1939, I'm really impressed by the attention paid to the facts, in the story as well as the casting...
I've never been a Bette Davis fan and this film does nothing to change my opinion of her as an actress, as she stares around the room like a demented aye-aye! Brian Aherne turns in a beautifully restrained performance as the misplaced monarch but, for me, there were really two standouts to this film: Claude Rains as Napoleon III and Paul Muni as the titular statesman and founding father of Mexican independence. Rains lends a delicious little bit of Shakespearean villainy to what is virtually a cameo appearance as the great man's pretentious, scheming nephew, while Muni- a Ukrainian Jew- tackles the role of Mexican Lincoln with mirror image-level precision, mastering the perfect Spanish accent and painting himself up to look like a wise old tortoise (in short, exactly like the real Juarez) as he counterbalances the pomp and circumstance of the imperial court with slow, simple speeches about liberty and justice. It's a terrific performance and one that should've received at least a nomination from the Academy. But even the minor roles were treated with sincerity and respect, like that of the martyred general, Tomás Mejía (a Mexican imperialist of Otomi heritage), who is portrayed with silent dignity by Oaklahoman Native American actor, William Wilkerson.
With so many bad historical epics of classical cinema out there, it's nice to come across one that- instead of the nauseatingly over-romanticised and agonisingly over-fictionalised DÉSIRÉE- at least tries to get it right.
I've never been a Bette Davis fan and this film does nothing to change my opinion of her as an actress, as she stares around the room like a demented aye-aye! Brian Aherne turns in a beautifully restrained performance as the misplaced monarch but, for me, there were really two standouts to this film: Claude Rains as Napoleon III and Paul Muni as the titular statesman and founding father of Mexican independence. Rains lends a delicious little bit of Shakespearean villainy to what is virtually a cameo appearance as the great man's pretentious, scheming nephew, while Muni- a Ukrainian Jew- tackles the role of Mexican Lincoln with mirror image-level precision, mastering the perfect Spanish accent and painting himself up to look like a wise old tortoise (in short, exactly like the real Juarez) as he counterbalances the pomp and circumstance of the imperial court with slow, simple speeches about liberty and justice. It's a terrific performance and one that should've received at least a nomination from the Academy. But even the minor roles were treated with sincerity and respect, like that of the martyred general, Tomás Mejía (a Mexican imperialist of Otomi heritage), who is portrayed with silent dignity by Oaklahoman Native American actor, William Wilkerson.
With so many bad historical epics of classical cinema out there, it's nice to come across one that- instead of the nauseatingly over-romanticised and agonisingly over-fictionalised DÉSIRÉE- at least tries to get it right.
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