''Suez'' is an American romantic drama film released on October 28, 1938 by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

, with

Darryl F. Zanuck Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of ...

in charge of production, directed by Allan Dwan and starring

Tyrone Power Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include ''Jesse James'', ' ...

Loretta Young Loretta Young (born Gretchen Young; January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000) was an American actress. Starting as a child, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the fil ...

, and Annabella. It is very loosely based on events surrounding the construction, between 1859 and 1869, of the Suez Canal, planned and supervised by French diplomat

Ferdinand de Lesseps Ferdinand Marie, Comte de Lesseps (; 19 November 1805 – 7 December 1894) was a French diplomat and later developer of the Suez Canal, which in 1869 joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas, substantially reducing sailing distances and times ...

. The screenplay is so highly fictionalized that, upon the film's release in France, de Lesseps' descendants sued (unsuccessfully) for libel. It was nominated for three

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

Cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to foc ...

( Peverell Marley), Original Music Score (uncredited

Louis Silvers Louis "Lou" Silvers (''né'' Louis Silberstein; September 6, 1889 – March 26, 1954) was an American film score composer whose work has been used in more than 250 movies. In 1935, he won the first Academy Award for Best Original Score for '' ...

) and

Sound Recording Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording ...

(uncredited Edmund H. Hansen).

Plot

"Paris in 1850 Louis Napoleon, nephew of the great Bonaparte, is president of the French Republic." During a tennis match in Paris between Ferdinand de Lesseps (

) and his friend Vicomte Rene de Latour (

Joseph Schildkraut Joseph Schildkraut (22 March 1896 – 21 January 1964) was an Austrian-American actor. He won an Oscar for his performance as Captain Alfred Dreyfus in the film '' The Life of Emile Zola'' (1937); later, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for ...

), the enthusiastic admiration of Countess Eugenie de Montijo (

) for de Lesseps attracts the attention of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (

Leon Ames Leon Ames (born Harry L. Wycoff;U.S. Federal Census for 1910 for Fowler, Center Township, Benton County, State of Indiana, access via Ancestry.com January 20, 1902 – October 12, 1993) was an American film and television actor. He is best rememb ...

). Bonaparte sees to it that both she and de Lesseps are invited to his reception. At the party, a fortuneteller predicts that Eugenie will have a troubled life, but also wear a crown, and that de Lesseps will dig a ditch. Entranced by Eugenie's beauty, Bonaparte arranges for his romantic rival to be assigned to a diplomatic post in Egypt, joining his father, Count Mathieu de Lesseps (

Henry Stephenson Henry Stephenson (born Harry Stephenson Garraway; 16 April 1871 – 24 April 1956) was a British actor. He portrayed friendly and wise gentlemen in many films of the 1930s and 1940s. Among his roles were Sir Joseph Banks in ''Mutiny on the Bou ...

), the Consul-General. De Lesseps impulsively asks Eugenie to marry him immediately, but she turns him down. In Egypt, de Lesseps befriends two people who will have a great influence on his life: Toni Pellerin ( Annabella), a tomboy being raised by her grandfather, French Sergeant Pellerin (

Sig Rumann Siegfried Carl Alban Rumann (October 11, 1884 – February 14, 1967), billed as Sig Ruman and Sig Rumann, was a German-American character actor known for his portrayals of pompous and often stereotypically Teutonic officials or villains in ...

); and Prince Said ( J. Edward Bromberg), the indolent heir of his father, Mohammed Ali (Maurice Moskovitch), the Viceroy (ruler) of Egypt. Toni makes it clear that she has fallen in love with him, but de Lesseps still pines for Eugenie. Count de Lesseps leaves for France, leaving his son to take his place. One day, after a brief rainstorm in the desert, de Lesseps sees the water draining into the sea and comes up with the idea for the Suez Canal. He departs for Paris to raise the necessary funding; Toni goes along as well. He presents his proposal to Bonaparte, but is rejected. He is also disheartened to learn that Eugenie is now very close to Bonaparte. France is on the verge of civil war between Bonaparte and the French Assembly, led by Count de Lesseps and others. Eugenie persuades Ferdinand de Lesseps to pass along Bonaparte's proposal asking the Assembly to disband, giving Bonaparte's promise to reconvene it once the civil unrest has been defused. Despite their misgivings, the members of the Assembly agree, only to be betrayed and arrested. Bonaparte assumes the throne of the revived French Empire, just as Count de Lesseps had feared. The news causes the count to suffer a fatal stroke. Ferdinand de Lesseps is outraged, but Toni persuades him to do nothing. In return for de Lesseps' help, Bonaparte (now Emperor Napoleon III), withdraws his objections to the canal, and construction commences under de Lesseps' direction. The building of the canal progresses despite Turkish sabotage. However, Napoleon unexpectedly withdraws his support out of political necessity; he needs to appease Great Britain, and the British Prime Minister ( George Zucco) is firmly opposed to the project. Prince Said bankrupts himself to keep the venture going, but it is not enough. De Lesseps goes to England to plead his case. The Prime Minister is unmoved, but the leader of the opposition, Benjamin Disraeli (

Miles Mander Miles Mander (born Lionel Henry Mander; 14 May 1888 – 8 February 1946), was an English character actor of the early Hollywood cinema, also a film director and producer, and a playwright and novelist. He was sometimes credited as Luther Mile ...

), is enthusiastic about the project. Disraeli tells him to return to Egypt and pray that Disraeli wins the upcoming general election. He does, and funding is assured. As the canal nears completion, an enormous sandstorm threatens everything. When de Lesseps is knocked unconscious by flying debris, Toni rescues him by tying him to a wooden post, but is herself swept away and killed. De Lesseps finishes the canal and is honored by Eugenie, now Empress of France after her marriage to Napoleon III.

Cast

as Countess Eugenie De Montijo * Annabella as Toni Pellerin * J. Edward Bromberg as Prince Said *

as Vicomte Rene De Latour *

as Count

Mathieu de Lesseps Mathieu Maximilien Prosper, Comte de Lesseps (4 March 1771—28 December 1832) was a French diplomat and high ranking public official who served, from 1797 until his death, in numerous foreign and domestic posts. One of his sons, Ferdinand de L ...

* Sidney Blackmer as Marquis Du Brey *

Maurice Moscovitch Maurice Moscovich (born Morris Maaskov; November 23, 1871 – June 18, 1940) was a Russian American actor who was well-known for his roles in Yiddish theatre. His 14 films, which he made at the end of his life, include Charlie Chaplin's '' The ...

as Mohammed Ali *

as Sergeant Pellerin *

Nigel Bruce William Nigel Ernle Bruce (4 February 1895 – 8 October 1953) was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in a series of films and in the radio series ''The New Adventures of Sherlock ...

as Sir Malcolm Cameron *

as Benjamin Disraeli * George Zucco as Prime Minister *

Louis Napoleon Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

Rafaela Ottiano Rafaela Ottiano (4 March 1888 – 15 August 1942) was an Italian-American stage and film actress. Early life Rafaela Ottiano was born in Venice, Italy. She immigrated to the United States with her parents and was processed at Ellis Island in 1 ...

as Maria De Teba *

Victor Varconi Victor Varconi (born Mihály Várkonyi; March 31, 1891 – June 6, 1976) was a Hungarian actor who initially found success in his native country, as well as in Germany and Austria, in silent films, before relocating to the United States, where ...

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

Georges Renavent Georges Renavent (born Georges DeChaux, April 23, 1892 – January 2, 1969) was a French-American actor in film, Broadway plays and operator of American Grand Guignol. He was born in Paris, France. In 1914, he immigrated to the United Stat ...

as Bank President *

Frank Reicher Frank Reicher (born Franz Reicher; December 2, 1875 – January 19, 1965) was a German-born American actor, director and producer. He is best known for playing Captain Englehorn in the 1933 film ''King Kong''. Early life Reicher was born in Mu ...

General Changarnier Nicolas Anne Theodule Changarnier (26 April 1793 – 14 February 1877), French general, was born at Autun, Saône-et-Loire. Educated at Saint-Cyr, he served for a short time in the bodyguard of Louis XVIII, and entered the line as a lieut ...

* Carlos De Valdez as Count Hatzfeldt *Jacques Lory as Millet *

Albert Conti Albert De Conti Cadassamare (29 January 1887 – 18 January 1967), professionally billed as Albert Conti, was an Austrian-Hungarian-born Italian-American film actor. Life Born in the village of Gorizia (now, part of Italy), Conti achieved mode ...

as M. Fevrier * Brandon Hurst as Franz Liszt *

Marcelle Corday Marcelle Corday (8 January 1890 – 25 June 1971) was a Belgian-born American actress. She mostly played character parts in silent and sound films. Corday was a niece of violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. She learned to play violin and piano, studyi ...

as Mme. Paquineau * Odette Myrtle as Duchess *

Egon Brecher Egon Brecher (18 February 1880 – 12 August 1946) was an Austria-Hungary-born actor and director, who also served as the chief director of Vienna's Stadttheater, before entering the motion picture industry. Early years The son of a professor, ...

as Doctor * Alphonse Martell as General St. Arnaud * Montague Shaw as Elderly Man *

Leonard Mudie Leonard Mudie (born Leonard Mudie Cheetham; April 11, 1883April 14, 1965) was an English character actor whose career lasted for nearly fifty years. After a successful start as a stage actor in England, he appeared regularly in the US, and mad ...

as Campaign Manager *

Michael Visaroff Michael Simeon Visaroff (December 18, 1889 – February 27, 1951) was a Russian American film character actor. Biography Visaroff was born Mikhail Semenonovich Vizarov ( Russian: Михаил Семёнович Визаров) in Moscow, ...

as Jewel Merchant (uncredited)

Production

A September 1937 news article reported that

was set to star in this film opposite

Simone Simon Simone Thérèse Fernande Simon (23 April 1910 or 1911 – 22 February 2005) was a French film actress who began her film career in 1931. Early life Born in Marseille, France, she was the daughter of Henri Louis Firmin Clair Simon, a French J ...

reported earlier in June that Simon was assigned to the female lead. In March 1938, Zanuck revealed that he had set up a $2,000,000 budget, with recently retired from acting

George Arliss George Arliss (born Augustus George Andrews; 10 April 1868 – 5 February 1946) was an English actor, author, playwright, and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award – which he ...

, winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing the title role in 1929's ''

Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a centr ...

'', possibly returning to repeat, in ''Suez'', his famed portrayal.

and Annabella were cast in the same month, thereby ruling out a role for Simon. On April 23, 1939, six months after ''Suezs premiere, Tyrone Power, age 24, and Annabella, age 31, were married (his first marriage, her third), with the union lasting until 1948. Philip Dunne later called the film "pretty bad". "Tyrone Power played Ferdinand de Lesseps, the Lee Iaccoca of his day," said Dunne. "So he dug the Suez Canal, so what? My partner Julien Josephson and I invented a love story with the Empress of France (Loretta Young) to keep audiences going. We had to. The man was the world's biggest bore."Philip Dunne looks back at movies' golden age: A2 Editionim Bawden Toronto Star 27 Jan 1990: G8. 400 Arabian horses, 300 camels, and almost as many donkeys, were needed for this film.

Contemporary reviews

The

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

found the film "a handsomely sepia-tinted and ponderously implausible description of how the Suez Canal came to be built....Mr. Zanuck, in short, has endowed his historical excursion with everything but credibility....It is not precisely the role for Mr. Power, who has the screen manner one associations with the young men from Ted Peck's Escort Bureau." The

Washington Evening Star ''The Washington Star'', previously known as the ''Washington Star-News'' and the Washington ''Evening Star'', was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C., between 1852 and 1981. The Sunday edition was known as the ''Sunday Sta ...

was more accepting of the inaccuracies, noting that "In preparing the script for the lavish, spectacular and expensive picture, Twentieth Century-Fox found the historical arrangement of character and situation somewhat lacking in adequate dramatic values. Accordingly, it changed them to suit their requirements. The result is a much better bit of entertainment than it is a lesson in history, which quite possibly is what Mr. Darryl Zanuck was after, so accuracy will have to take care of itself." The

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

acknowledged the plot's Hollywood touches while complimenting special effects: "The building of the Canal itself is celebrated with some genuinely spectacular photography, sets, and swarms of people. In the midst of the labor a magnificent tornado supplies the catastrophic Zanuck touch to the proceedings. It is comparable to the Chicago fire, the San Francisco earthquake, the Chinese locust plague or the South Seas hurricane....This is something that connoisseurs of movie catastrophes will have to add to their collections."

Evaluation in film guides

Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide ''Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'' was a book-format collection of movie capsule reviews that began in 1969, was updated biannually after 1978, and then annually after 1986. The final edition was published in September 2014. It was originally calle ...

'' gives ''Suez'' 3 stars (out of 4) and, in its early editions, states, "elaborate Darryl Zanuck production surrounds good cast with 1850s France and Egypt". Since 1993, however, the write-up's final lines have been revised to read, "entertaining and elaborate hokum which apparently bears no resemblance to history. Power and Annabella later wed in real life". '' Steven H. Scheuer's Movies on TV'' also gives it 3 stars (out of 4), commenting, "well-photographed and lavish film which is supposed to tell the true story of how the Suez Canal was built. If it had done that, it might have been a great film instead of another colorful epic." ''

TimeOut Film Guide ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition becam ...

'' observes that "this highlights both Dwan's virtues and his flaws. The action/catastrophe are marvellously assured without ever going over the top, as is the handling of the human drama." It concludes that "Dwan—who is concerned with the modest virtues of honesty and fairness—is unable, indeed unwilling, to so combine both strands of his story. Accordingly, ''Suez'' is a series of incidents unconnected by dramatic urgency; Dwan, quite simply, is unconcerned with the building of the canal." Assigning 3½ stars (out of 5), '' The Motion Picture Guide'' described it as "typically lavish Hollywood biography that bears even less relation to the truth than usual for the genre" and later went on to state that "inane dialog is the biggest culprit in this ridiculous view of 19th-Century French politics". The write-up also mentions that in his 1971 biography by

Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. One of the " New Hollywood" directors, Bogdanovich started as a film journalist until he was hired to work on ...

, ''The Last Pioneer'', Allan Dwan expresses admiration for Annabella's professionalism, in particular while filming the epic sandstorm. It goes on to state that "when the film was shown in France, the descendants of de Lesseps sued Fox, claiming that the engineer had been 54 when he first went to Egypt, and never had an affair with the Empress Eugenie. A French court threw out the case, determining that the film brought more honor to France than dishonor on the family. The film follows the usual formula of the other Zanuck biographical bowdlerizations: smart sets, great costumes, romance, fine special effects, and complete disregard of fact. Original release prints were sepia tinted."''The Motion Picture Guide'' (Chicago, 1987), volume VII, page 3196

References

Reviews

Nugent, Frank S. "THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; ''Suez'' Opens at the Roxy, with Tyrone Power as the Great Canal Builder-----''The Sisters'' Features Errol Flynn and Bette Davis at the Strand" (''The New York Times'', October 15, 1938, page 21)"''Suez'' is at Santa Clara; Tyrone Power seen as Man Who Built the Suez Canal" (''The San Jose News'', January 3, 1939, page 19)"Films in Glasgow: ''"Suez"'' and ''"The Ware Case"''; Tyrone Power as de Lesseps: Donald Takes Up Golf" (''The Glasgow Herald'', April 18, 1939, page 6)"THRILLING ROMANCE; Tyrone Power as Canal Builder" (''The Age'', June 5, 1939, page 13)

External links

* * *
Suez
at ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'' (1987 write-up was originally published in ''The Motion Picture Guide'')
Beck, Sanderson (2001). ''Suez'' at ''Movie Mirror''Mavis, Paul. ''Suez'' review (June 20, 2012) at ''DVD talk''
* ttp://homepages.sover.net/~ozus/suez.html Schwartz, Dennis. ''Suez'' review (August 15, 2012) at ''Ozus' World Movie Reviews''br>Grost, Michael E. ''The Films of Allan Dwan''
examining ''Suez'' for traits which are frequently perceived within the films directed by Dwan, with comparisons found in 1949's '' Sands of Iwo Jima'', 1954's '' Silver Lode'', 1951's ''Belle Le Grand'', 1956's '' Slightly Scarlet'' and 1917's '' A Modern Musketeer''; sections focusing on themes common to Dwan's work are highlighted by sub-headers "Water Works", "Politics: Rivalries Between Government Parties", "Camera Movement", "Symmetry" and "Hats" {{Allan Dwan 1938 films 1930s historical romance films 1938 romantic drama films 20th Century Fox films American black-and-white films Films directed by Allan Dwan Films set in Egypt Films set in Paris Films set in the 1850s Films set in the 1860s Films set in the French colonial empire American romantic drama films Films with screenplays by Philip Dunne Films scored by Louis Silvers Cultural depictions of Napoleon III Cultural depictions of Victor Hugo Cultural depictions of Franz Liszt Cultural depictions of Benjamin Disraeli American historical romance films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films