Voltaire

Reading Candide by Voltaire when I was a teenager was life-changing for me; in one go it opened up many new vistas to me back then and remains a piece of all too human knockabout inconsequentiality I delve into regularly decades later. I went through the best of the rest of his work: Zadig, Micromegas, Princess of Babylon etc but never knew much of the finer details of the man himself. After watching this I still don't, but I feel at least I'd know something if Disraeli had played an episode in his life. George Arliss was a great actor who ended up playing many great men on stage and screen, this time Francoise Arouet for Warners with big production values and an earnest populist screenplay getting over the essence of Voltaire to the cinema masses. Were they trying to "teach the People to think" too?

In 1762 at 68 years old Voltaire takes up the case of a man who is apparently executed for nothing - how very true of religion! He chivvies away at the King via Mme de Pompadour to posthumously pardon him and his extant young and beautiful daughter but the wicked Comte de Alan Mowbray manages to bring about Voltaire's arrest for alleged treason instead. It was based on a real series of events, but needless to say partly fictionalised by olde Hollywood. The acting is usually intense but believable, although Douglas Dumbrille as the Eastern King in the play had me involuntarily looking out for Abbott & Costello! As the film lasts only 72 minutes it's all taken at a cracking pace, but I thought it was detailed enough for me to come away with a little more knowledge than I had before. Voltaire was a bit of a wit - a wag in a wig - unfortunately not much wit is on display in here.

If he was living today his interpretation of egalitarianism probably would be equated by many people almost to fascism, so far has our wonderful world been "improved" over the years. Nevertheless, he was a brave man for his time - if he had not lived it would have been necessary to have invented him, as this film did admirably well.

Most people assume that George Arliss was involved in motion pictures for only about a decade, from his performance in DISRAELI (1929) to his retirement after the failure of OLD ENGLISH in 1938. In actuality, he had made several of his sound films as silent films, in particular DISRAELI (originally made as a silent in 1921) and THE GREEN GODDESS. A few of his sound movies could not have been made as silents - THE MAN WHO PLAYED GOD requires sound, because Arliss's pianist is losing his hearing after an explosion. A silent movie would have made this loss of a vital sense meaningless.

It has to be admitted that he was typecast a little after his Oscar winner in 1929. He became the actor who portrayed "great men" of history (preferably English, but not necessarily so). So he played Disraeli snatching the Suez Canal, the Duke of Wellington watching helplessly as his worthy old opponent (Marshall Ney) is judicially murdered by the restored Bourbon Monarchy, Cardinal Richelieu fighting court intrigue and making 17th Century France the center of Europe, Meyer and Nathaniel Rothschild building history's greatest private banking empire (and using their power to force Jewish Emancipation on Europe), and Alexander Hamilton giving America it's stable economic force (while defending his reputation against the scandal of the Mrs. Reynolds Affair). People tend to forget his performance as Bette Davis's lover and protector in THE MAN WHO PLAYED GOD, or the Rajah of Ruhk in THE GREEN GODDESS or the proud old New England aristocrat in THE LAST GENTLEMAN. He did portray fictional roles as well as historical ones.

Voltaire (1933) is a lesser-recalled historical film. Arliss is the wit and writer and critic of the ancien regime, involved in trying to rehabilitate the name of an executed criminal: Jean Calas. This was an actual tragedy of the reign of Louis XV in 1764. Calas, a wealthy French merchant, was a Protestant. His son, an unstable youth, had been considering converting to Catholicism. One day the young man was found dead by hanging in a room in his father's home. The chances are pretty good that young Calas committed suicide, but in that period such tragedies were hushed up - due to their nature suggesting hidden weaknesses in the families of the deceased. Calas Sr. made the mistake of trying to cover-up the suicide. When the death became known, the authorities made the erroneous jump of thinking Calas Sr. killed his son to prevent the young man from becoming a Catholic. The elder Calas was arrested, tortured, given a rapid trial, convicted, and executed. His family were ruined by the tragedy. Voltaire, in real life, examined the entire affair and showed the shallow guesswork and investigation of the facts that led to a judicial murder. Although the government was unhappy to be shown to be in the wrong, they decided to agree to posthumously rehabilitate Calas Sr.'s memory. The family was also given some money as compensation (though not much).

The screenplay is using Voltaire's fight for Calas as the center of the drama, pitting Arliss against King Louis (Reginald Owen) and his chief minister Count de Jarnac (Alan Mowbray). Actually Mowbray's character is fictional, as no such chief minister existed in France in 1764 with that name or title. Much of the screenplay is fanciful, but does show some interesting historical images: Voltaire writing a play set in the ancient mideast (based on the Calas tragedy) and producing it to be shown at Versailles before the court (this was actually done by Voltaire, Moliere, Racine, Corneille, and Beaumarchaise through the reigns of Louis XIV, XV, and XVI). Also of interest is Voltaire shown getting correspondence from Frederic the Great of Prussia (they did correspond frequently - ironically they were friendlier when writing to each other than when Voltaire spent three years in Prussia in the early 1750s). Reading Frederic's letters by a fireplace, Voltaire also is reading the monarch's poetic effusions, which Voltaire must doctor up. Arliss is funny at this point, reading bathetic verses to himself and saying, "This is terrible", before calmly dropping the letters into the fireplace. This scene alone makes watching VOLTAIRE worthwhile.

Those looking for a full biography on the life of the great French philosopher and satirist will be disappointed with this historical take but the impish charm of George Arliss's Voltaire provides for an interesting enough look at the tenuous state of the monarchy and France prior to the reign of terror.

Friend and confidant of King Louis XV Voltaire is not averse to openly criticizing the King for his treatment of the lower classes or hurling accusations at members of his corrupt administration. When Voltaire comes to the defense of a slandered loyal subject his enemies in the court try to get him tossed into the Bastille. Luckily for Voltaire he has the ear of Madame Pompador who has the attention of the King. Count De Sarnac however is a formidable foe and the whim of the King remains in doubt when weighing Voltaire's broadsides and friendship.

Arliss does a deft balancing act of combining eloquence and silliness to address the sober issues at hand in his attempt to vanquish the execrable and duplicitous De Sarnac (played with relish by Alan Mowbray). Along with Paul Muni, Arliss cornered the market for historical bios (Disraeli, Alexander Hamilton, Cardinal Richelieu) in the first decade of sound but unlike the over the top Muni displayed a lot more subtlety and restraint in such portrayals and in Voltaire Arliss gives not only a mellifluous voice to the author of Candide but also the child like glee of a great man serving his passion.

"France - in the year 1762 - with its sumptuous and lavish court - was in a corrupt and bankrupt state. One man dared to speak out for the rights of an oppressed people. With a pen that dripped venom, he attacked intolerance and injustice. He educated the masses to think and act. This was the forerunner of the French Revolution, that gave the world the present Great Republic of France. This man - a hundred years ahead of his time - was Voltaire, the great mocker, the great wit, the great humanitarian of the 18th century," gives us a fine description of setting. The opening coach passing peasants on the street is a defining visual...

Once considered a friend of the French court, coffee-lover George Arliss (as Voltaire) stirs the masses with his revolutionary pamphlets. At first, white-wigged Reginald Owen (as King Louis XV) ignores his advisers' warnings about Mr. Arliss' treasonous activity. Arliss maintains a close friendship with King's mistress Doris Kenyon (as Madame Pompadour). With her help, he takes a cue from Shakespeare, "The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King." The staged production only makes matters worse, but Arliss has more up his sleeve. This story never rises far above star vehicle status, but Arliss is always worth watching.

****** Voltaire (8/5/33) John G. Adolfi ~ George Arliss, Doris Kenyon, Alan Mowbray, Reginald Owen

If you are looking for a biography of Voltaire, I suggest you look further for many reasons. First, his philosophies really aren't explained well in this film other than his views on religious tolerance and liberty. Second, it only covers a tiny portion of his later life during the last years of the reign on Louis XV. And, third, the film really isn't intended as a history lesson but, like so many biopics of the era, strays rather far from the facts. Still, George Arliss was a fine actor, and I'd recommend any film in which he appears.

The story is about a tiny portion of Voltaire's life--when he takes up the cause of a specific man who was convicted on scant evidence and who was simply the victim of religious bigotry. And, the film consists of Voltaire scheming, very cleverly, to influence the fat-headed king to intervene and overturn the verdict. First, he writes a play which parodies the situation--changing the facts a bit but making the point which Voltaire wishes to put across to the king. Second, he enlists the help of the king's #1 babe, Madame Pompadour to get the king to offer Voltaire a chance to put on the play at Versailles. But, things backfire--can the wily Voltaire manage to extricate himself? I must let you know that I am generally not a big fan of costume dramas--mostly because they often come off as a bit stilted and stodgy. This one isn't as bad as many but it all the fine costumes and language did seem, at times, a bit stiff. Not bad at all--but it also seemed a bit preachy and unreal--especially Voltaire's crazed speech at 71 minutes into the film. Plus, the film jumped from the early 1760s to 1789 almost instantly--making it look as if Voltaire DIRECTLY initiated the French Revolution!!

By the way, I am not sure if the film would have been made after mid-1934, as the new Production Code cleaned up films--removing anything that might be objectionable. In some ways, this was strongly needed (as ANYTHING seemed to go in films in the early 30s). But, in others it over-sanitized things--and biopics on men of such liberal views on the Church and conventional morality as Voltaire were difficult sells in the new 'cleaner' (at least on the surface) Hollywood.