Summary:
The filming of VOLTAIRE fulfilled a longtime ambition of its star,
George Arliss. Arliss had a long and successful career on the stage
before he began appearing in films in the 1920's and had often
expressed his wish to play the great eighteenth century French
philosopher and author on the stage, but he was never able to find a
satisfactory vehicle. At one time George Gibbs, a friend of Arliss,
even collaborated with the novelist E. Lawrence Dudley to write a
play on Voltaire especially for Arliss. Arliss liked the play and
worked with the two on rewriting and polishing it for a stage
production, but the project was dropped. Much later, however, when
Arliss was at Warner Bros., he again brought up the idea of his
playing Voltaire and, somewhat to his surprise, found it accepted.
The unproduced play was dusted off and revised by Maude T. Howell
and Paul Green, Arliss finally got his chance to portray Voltaire.
Arliss, who was consulted frequently by the studio during the preproduction planning, was sensitive to the problems of presenting an intellectual on the screen. Voltaire's importance and influence rest on his writings, but a man sitting at a desk writing is not especially interesting to watch. In addition, the studio was somewhat dubious about the popularity of such a "highbrow" subject. The solution to all these problems, and one which fit well the populist leanings of Warner Bros., was to present Voltaire chiefly as a precursor of the French Revolution.
Although one of the other characters does call Voltaire "a poet, a dramatist, a philosopher -- the greatest France has ever produced," the story told in this film is of a court wit who defies King Louis XV (Reginald Owen). At the opening, a title states that Voltaire "attacked intolerance and injustice" and "educated the masses to think and act." This puts the audience in a sympathetic frame of mind for seeing the eccentric old man who is taken care of by his niece and a servant.
Voltaire's skirmishes with the King are at first seen by the monarch as only the activities of an amusing scoundrel. When he takes the side of Nanette Calas (Margaret Lindsay), the daughter of an unjustly executed man, however, Voltaire is taken more seriously. In this battle Voltaire proves that he is crafty enough to win full redress for the young woman. He uses Madame de Pompadour (Doris Kenyon) to influence the King, and to further his point he writes a play in which Nanette plays the principal role. In addition Voltaire bests Count de Sarnac (Alan Mowbray) in a contest for power. All this makes him so popular with the people that crowds gather to cheer him, and the King orders his writings burned.
When Voltaire warns the King of "gathering clouds of revolution," he is asked to "make us laugh -- give us your wit, but keep your wisdom." At the end of the film Voltaire says "I have no scepter, but I have my pen," and then we see shots of revolutionary crowds with words such as justice and tolerance superimposed over them. VOLTAIRE is the portrait of the intellectual as freedom fighter and popular hero.
The first scene in which we see Voltaire sets up the entire characterization. He is wearing an old dressing gown and a scarf wrapped around his head and is oblivious to his appearance and his health. Totally involved in writing a letter of protest to the King, he is ignoring the orders of his doctor (David Torrence) to rest and eat. His food remains uneaten while he drinks cup after cup of coffee, a beverage his doctor has forbidden. When the doctor arrives to check up on him, Voltaire suddenly shifts his attention from the evils of the King to trying to conceal his transgressions from his doctor. To protest that he is ruining his health, Voltaire says, "I haven't time to die while there are thousands of people oppressed, tortured, starving." Thus is established his passionate concern for the people, his eccentricity, and his humanity. The script is characterized by a mixture of ringing speeches such as the one above, many contrasts between the rich and the poor and between Voltaire and the members of the court, and a few telling devices, such as a chess game during which Voltaire suddenly declares that he does not want to protect his king.
Like many other Hollywood historical or biographical films, no matter how well-intentioned its makers, VOLTAIRE has more accuracy in its sets than in its plot. Several of the scenes are fictional, but the terrace of the Petit Trianon was so carefully reproduced on the Warner Bros. lot that, Arliss said, he almost spoke his lines when he visited the actual spot the next summer after the filming. It is, of course, not for an exact depiction of history that VOLTAIRE is notable but for a vivid and well-acted interpretation of a great man and his influence. Arliss believably portrays Voltaire as a many-faceted man who can be obsessed with his work at the expense of his health at one time and almost foppishly concerned about his appearance at another.
Arliss is ably supported by Kenyon as Madame de Pompadour, Lindsay
as Nanette Calas, Mowbray as de Sarnac, and Owen as the King. John
Adolfi's direction is simple and straighforward.
Release Date: 1933
Production Line: Warner Bros.
Director: John G. Adolfi
Cinematographer: Tony Gaudio
File Editor: Owen Marks
Run Time: 72 minutes
Cast:
Voltaire - George Arliss
Madame de Pompadour - Doris Kenyon
Nanette Calas - Margaret Lindsay
Francois - Theodore Newton
King Louis XV - Reginald Owen
Count de Sarnac - Alan Mowbray
Doctor - David Torrence
The Captain - Gordon Westcott
Emile - Murray Kinnell
Mme. Clairon - Doris Lloyd
Lekain - Ivan Simpson
Oriental King - Douglas Trumbrille
Morteau - Leonard Mudie
Review Sources:
New York Times: August 23,1933, p. 21,Newsweek, Time,
Variety: August 29, 1933, p. 14
Studios named in Production Credits: Warner Bros.
Screenplay (Author): Paul Green, Maude T. Howell, George Gibbs,
E. Lawrence Dudley
Genre: Drama, Historical
Copyright (c) Magill's Survey of Cinema by Salem Press. All Rights Reserved.
VOLTAIRE., Magill's Survey of Cinema, 01-01-1994.