Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302010985
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 6302010985
Label: MGM (Warner)
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: MGM (Warner)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Warner)
Release Date: 1998-09-01
Running Time: 125
Studio: MGM (Warner)
Theatrical Release Date: 1939-06-10

Customer Rating:
Summary: Carlota
Comment: The 1939 film "Juarez" depicts the debacle of the French attempt to establish hegemony in Mexico under the auspices of Maximilian von Habsburg. The unlikely combination of characters involved in the fiasco shows that once again truth is stranger than fiction. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, styling himself as Emperor of the French, was the master manipulator of the affair which sent the Austrian Archduke Maximilian to his doom. Maximilian's consort was the intelligent and mercurial Charlotte (Carlota) of Belgium, a granddaughter of Louis-Philippe, the Citizen-King. Although "Juarez" is a simplification of an extremely complicated series of events, it brings to life the historical reality of such fascinating characters coming together.

I personally think that the film was misnamed; it should have been called "Carlota," since Bette Davis turned her supporting role as the Empress of Mexico into the heart and soul of the drama. In typical Bette fashion, she upstages everyone else, including the great Paul Muni as Benito Juarez. Brian Aherne is perfection as the noble, charming and romantic Maximilian, the most hapless of Habsburgs, and one of the most liberal, too. The film does not show his marital infidelities, but it does play up the irony that Maximilian's reforms were similar to those proposed by Juarez. This did not endear the Emperor to the wealthy landowners and he lost their support. The real struggles of Maximilian and Carlota with their childlessness is poignantly portrayed, as is their genuine horror when they realize that they have been duped by Napoleon III. Maximilian perceives that the imperial Mexico of his dreams is nothing but a cruel charade, and that the original plebiscite that brought him there had been rigged. Nevertheless, he and Carlota have fallen in love with their new country and have come to identify so deeply with Mexico's agonies that there is no turning back.

The gradual disintegration of Carlota's sanity is perhaps one of Bette's greatest achievements as an actress. Carlota's breakdown at the Tuileries is a heartrending scene, with Bette authentically capturing the mannerisms of a person descending into insanity. In actuality, Carlota's complete psychological collapse occurred not at the Tuileries but in Rome, where Pope Pius IX sighed: "Nothing is spared me in this life, now a woman has to go mad in the Vatican." The Empress never saw her husband again; he was shot by order of Juarez, while Carlota spent the next sixty years secluded in a Belgian castle. As for Mexico, in years to come the Church would be persecuted there; many of the faithful would be martyred.

The scene of the most stunning beauty is one earlier in "Juarez" where Carlota in black is praying at the foot of the statue of Our Lady. The prostrate Empress begs to have a child, and implores the success of the Mexican enterprise, surrounded by the votive candles, with darkness hovering beyond the small sphere of light. Her faith in the face of insurmountable difficulties is all the more radiant if the viewer knows that her prayers will not be answered according to her heart's desires. Her posture of supplication communicates a total oblation of self to the will of God. Once again it is demonstrated that sometimes God chooses not to save a people or a nation through political means. Rather, He intends to sanctify in the crucible of sacrifice.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Better than expected.
Comment: I purchased this film because of the score by Erich Korngold, but, acknowledging what often happens with Hollywood biopics, I came to be moved by the film itself. Specifically, because it represents two men originally motivated, given the time, by worthy ideals, but who become antagonists through events and machinations of others beyond their control. Apart from any question of historical accuracy, "Juarez" becomes a political drama in the spirit of a Greek tragedy. I was also pleasantly surprised to see Bian Aherne in a role (Maximillian) quite different from those in which I saw him when I was a child.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Music, Fine Film
Comment: I purchased this video (used--why no DVD yet?)largely because of my love for Erich Wolfgang Korngold as a composer. I had very little interest in the film per se. The music is, as expected, absolutely wonderful. But the film it accompanies is also quite compelling. Its one great drawback is the performance of Paul Muni as Juarez. Muni--a powerful actor whom I greatly admire--seems almost completely strait-jacketed by the director's conception of Juarez. Juarez is "the Mexican Lincoln", and thus is portrayed with the same kind of quasi-sainthood and faux-holiness that Hollywood has almost always bestowed on Lincoln. (Oddly enough, Muni looks very much like the Lincoln of "Birth of a Nation" 24 years earlier. But when he moves--which isn't very often, since we usually see him at his desk--he bears an unfortunate resemblance to another silent film icon--the Golem!) One senses that Muni simply wasn't given any room to breathe in this film. One longs, almost prays for some scenery chewing--anything to show that Juarez is human! But apparently saints do not chew scenery.
Bette Davis, however, does chew scenery in her scene with Napoleon III, and quite admirably! All the other performances are quite fine, too. Even though the film is entitled "Juarez", we can be thankful that minimal screen time is wasted on Muni's plaster saint! From the viewpoint of modern sensibilities, it should be pointed out that this film is very enlightened in its portrayal of Hispanic culture. Frito Bandito/Speedy Gonzalez type stereotyping is minimal. (Perhaps even less than in Viva Zapata, made 13 years later). The use of Anglo actors to portray Mexicans was, of course, very common at the time. But for a film made in 1939, it comes across as quite sensitive. The year 1939 is regarded as the Wonderyear of American film. And, despite the ghastly portrayal of the title character, Juarez can proudly stand with the other distinguished alumni of that incredible year!

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Juarez: Impresses as History But Not as Drama
Comment: The problem with enjoying an historical biopic like JUAREZ is that director William Dieterle tried too hard to pass off over the top acting as reasonably correct historical drama. Paul Muni had previously established himself as king of the biopics (bios of Louis Pasteur and Emil Zola), and Dieterle figured that Muni could carry the picture as Benito Juarez, the Indian mestizo who rose from the ashes to become President of Mexico. This is one of Muni's most embarassing performances. If you look carefully, he seems to have his eyes closed in nearly every scene as he tries vainly to portray Juarez as a dedicated revolutionary but instead comes off as a stiff-faced and even stiffer-laced fount of moralistic platitudes. Muni speaks in a stultifying monotone as he sounds like a poltically correct pre 2005 Master Po, who thinks all his fellow actors are all named Grasshoppper. It is not difficult for Brian Aherne as Emperor Maximilliano to steal the movie as the noble if misguided puppet that Louis Napoleon (Claude Raines) installed into power in a fraudulent election. Aherne as Maximilliano is impossibly saintly and courageous as he learns the truth of his origins of power. Surprisingly, it is Muni who comes off as a prudish leader and Aherne who emerges as a figure of real dignity and sympathy. I found myself rooting for Aherne even though I knew that it would be Muni who would emerge as the one who would order the execution of the other. It took Brando more than twenty years later in VIVA ZAPATA to show how a peasant leader of the peons could rouse the Mexican rabble and still hold the viewers' interest with all the political intiguing that must have accompanied each revolt. Muni's uncharacteristic sleepwalking through the titular role forces the audience to pay more attention to the supposed second string with predictably boring consequences for all concerned.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Classic historical flick
Comment: The incomparable Paul Muni in not one of his most memorable roles, stills casts a formidable shadow playing a stoic and mostly taciturn deposed president of the Mexican republic Benito Juarez. The French led by the sleazy and devious emperor Louis Napolean played by the talented Claude Rains have conquered Mexico at the time of the Civil War. Rains installs the naive archduke Maximilian von Habsburg played by a stylishly coiffed Brian Aherne, to rule as emperor of Mexico aided by his pop eyed wife Carlotta played by the immortal Bette Davis. He dupes them into believing that his assention to the throne has been mandated by the natives of the land.

This is a recipe for disaster as the populace is solidly behind the democracy loving Juarez. Once the French withdraw their support of Maximilian by removing their troops, his rule is doomed.

The movie while possessing an all star cast lacks the fiery drama that the portrayal of this extremely tumultuous chapter of world history demands. The venerable Muni often appears wooden and emotionless in his portrayal of Juarez. John Garfield as General Diaz, Gail Sondergaard as Empress Eugenie and Gilbert Roland as Colonel Lopez give excellent performances in supporting roles.

---