Every Best Picture Oscar Winner Ranked Worst To Best

The Life of Emile Zola takes a thematically rich historical event - in this case, the complex Dreyfus Affair of the late-19th century - and completely wastes its cinematic potential.

Again, this is an old film, so many of its themes are handled with the subtly of a brick, but even so its tackling of issues such as anti-Semitism feel unsavoury even in context. It may tell a vital story with a decent performance from star Paul Muni, but it’s far from the seminal work it could have been.