User Reviews

A powerful Washington D.C. couple (Sidney Blackmer and Rosalind Russell) are given scenes that reminded me of James Gregory and Angela Lansbury in that 1962 classic. It's a parallel United States, with a different president than FDR, yet surrounding the United States is the possibility of world war.

Arthur Byron, a forgotten character actor, plays the president in this film, seen at his inauguration telling wife Janet Beecher that he hopes to stay out of war at all costs. But manipulation by Blackmer's lobbyist has a group of wealthy powerful men (which includes Charley Grapewin of "The Wizard of Oz") pushing the public in to various acts of violence and turning them against each other.

What is a peace-loving president to do as fascism seems to be taking over the law of the land that he is supposed to be governing? Quick edits in the photography shows the violence erupting, and the group of money men secretly in power behind the president suddenly turn into a flock of flesh hungry vultures.

This is a disturbing view of the future as seen through the eyes of the depression, a variation of an Orwellian world long before that fear struck into the heart of the public. The president really is only a figurehead here, the real power held with the men who control the Congress and the Senate. "The Gray Shirts" are as vicious an extremist group that has ever ripped across the headlines, and this is only fictional. It's up to the president to take drastic action to bring about a change, and here, he's doing it for a good cause, not to just get attention.

An all-star cast of character actors each are given moments to shine, with Edward Arnold top billed as a Secretary of war. There is no real star, maybe perhaps the script and direction (William A. Wellman), and irregardless of whether or not those who see this film like it or not, it does corrupt discussions if they are watching it in a group.

Whether or not this stands the test of time is also up to the viewer as it is a film that doesn't really express a point of view but possibilities if the public doesn't get their act together and stand up to those who would destroy freedom. It is apparent why this film was written considering what was happening in the world at the time, and deserves credit for its courage in confronting those ideals that threatened to destroy humanity.

The issue of fascism and should America go to war is the focus of this film. The subject could be taken from today's headlines instead of headlines of 80 years ago. However, this film tends to drag in parts and the story is way too convoluted and unbelievable when viewed in this millennium.

President Craig (Arthur Bryon, whom I keep mistaking for Arthur Q. Bryan, the voice of Elmer Fudd) is an anti-war president. Everyone wants him to go to war. So what is he to do? He disappears. Today this would bring the country to its knees, but not in this goofy film. Edward Arnold (who gets star billing, but shows up at the 35 minute mark) is declared in charge. Now I love Edward Arnold, but I found him ridiculous in this role. He is the Secretary of War, but has by his own admission "never shot a gun". He brings in a bunch of rag tag characters and starts interrogating them like a bunch of shoplifters. He's in charge, but all he does is a lot of yelling and pacing. How they got around the Constitution and made him in charge is never explained. Also in this mess is Secret Service Agent Paul Kelly, who gives his sweetie a good sock in the jaw so she won't go blabbing to Edward Arnold that he knows about the Prez' whereabouts. (It was okay to slug your girl back then.) It seems he's in on the president's disappearance. They want people to think that these people called the "gray shirts" (a/k/a Fascist or union organizers) have kidnapped the president and that will turn the tide in the president's favor. (The beginning of the film shows the Gray Shirts going all Ferguson on the city.) Well, it works. The leader of the Gray Shirts is killed by Kelly and everyone who was in on it (Kelly, his sweetie, the dopey grocery boy, played by Andy Devine,the President's aide and the First Lady) all congratulate themselves for pulling off this chicanery, therefore avoiding war and the world is safe for democracy.

Lots of stock footage takes up about 1/4 of the film, which also made it almost unwatchable. If you like Edward Arnold and events that may have been pulled out of today's headlines, this is the movie for you. However, it may be had to find, because Paramount (Now NBC Universal) refuses to let people view their old film library and prefer to keep their gems (and non gems) locked away in a vault. I found my copy on Ebay and it wasn't the best copy in the world. How I long for the late late late show again where I could see old movies at their best (Or their worst.)

Europe is at war, and our isolationist President is determined to stay out of it. That's the most compelling component of this muddled government thriller, which suffers from too many principal characters, an unstarry cast, B-movie production values, and a rather ludicrous premise. To get the public's mind off war and stanch a coup by labor-fascist "gray shirts," the Prez stages his own kidnapping, while a White House secretary romances a Secret Serviceman, while big business (in the form of five fatcats in one smoke-filled room) rub their hands in anticipatory glee of munitions profits, while the Eleanor-like First Lady grieves stoically, while... oh, skip it.

The normally excellent William Wellman can't salvage this script, which simplifies Washington politics down to absurdity and has lots of character actors unconvincingly waving guns at each other and making stentorian statements of the war-is-bad variety. There are a few compensations: the unlikely sight of Paul Kelly flattening Peggy Conklin in one punch, a snappy line or two, and a very young Rosalind Russell, impressive as a cynical lobbyist's wife.

This movie presents the moral dilemma -- do the ends justify the means? The president of the United States fakes his own abduction to prevent a facscist takeover of the country. Unfortunately, too many of the few people who have seen this picture can grasp the importance as the appreciation for the horror of a fascist state and the possibility of it happening here (USA) have faded over time -- witness the lack of concern for the resurgence of know-nothing ultra-right-wing groups .