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Message from Dean - May 8th 2007
I am currently testing out a new version of the APF Bridge Component - If you notice any errors within this demo store please drop me a line.
Price: $63.99 Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302010985
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC
ISBN: 6302010985
Label: MGM (Warner)
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageAnalogSpanishOriginal LanguageAnalog
Manufacturer: MGM (Warner)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Warner)
Release Date: September 01, 1998
Running Time: 125 minutes
Studio: MGM (Warner)
Theatrical Release Date: June 10, 1939
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Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
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 ... Read More
Rating: -
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.
Rating: -
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 ... Read More
Rating:  -
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 ... Read More
Rating: -
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. ... Read More
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