Director:
Gregory La Cava
Year: 1933
Rating: 8.0
This fascinating film that is so prescient has generally fallen between the
cracks of popular and critical judgement. It is easy to see why. It is a
political fantasy film that pre-dates the Capra political social films (Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Meet John Doe), but its
political message is the dark side of those films - generating conflicting
feelings that are hard to reconcile. Is it an anthem to Liberalism or Fascism?
Does the end result justify the means? I don't know but it left me enthralled,
baffled but horrified as well. At myself. What is doubly fascinating about
the film is that it is still relevant today - especially today.
The film was made was of course right in the worst years of The Great Depression
with millions unemployed, millions losing their homes, widespread hunger
and the Hoover administration refused to do anything. The producer Walter
Wanger and moneyman William Randolph Heartst were big supporters of FDR and
this was released soon after his inauguration. But what were they trying
to say through this film? Clearly progressive but at the same time such a
plug for authoritarianism. At a time when parts of the world were going in
that direction with Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo rising to power. Maybe in
1933 this was viewed positively as they turned their nation's economies around.
Directed by Gregory La Cava who later made one of the classic Depression
comedies in My Man Godfrey brings not a lick of humor to this film - totally
focused and serious. MGM was the distributor and when Louis B. Mayer saw
it he nearly freaked out and wanted it pulled. It wasn't.
A new President has been elected - Judson Hammond (Walter Huston) - a good
old boy and a complete party hack where party means more than country. At
the reception after the Inauguration he is surrounded by more party hacks
- what we would call the Swamp today - all male and white of course - and
he jokes that he made so many promises to get elected that he should get
to work - to which one of his advisors replies "Don't worry. By the time
the public realizes you aren't keeping your promises, your term will be over".
Laughter all around. To questions from the press about the conditions of
the country and the criminal gangs, he says "local affairs".
Then he is in car accident and almost dies - and maybe he does - and when
he comes out of his coma he is a new man. Is he possessed - hinted at but
never obvious. He wants to help the unemployed - find work and dignity for
them - but Congress instead wants to impeach him. So what does he do? Declares
a National Emergency and imposes Martial Law, suspends Congress and declares
himself dictator until the country is back. And the people love him as he
goes on an agenda that FDR was in fact to follow to some degree - creating
jobs, getting rid of the 18th Amendment that prohibited alcohol, stopping
mortgage defaults and most facistic - sets up military courts and starts
executing criminals by firing squad. FDR did not do that!
He turns his attention to foreign affairs and threatens the world with war
unless they disarm - Germany and Japan are targeted - and gives a speech
that is scary in what it foretells - that the next war will be one dominated
by air power, of new technology, of bombs that are beyond our imaginations,
death beyond what we had in WWI. It is amazing to hear and realize how it
all came true and there was no will to stop it. So a fascist dictator with
a humane liberal agenda - how does a liberal react? How does a Trump supporter
react? An amazing film for its time. And today.
