The most interesting characteristic of this film is its almost militarily disciplined restraint. It is all about the glory and honour of the military, and most of the actors are military officers. José Ferrer has directed this film focusing on military mentality and managing very well in bringing forth both the good sides of it and the worst, the unreasonableness of disciplinary rigour. The film is crowded with outstanding actors, like David Farrar as the brother, Felix Aylmer as the old lawyer, Herbert Lom as the relentless calligraphic expert, Anton Walbrook as a very suave and clever Esterhazy, and above all, the beautiful Viveca Lindfors as the wife. I had been searching for this film for years when it suddenly appeared on my menu, and although my expectations were the very highest, I was positively surprised. The best actor of all here is José Ferrer himself as the culprit, and although Captain Dreyfus has been brought on film many times, this must be the best interpretation of the character. The scenes of his trials on Devil's Island are heartbreaking without going to extremes, also here the director sticks to his very objective discipline. It is a most admirable treasure of a film, priceless and precious, while Emile Zola is a little played down. Well, he had his own film in 1938 with Paul Muni, in which film Dreyfus almost stole the entire show, so even Emile Zola has to conform here to the strict discipline of the impressingly military discipline of this extremely important film.
