Captain Alfred Dreyfus (Jose Ferrer) is a French intelligence officer circa 1894. He's respected for his work ethic and intelligence, but distrusted for his Judaism. When French officials learn someone's leaking intelligence to Germany, Dreyfus becomes the prime suspect. Dreyfus is convicted and imprisoned on Devil's Island, allowing real traitor Major Esterhazy (Anton Walbrook) to escape. Dreyfus's wife (Viveca Lindfors), brother (David Farrar) and journalist Emil Zola (Emlyn Willaims) lobby for retrial, backed by Dreyfus's patron Major Picquet (Leo Glenn).
I Accuse! does an excellent job evoking late 19th Century France, still smarting from the Franco-Prussian War and riven by anti-Semitism. An Alsatian Jew, he's instantly suspected, with laudable traits becoming evidence against him. After all, who works overtime but a traitor? The cliquish officer corps resents Dreyfus's loner personality, unwilling to recognize anti-Semitism as its cause. Meanwhile Esterhazy marvels at his own luck: son of Hungarian aristocrats, his Catholicism places him above reproach.
Ferrer and screenwriter Gore Vidal brilliantly sketch the political fallout: long after Dreyfus's innocence becomes undeniable, General Mercier (Donald Wolfit) suppresses evidence and reassigns Major Picquet to Tunisia. The French public, easily roused to a froth by Jew-baiting ministers, turns against the government after Zola's inflammatory J'Accuse letter. Too embarrassed to back down, the French government arranges a sham trial to exonerate Esterhazy. National honor takes precedence, even if it means condemning an innocent man.
Despite this, I Accuse! doesn't catch fire. Vidal gets so involved sketching bureaucratic chicanery, he forgets to make Dreyfus compelling. Thus Ferrer gets little more to play than indignant rectitude. Aside from his emotional "degrading" scene, publicly stripped of sword and epaulets, he's more symbol than man. Nor does Viveca Lindfors register as anything more than loyal wife. An unfortunate shortcoming in a biopic, this forces Ferrer's supporting cast carry the load.
And what a cast! Anton Walbrook (The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp) plays beautifully against type, a silky villain relishing his good luck and selfishness. Sadly, this marked Walbrook's last film. Herbert Lom (The Ladykillers) stands out as an arrogant handwriting expert; Donald Wolfit (Lawrence of Arabia), a blustering general; Leo Genn, torn between duty and honor. Harry Andrews (The Charge of the Light Brigade)stands out as a turncoat colleague, while Felix Aylmer (Becket) plays Dreyfus's lawyer.
Minor roles go to George Coulouris, David Farrar, Laurence Naismith, Emlyn Williams, Michael Hordern, John Phillips and Charles Gray. If nothing else, I Accuse! is an amazing film for star spotters.
Long relegated to obscurity, I Accuse! is worthwhile. Perhaps '50s audiences couldn't find interest in a 19th Century French scandal, beyond vague parallels with McCarthyism. Despite its shortcomings, it's easier to appreciate today as a fine historical drama.