Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22683 in VHS
• Released on: 1998-09-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Black & White, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 86 minutes

Customer Reviews

PLEASINGLY DATED "NEW DEAL" FANTASY.
A crook becomes President and mysteriously reforms...Definitely a curiousity from the thirties: this is a bizarre but wholly fascinting film. Because of the honest performance of the great Walter Huston, this was a big springtime hit in 1933. Much of the story first indicts the Republican administrations which had occupied the White House, notably that of Warren G. Harding's. Later on, it takes on the newly appointed personality of the Roosevelt adiministration: this wasn't a fluke: William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper czar, urged producer Wanger to put this on film. When Wanger - worried about what his boss, M-G-M mogul Mayer would say - Production chief Irving Thalberg replied "Don't worry about him". At the time, Louis B. Mayer despised Roosevelt (although he later supported him) and wanted the film to be canned. But Mayer really didn't have the power to shelve the film. Almost eerily, Huston is seen addressing the US via radio broadcasts: a preview of FDR's famed Fireside Chats! Enjoy!

What a Movie!
I had a field day watching this great, socio-political themed movie, which was released at the peak of the Depression (1933) and which depicts the "glorious" events that took place in the story, when the just elected U.S. President's being is "possessed" by an "angel" of justice & peace.

It's an allegorical, unique photoplay, expertly directed by the great Gregory La Cava, with another mesmerizing performance by one of the greatest American actors of all-time, Mr. Walter Huston, as the President.

Franchot Tone and Karen Morley, two very fine actors that were under contract to MGM during this period, show their skill and wide acting range, giving Huston flawless support as the President's aides.

The sequences that take place at the U.S. Congress and during an International Confference aboard a big ship, are especially noteworthy.

Once again, since I watched it on TCM, thanks TCM for being one of the most cherished treasure-vaults of the Media and please Time Warner, release it on DVD!

A precode in a class by itself
I call this a precode in an unusual sense of the term. "Precode" usually drums up visions of movies like "Baby Face" and "The Divorcee" - films filled with sexually controversial situations and language for that period of time (1928-1934). However, precode was more than this. It also involved political ideas that were over the top and the existential doubts that made the fine horror films of Universal Studios in the early 30's. This film is definitely a political precode. The censors would have never allowed such a film to be released just 18 months later. At this point I quote Wikipedia, which gives some context for the film:

"Filmed during the 1932 presidential election on the orders of media magnate William Randolph Hearst, the film was intended to be an instructional guide for Franklin D. Roosevelt during his presidency. Hammond as he exists prior to his accident is an amalgamation of caricatures of Presidents Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover, Roosevelt's immediate predecessors. After his accident, he is Hearst's idealized image of the perfect president, the president he wanted Roosevelt to be."

Hearst always had great sway at MGM, with him also directing the career of his mistress, Marion Davies, at that same studio. President Judd Hammond in his "idealized" form is much more of a fascist than a socialist, though, declaring martial law and putting people in charge of trials because they have a grudge against the defendant. It is also interesting that Pres. Hammond after his transformation not only has a new interest in the welfare of the citizens, but he is rendered sexually neutral, addressing his former mistress as Miss rather than by her first name. It is more like the old Judd Hammond is actually dead and that some supernatural being has possessed his body more than it seems that Hammond has had some kind of transformation of his world view.

This is a very interesting film that would make a great addition to Warner Home Video's "Forbidden Hollywood" series. I hope to see it on DVD soon along with an interesting commentary on the film in the context of the Great Depression and Hearst's political beliefs. Definitely recommended. I don't think I've ever seen a film quite like it.