Juarez (film) - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Upon its initial release, Frank S. Nugent of the New York Times observed, "Ideologically the new Warner film is faultless. What it has to say about the conflict between imperialist, benevolent despot and democrat has been expressed logically and eloquently, with reasonable fidelity to historic fact . . . But approval of a film's purpose and message cannot blind one altogether to some of the weaknesses of its structure. Juarez has not been smoothly assembled. Its central character has been thrown out of focus by a lesser one. Too much and too little attention has been paid to the subordinate people in the drama. William Dieterle, who ordinarily directs so well, has been guilty in this instance of a surprisingly static camera, of stage technique rather than cinematic. The picture runs for something more than two hours, which should have been enough to balance its budget and its plot. Yet it is out of balance, in character and in narrative. Possibly the fault is in its editing, although that would not explain it all." He continued, "The picture seems one long dissolve from council chamber to council chamber, broken rather pointlessly by a pompous ceremony of royal adoption . . . and dramatically by Carlota's mad scene and Juarez's bold outfacing of a traitor. In the last mentioned two, the picture enters brilliantly into the true medium of cinema expression, blends imagery with eloquence and vitalizes its screen. But the very vividness of these sequences accentuates the staticism of many of the others — a pictorial staticism, we hasten to add, for the quality of the writing is splendid, the measure of the performance high, the concept admirable." He concluded, "Juarez, with all its faults, still must be rated a distinguished, memorable and socially valuable film."

In later years, Time Out London stated, "Only Bette Davis and Gale Sondergaard have any fire in this otherwise plodding Warner Bros costume drama," while Channel 4 noted, "Despite the frills, there is very little substance in this overcooked adventure."