Juarez

Juarez is a 1939 American historical drama film directed by William Dieterle. The screenplay by Aeneas MacKenzie, John Huston, and Wolfgang Reinhardt is based on the 1934 biography The Phantom Crown by Bertita Harding and the 1925 play Juarez and Maximilian by Franz Werfel. Plot The film focuses on the ongoing conflict between Maximilian I (Brian Aherne), an Austrian archduke who is installed as the ruler of Mexico by the French Napoleon III (Claude Rains), and Benito Juárez (Paul Muni), the country's U.S.-backed president. In 1863, Napoleon III of France, fearful he will lose Mexico to Juárez, circumvents the Monroe Doctrine by instituting sovereign rule and controlling an election that places Maximilian von Habsburg on the Mexican throne. Upon his arrival in the country with his wife Carlota (Bette Davis), Maxmilian realizes he is expected to establish French supremacy by confiscating land that Juárez had returned to the native people and penalizing the rebels under his command. Maximilian decides to abdicate his throne but is deterred from doing so by Carlota.