A fictionalized account of famous French writer Emile Zola and his involvement in the Dreyfus Affair. After struggling to establish himself, Zola wins success writing about the unsavory side of Paris and settles into a comfortable upper-class life. However, Zola's complacency is shaken when Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus is imprisoned for being a spy. Realizing that Dreyfus is an innocent victim of anti-Semitism, Zola boldly pens a newspaper article exposing the truth, is charged with libel and must defend himself in a dramatic courtroom testimony.

Paul Muni
as Emile Zola

Gale Sondergaard
as Lucie Dreyfus

Joseph Schildkraut
as Capt. Alfred Dreyfus

Gloria Holden
as Alexandrine Zola

Donald Crisp
as Maitre Labori

Erin O'Brien-Moore
as Nana

John Litel
as Charpentier

Henry O'Neill
as Colonel Picquart

Morris Carnovsky
as Anatole France

Louis Calhern
as Major Dort
CinemaSerf
Emile Zola liked nothing better than an opportunity to cause a bit of scandal and over the years that made him a wealthy man, but earned him the enmity of pretty much all of the Establishment. France was still finding it's political feet with the second empire giving way to the third republic, the G...