The one thing I can be absolutely certain of in the mid-1930s is that the average person didn’t think too kindly of bankers. That, and anti-semitism was at an all-time high that would continue to rise over the next few years as the world was building up towards World War II. Knowing this, then sitting down to watch a film like The House of Rothschild, it becomes all the more appalling being pummeled with this muddled messaging about politics, racism, and the world’s economic situation during the Napoleonic War. It would be a feat indeed to find a movie more tone-deaf to what it is allegedly championing.
The name Rothschild may not mean much to the current generation, but anyone getting into banking or finance will know it. It was a family dynasty in Europe in the 1800s that made a fortune by outmaneuvering their competition during a time of economic crisis. The move could have backfired, bankrupting them, but instead, it made them amongst the richest in all the world by bankrolling loans to the various European governments in their fight against Napoleon. All of this happened during a time when the Jewish people, of which the Rothschild family was, were seen as second-class citizens, forced to live apart from the rest of society.
The film starts off on rocky footing and never recovers from that. The opening ten minutes are played up like a comedy as Mayer Rothschild (George Arliss), the patriarch of the Rothschild dynasty, is forewarned that the tax collector is coming. He and his family promptly hide all their valuables before he can arrive in order to avoid paying a higher rate on their taxes. When this isn’t entirely successful, they bribe the official, just to save a small amount of money, then bemoan having to pay at all. This may seem like innocent comedy, but it is portraying Jews as being obsessed with money and cheating the system.
This scene then cuts to Mayer on his deathbed, advising his five children to set up banks in the capitals of the five biggest countries in Europe for the primary purpose of avoiding international trading as much as possible, something that will be hugely profitable should war arise. The idea that as he is dying, all he can think about is money and financial maneuvering is just plain offensive. This is reinforcing an unfortunate stereotype to audiences in the 1930s and is doing more harm to race relations, feeding into those preconceived notions rather than dispelling them.
The film then spends the next hour plus explaining, not showing, the war with Napoleon, the need for the governments to find reliable financial support in their bid to defeat him, and how each of these governments, especially in London, would rather take a less desirable loan than one from a Jew. The face of this discrimination is Count Ledrantz (Boris Karloff), who represents Prussia and spends the bulk of his screen time scowling and looking all around unpleasant, giving us an evil character to root against. When this happens, Nathan Rothschild (also George Arliss), the eldest of the five sons, uses his ingenuity to outmaneuver the other bankers and force them into a position where they need him and his family’s money again.
In the end, The Rothschilds end up wealthy beyond imagination, celebrated for being these great heroes of the war with Napoleon, and Nathan is made a baron. His bid for financial superiority came with the requirement that the Jews no longer be treated as undesirable citizens, but aside from that one mention, we see none of this in action. In fact, we see nothing outside of the banking world to give us any real stakes beyond that of the financial security of the protagonist. For audiences in the 1930s, deep in the Great Depression, this should have felt insulting, yet it was financially successful upon release. Now, ninety years later, it is seen as offensive and completely tone-deaf.
There is really nothing I can recommend about this movie aside from seeing just how blind a filmmaker can be to the general needs of the audience they are there to cater to. On that level, it might have some value. On any other level, it is best to just forget about this one and move on. Parts of this film were later incorporated into German anti-semitic propaganda films and didn’t even need to be edited to get their point across. That’s really not something a film should be remembered for.
Academy Award Nomination:
Outstanding Production: Darryl F. Zanuck, William Goetz, and Raymond Griffith
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Release Date: April 7, 1934
Running Time: 88 Minutes
Not Rated
Starring: George Arliss, Loretta Young, and Boris Karloff
Directed By: Alfred L. Werker with assistance by Maude T. Howell
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