Editing Paul Muni (section)

== Hollywood ==
In 1929, Muni was signed by [[Fox Film Corporation|Fox]]. His name was simplified and anglicized to Paul Muni (derived from his nickname of youth "Moony"). His acting talents were quickly recognized, and he received an [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] nomination for his first film, ''[[The Valiant (1929 film)|The Valiant]]'' (1929), although the film fared poorly at the box office.<ref name="Actors" /> His second film, ''Seven Faces'' (also 1929), was also a financial failure. Unhappy with the roles offered to him, he returned to Broadway, where he starred in a major hit play, ''Counsellor at Law''.<ref name="Osborne" />

Muni soon returned to Hollywood to star in provocative [[pre-Code]] films such as ''[[Scarface (1932 film)|Scarface]]'' and ''[[I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang]]'' (both 1932). For his role in ''I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang'', Muni was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor. His acclaim as a result of his performance impressed Warner Bros., which signed him to a long-term contract, publicizing him as "the screen's greatest actor."<ref name="Osborne" />

{{quote box|align=right|width=25em|bgcolor = Cornsilk|quote=I had been wanting to see ''Scarface'' since 1974 ... The film just stopped me in my tracks. All I wanted to do was imitate Paul Muni. His acting went beyond the boundaries of naturalism into another kind of expression. It was almost abstract what he did. It was almost uplifting.|source=Al Pacino<ref name=pacino>{{cite book| last=Tucker| first=Ken| title=Scarface Nation: The Ultimate Gangster Movie and How It Changed America| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B7UQJAyrmLQC&q=imitate+paul+muni| publisher=St. Martin's Press| year= 2008| isbn=978-1429993296}}</ref>}}

''Scarface'', part of a cycle of [[gangster film]]s at the time,<ref>See also ''[[Little Caesar (film)|Little Caesar]]'' and ''[[The Public Enemy]]'' (both 1931).</ref> was written by [[Ben Hecht]]<ref name="Corliss" />{{rp|6}} and directed by [[Howard Hawks]]. Critic [[Richard Corliss]] noted in 1974 that while it was a serious gangster film, it also "manages both to congratulate journalism for its importance and to chastise it for its chicanery, by underlining the newspapers' complicity in promoting the underworld image."<ref name="Corliss">{{cite book| last=Corliss| first=Richard| title=Talking Pictures: Screenwriters of Hollywood| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dmlZAAAAMAAJ&q=muni| year=1975| publisher=David & Charles| page=54| url-access=subscription| isbn=978-0715368268}}</ref>{{rp|10}}

In 1935, Muni starred in ''[[Black Fury (film)|Black Fury]]''. At the 8th Academy Awards, Muni was not officially nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, but he came in second on the basis of write-in votes, which were allowed that year.

Muni persuaded Warner Bros. to take a financial risk by producing the successful historical biography ''[[The Story of Louis Pasteur]]'', which was released in 1936. This became Muni's first of many biographical roles. Until that film, most Warner Bros. stories had originated from current events and major news stories, with the notable exceptions of [[George Arliss]]'s earlier biographical films ''[[Disraeli (1929 film)|Disraeli]]'', ''[[Alexander Hamilton (film)|Alexander Hamilton]]'' and ''[[Voltaire (film)|Voltaire]]''.<ref name="Osborne" /> Muni won an Oscar for his performance.

Muni played other historical figures, including [[Émile Zola]] in ''[[The Life of Emile Zola]]'' (1937), for which he was again nominated for an Oscar.<ref name="denby">{{cite magazine| first=David| last=Denby| title=Hitler in Hollywood| url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/09/16/hitler-in-hollywood| magazine=[[The New Yorker]]| date=September 9, 2013| access-date=September 3, 2020}}</ref> The film won Best Picture and was interpreted as indirectly attacking the repression of [[Nazi Germany]].<ref name="denby" /> He also played the lead role in ''[[Juarez (1939 film)|Juarez]]'' (1939).

In 1937, Muni played a Chinese peasant with a new bride in a film adaptation of [[Pearl Buck]]'s novel ''[[The Good Earth (film)|The Good Earth]]''. The film was a recreation of a revolutionary period in China and included special effects for a locust attack and the overthrow of the government. Because Muni was not of Asian descent, when producer [[Irving Thalberg]] offered him the role, he said, "I'm about as Chinese as [President] [[Herbert Hoover]]."<ref name="Osborne" />

Dissatisfied with life in Hollywood, Muni chose not to renew his contract. He returned to the screen only occasionally in later years for such roles as [[Frédéric Chopin]]'s teacher in ''[[A Song to Remember]]'' (1945). In 1946, he played a rare comic role in ''[[Angel on My Shoulder (film)|Angel on My Shoulder]]''.