''I Accuse!'' is a 1958 British

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

historical drama film A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction such as c ...

based on the Dreyfus affair, in which a Jewish captain in the French Army,

Alfred Dreyfus Alfred Dreyfus (9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French Army officer best known for his central role in the Dreyfus affair. In 1894, Dreyfus fell victim to a judicial conspiracy that eventually sparked a major political crisis in the Fre ...

, was falsely accused of treason and imprisoned for five years before being pardoned. The film is directed by and stars

José Ferrer José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992) was a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican actor and director of stage, film and television. He was one of the most celebrated and esteemed Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hi ...

in the leading role, with Anton Walbrook (in his final film role), Viveca Lindfors, Leo Genn,

Emlyn Williams George Emlyn Williams, CBE (26 November 1905 – 25 September 1987) was a Welsh writer, dramatist and actor. Early life Williams was born into a Welsh-speaking, working class family at 1 Jones Terrace, Pen-y-ffordd, Ffynnongroyw, Flintshi ...

, David Farrar,

Donald Wolfit Sir Donald Wolfit (born Donald Woolfitt; 20 April 1902 – 17 February 1968) was an English actor-manager, known for his touring productions of Shakespeare. He was especially renowned for his portrayal of King Lear. Born to a conventional midd ...

, and

Herbert Lom Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru (11 September 1917 – 27 September 2012), known professionally as Herbert Lom (), was a Czech-British actor with a career spanning over 60 years. His cool demeanour and precise, elegan ...

. The screenplay, written by

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual ...

, on Nicholas Halasz’s 1955 account ''Captain Dreyfus; The Story of a Mass Hysteria''.

Plot

In 1894,

, a Jewish captain in the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

, is falsely accused of selling military secrets to the Germans. He is charged with treason and, despite weak evidence against him, is convicted after being railroaded by the military court. He is sentenced to life imprisonment on

Devil's Island The penal colony of Cayenne ( French: ''Bagne de Cayenne''), commonly known as Devil's Island (''Île du Diable''), was a French penal colony that operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953, in the Salvation Islan ...

while the real spy, Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy, helps in the investigation. When Esterhazy is found to be the real mole, the French Army tries to hide the truth by exonerating the traitor in a mock trial.

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...

writes an open letter to the prime minister of France entitled '' J'Accuse...!'' ''("I Accuse...!")'', which reveals the truth behind the cover up. The letter is published in the newspaper, causing a firestorm around the world, leading to a re-examination of the entire Dreyfus case. Eventually, Esterhazy makes a full confession, and Dreyfus is completely exonerated, being reinstated to the army and inducted into the French Legion of Honor.

Cast

as Captain Alfred Dreyfus * Anton Walbrook as Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy * Viveca Lindfors as

Lucie Dreyfus Lucie Dreyfus-Hadamard (23 August 1869 – 14 December 1945) was the wife of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish French Army officer who due to antisemitism was wrongfully accused and convicted of being a German spy and imprisoned on Devil's Island in Fren ...

* Leo Genn as Major Piquart *

* David Farrar as Mathieu Dreyfus *

as General Mercier *

as Major DuPaty de Clam * Harry Andrews as Major Henry *

Felix Aylmer Sir Felix Edward Aylmer Jones (21 February 1889 – 2 September 1979) was an English stage actor who also appeared in the cinema and on television. Aylmer made appearances in films with comedians such as Will Hay and George Formby. Early life ...

as Edgar Demange * George Coulouris as Colonel Sandherr *

Peter Illing Peter Illing (4 March 1899 – 29 October 1966) was an Austrian-born British film and television actor. Selected TV series * '' The Four Just Men'' (1959) as Dr Mozek * '' Deadline Midnight'' (1961) as Captain Dnieprovsky * '' The Saint'' (1962 ...

Georges Clemenceau Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who was Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A physician turned journalist, he played a central role in the poli ...

Michael Hordern Sir Michael Murray Hordern (3 October 19112 May 1995) was an English actor. He is best known for his Shakespearean roles, especially King Lear. He often appeared in film, rising from a bit part actor to leading roles; by the time of his death ...

as Prosecutor *

Laurence Naismith Laurence Naismith (born Lawrence Johnson; 14 December 1908 – 5 June 1992) was an English actor. He made numerous film and television appearances, including starring roles in the musical films '' Scrooge'' (1970) and the children's ghost fil ...

as Judge * Ernest Clark as Prosecutor *

Eric Pohlmann Eric Pohlmann (; born Erich Pollak; 18 July 1913 – 25 July 1979) was an Austrian theatre, film and television character actor who worked mostly in the United Kingdom. He is known for voicing Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the primary antagonist of t ...

as Bertillon * John Phillips as Prosecutor, Esterhazy trial * Malcolm Keen as President of France * Charles Gray as Captain Brossard * Moultrie Kelsall as Auguste Scheurer-Kestner

Production

The film was based on a book ''Captain Dreyfus: Story of Mass Hysteria'' which was published in 1955. In October 1955 MGM acquired an option on the film rights. The story had been filmed previously, notably in '' The Life of Émile Zola'' , but MGM claimed the book "contains quite a bit of material that had not come to life before". The film was known as ''Captain Dreyfus'' before being retitled ''I Accuse''. Due to the film's unflattering portayal of the French military, the government refused to allow filming in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Instead, the film was shot on-location in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, and

MGM-British Studios MGM-British was a subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer initially established (as MGM London Films Denham) at Denham Film Studios in 1936. It was in limbo during the Second World War; however, following the end of hostilities, a facility was acquired ...

Borehamwood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 36,322, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly know ...

, England. Filming finished by June 1957.

Release

The film premiered in

Cape Town, South Africa Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

on 18 February 1958. It went into general release in the United States on 5 March 1958, and in the United Kingdom on 15 February 1959. ''I Accuse!'' was a box office flop. It earned $190,000 in the US and Canada and $475,000 elsewhere, leading to a loss of $1,415,000.

Reception

'' Variety'' called the film "strong, if plodding, entertainment." The publication said Ferrer's performance is "a wily, impeccable one, but it comes from the intellect rather than the heart and rarely causes pity." The

Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

was unimpressed: "For no immediately apparent reason, the Dreyfus scandal...is being given a new screen airing....more zeal than art....Gore Vidal's plodding writing is almost constantly at odds with the overly melodramatic or numbed performances director-star Ferrer has elicited from himself and his cast....If Ferrer underplays drastically, the reverse must be said for almost everyone else in the large, hard-pressed cast." ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' critic

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though some ...

wrote that the film's "studious and generally valid re-enactment of the highlights of the case offers rewards," but said the film lacked excitement and drama and that "Mr. Ferrer's Dreyfus is a sad sack, a silent and colorless man who takes his unjust conviction with but one outburst of protest and then endures his

torment lying down. He is a chilly hero who stirs mere intellectual sympathy."

References

External links

* * * * {{Gore Vidal 1958 films 1950s historical drama films 1950s biographical drama films British biographical drama films British historical drama films British black-and-white films Films about the Dreyfus affair Films based on non-fiction books Films set in 1894 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films CinemaScope films Films directed by José Ferrer Films with screenplays by Gore Vidal Films scored by William Alwyn Cultural depictions of Georges Clemenceau Cultural depictions of Alfred Dreyfus Cultural depictions of Émile Zola 1950s English-language films 1950s British films English-language biographical drama films