This film has an outstanding cast but can't decide if it's a comedy or a drama. A principled businessman, Spencer Tracy, is lured into running for the Republican primary by a scheming newspaper heiress played by a very cool & beautiful Angela Lansbury. Along the way he loses his principles, who wouldn't, in spite of the best efforts of his estranged wife, Kate Hepburn. Van Johnson & Adolph Menjou are wonderful supporting players. But I was put off by the preachiness of Tracy's dialog -- talk is cheap -- and the feel-good, true-blue happy ending. We had to wait until the 1950s for some realism to work it's way into American films.
Review of State of the Union
