L'affare Dreyfus

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.

Great story for then and now about politics and false accusation. Acting was great. Movies from 30's 40's and some 50's are of great quality. Well written and filmed. You will enjoy. Reminds me of Les Misérables. But seems more real like in the story.

A most excellent portrayal of men, politics and truth and how truth is given a back set to the affairs of men. This story is as old as mankind itself. To see someone unjustly and falsely accused of a crime and not be able to do anything about it summons the deepest feelings one can have for life itself and of course the life giver. This story comes to you at a price...the price of a mans life. You see its true he suffered and then continued to suffer in a place made for suffering exclusively i.e. Devils Island prison. The french were notorious for punishment and being a french traitor made you especially un-welcomed on the island. Man is not perfect as we learned in Victors Hugo accounting called Les Miserable. That is why here in America, we would rather see 12 guilty people go free before we convict or condemn an innocent person. This movie drives home that point. Don't fight the emotional scenes when they come. There are a few and they can clean you out if you let them..

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.