HOUSE OF ROTHSCHILD
US, 1934, 88 minutes, Black and white/Colour.
George Arliss, Boris Karloff, Loretta Young, Robert Young, C. Aubrey Smith, Arthur Byron, Helen Westley, Reginald Owen, Florence Arliss, Alan Mowbray.
Directed by Alfred L. Werker.
The House of Rothschild is a very surprising film from the Hollywood of the 1930s. While most of the moguls at the Hollywood studios were of Jewish descent, explicit Jewish themes were comparatively rare in films until the breakthrough with Gentlemen’s Agreement in 1947. However, this film was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck of Fox Studios (not Jewish) and was a propaganda attempt at the time of Hitler’s accession to power in Germany. In England, at the same time, there was a similar production of Jew Suss with Conrad Veidt. Both of these stories were later used by Goebbels in anti-Semitic propaganda films.
George Arliss, who had won an Oscar for his portrayal of English prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, portrays the patriarch of the Rothschild family as well as his son Nathan Rothschild who opened the bank of the house in England and was responsible for making loans to the British government and other governments to combat Napoleon. After Napoleon’s escape from Elba, and his gathering forces, ultimately beaten at Waterloo, Rothschild negotiated with the bankers and with the British government to persuade the British government to grant citizenship to Jews living in England.
Boris Karloff, soon after his performance as Frankenstein, gives a very interesting performance as the anti-Semitic Count Ledrantz, one of the bankers opposed to the Rothschild yet, ultimately, having to come cap-in-hand to borrow money for the defeat of Napoleon. Loretta Young has a small role as Rothschild’s daughter with Robert Young as her suitor, a soldier in the forces of the Duke of Wellington who is played with bluff cheerfulness by C. Aubrey Smith. Florence Arliss, George Arliss’s wife, appears as his wife in the film. A number of character actors portray the leading bankers of Europe.
Alfred L. Werker directed mainly small-budget, B-budget films. This film stands out in his CV.
The finale of the film is a social with the prince regent conferring a baronetcy on Rothschild (which was not quite accurate, the baronetcy came to his son at the end of the 19th century).
It moves into colour, just before the three-colour Technicolor process was used for a full-length feature film in Becky Sharp (also set in this particular period and in the aftermath of Waterloo).
1. 30s film-making, sets, performances, re-creation of period, costumes and décor? Musical score? The black and white photography, the transition to colour pageantry?
2. The title, the history of the Rothschild family, the Jewish background, bankers, continental Europe? As lenders, their prosperity? Yet the anti-Semitic persecution and taxation? The issue of Jewish freedom in Europe? The long anti-Semitic traditions, the ghettos?
3. Hollywood making Jewish issues explicit, the rarity in the Hollywood of the period? Hitler’s rise to power, the action of the Nazis, the persecution of the Jews, the anticipation of World War Two?
4. The introduction to the family, life in the ghetto, the patriarch, his business, his family, wife and sons? The issue of taxes, the inspectors, bargaining about the taxes? The extortion? The speculations? The robberies of the Jewish coaches? A man of principle, yet having to compromise? His speech about integrity to his sons? Sending his sons out throughout Europe? The beginnings of a world bank?
5. Nathan Rothschild’s story? London in the 18th and 19th centuries? The transition from money lender to banker, the role of the stock exchange? The Napoleonic wars and government needs for loans? The Duke of Wellington and his friendship with Nathan, the visits, giving hints about the loans? The meeting of the bankers, Ledrantz and his vetoing of Rothschild? Rothschild standing up to him, the confrontation with Baring, with the count? The hostility, anti-Semitic? The discussion of percentages for the loan? The continental bankers and Ledrantz covering the loan? Baring finally coming to ask for Rothschild’s help?
6. The domestic sequences, Nathan and his love for his wife, her support, when he risked the money, for richer or poorer – and her note that he read at the stock exchange at the time of Waterloo?
7. The subplot of the romance, Julie and Fitz Roy, their meetings, Nathan’s opposition, Julie as strong? Fitz Roy determined? Fitz Roy with Wellington? The Jewish issues? Jewish freedom and Nathan relenting?
8. Ledrantz, the European background, the loans? His power, card-playing the news of Waterloo? The final negotiations with Rothschild and his backing down?
9. Nathan and his brothers, their plans, the issues concerning napoleon and Jewish freedom? Nathan and his plan to visit, the police and the plans to thwart him? Napoleon’s escape from Elba? Napoleon’s success in getting an army, Paris, moving north towards Brussels?
10. Ledrantz, the visit to Nathan, the discussions, the nature of the loan? Nathan wanting securities? His diplomacy concerning legislation, Napoleon being pro-Jewish, the British and their capitulation?
11. The war, the continued losses, Nathan and the information from his brothers by carrier pigeon? The exchange, panic, Rothschild and his friends buying, the risks, bankruptcy? His going to the exchange, the flower in his lapel, trying to promote confidence?
12. Getting the news of the victory at Waterloo, at the exchange, trying to persuade people to believe him? His vindication, his wealth?
13. The film transition to colour, the prince regent, the Baron Rothschild, the ball, the happy romance?
14. A significant film from Hollywood in the 1930s, the courage of taking a stance on Jewish issues?
