I Accuse!

A film based on the infamous Dreyfus Affair wherein a French soldier is convicted & imprisoned for a crime he did not commit & eventually due to the protestations of the populace & the well known writer Emile Zola, he was eventually acquitted. Directed by & starring Jose Ferrer, this heart in its right place account of the trials & tribulations of this railroaded individual comes off as a rather important history lesson then an affecting drama. There was a version done on HBO in the 90's called Prisoner of Honor (directed by Ken Russell) which tackled the same subject matter & I remember the result was about the same. It may be a case of the trial being more of a cause celebre outside this country which may leave American viewers a bit on the periphery where we agree the stakes are obvious & noble but w/o a frame of reference ultimately we kind of shrug it off. Perhaps a French version (much like Cyrano de Bergerac w/Gerard Depardieu for me is the consummate version of the tale while the 50's version also w/Ferrer which he won the Oscar for is pretty good but not as good as its foreign language descendant) will do the trick.

Jose Ferrer acted in more than 100 movies and TV episodes. One of his sons, Miguel Ferrer, and a nephew, George Clooney, followed successfully his steps in the movie business. All this was not an accident. Jose Ferrer's Oscar winning performance in Cyrano De Bergerac in 1950 was followed 8 years later in I Accuse! Although not winning another Oscar, his portrayal of a French Jewish artillery captain, Alfred Dreyfus, falsely accused of treason in 1894, sentenced and sent to Devil's Island, makes one feel what the relative of actor Richard Dreyfus felt while publicly being degraded, his sword broken and what he had to live in the tropical God forgotten Atlantic island, 7 miles off the coast of French Guiana, where he was sent at the beginning of 1895. Many people stood for him, like French writer Emile Zola and one can check it in Paul Muni's The Life of Emile Zola, but there is NO DVD RELEASE OF "I ACCUSE"! So I Accuse the studio MGM or whoever has the rights now days, of negligence in not releasing this movie on DVD. I can write down a thousand titles list of crap movies released by MGM, worthless garbage, in the past 20 or so years, but they had to miss this one. Shame on whoever is in charge of selecting which movies to be released on DVD and which not. Who died and made him God in that department? Wake up MGM and deal with this. I bet anything that I'm not the only one that wants that movie released on DVD.

This is a true story of the Alfred Dreyfus indictment and imprisonment of an innocent man who loved his country. Dreyfus was a Jew in the French army and that is probably the main reason he was persecuted and found guilty of treason. The man was innocent but sent to Devil's Island anyway. He finally was released and his honor restored. His living relative (actor Richard Dreyfus) made a film of this tragedy and it is without a doubt one of the best films I've watched lately. Be sure to watch them both because this is history.

Around the time that Alfred Dreyfus was going through his trials and tribulations there was a young kid who dreamed of a military career to serve his country. Later on when Charles DeGaulle made that fateful decision to go into exile and raise an army to free his beloved France he remarked without a trace of arrogance that 'in me you see the honor of France'. DeGaulle was not a modest man, but I quote him because it happens to be literally true. That was his importance to France more than any military contribution the Free French made to the Allied cause.

In I Accuse another story of a man in whom the honor of France resided, but who took it up rather unwillingly. In fact Alfred Dreyfus was accused of treason, not because the evidence was against him, but because of a raging anti-Semitism that permeated the upper classes of France in those years between the Franco-Prussian War and World War I. Dreyfus was a Jew who fought prejudice to gain that coveted position on the general staff of the Army of France. But when evidence of some espionage emerged, that classified documents were being sent to her enemies, it was easy and convenient to blame the Jew. And when facts emerged to the contrary facts be damned. In fact Dreyfus for over a decade suffered the fate of the damned on Devil's Island.

I Accuse is an almost perfect retelling of the Dreyfus affair which stars Jose Ferrer as Dreyfus. Ferrer also directed a perfectly cast film of mostly British players. You truly believe you are watching history unfold as his accusers do their utmost to bury Ferrer's body and soul on Devil's Island. Equally though Dreyfus over the years slowly gathered his supporters like novelist Emile Zola and editor Georges Clemenceau played here by Emlyn Williams and Peter Illing.

Above all there is Jose Ferrer one of the greatest players of the last century. Ferrer really lets it all hang out with Dreyfus as we see him in every aspect of his character, military man, family man, and above all a symbol for justice and truth. Sadly this film is neglected because of Paul Muni's film The Life Of Emile Zola which concentrated mostly on Zola's involvement in the Dreyfus case and for which Joseph Schildkraut won a Best Supporting Actor for playing Dreyfus.

Running close to Ferrer is Anton Walbrook playing Count Esterhazy who actually did the espionage. You will not forget Walbrook as the smooth talking unrepentant scoundrel who actually is protected by the French Army high command because they have such a vested interest in anti-Semitism.

The honor of France took a real beating in the Dreyfus Case, but it did emerge. I Accuse is a great film that should receive far more acclaim than it has. In many ways it's superior to Jose Ferrer's Oscar winning performance in Cyrano De Bergerac.

This film is based on the true story of Captain Dreyfus of the French Army who, based on weak evidence, is wrongly accused of treason. The film takes place over a seven year period beginning in 1894 Captain Dreyfus comes from a wealthy industrial family but because of love of his country, joins the military rather than help run the family business. His family are Jewish and originally come from an area of Germany. It is discovered that a spy within the officers assigned to a leading General is selling military secrets to foreign agents. Dreyfus is a dour, by-the-book, military Beauregard who has no friends within the command and because of his Jewish and German heritage the military makes him a scapegoat to the crime. Jose Ferrer stars and directs an international cast. Based on the book by Nicholas Halasz, I Accuse is adapted by novelist Gore Vidal in the 2nd screenplay of his career. Photographing this film is veteran cinematographer Freddie Young, whose career lasted 57 years and included three Oscars for Doctor Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter and Lawrence of Arabia. Vivica Lindfors, who was my 4th cousin, plays Dreryfus' wife Lucie. Also among the cast are Anton Walbrook, Donald Wolfit and Herbert Lom. Ferrer is kind of dry and one dimensional and plays the entire film with one emotion. There is not a lot for Lindfors to do. Several of the cast turn in fine performances in this film that was made to mirror the recent McCarthy era witch hunts. There are no closeups and the entire film uses heavy shadows in every scene, indoor and out. This film was remade with Richard Dreyfus who is said to be a family descendant of Captain Dreyfus in the starring role. It's a good historical drama but as a film it falls a little short. I would give it a 7.5 out of 10.