Gabriel Over the White House

Imagine this scenario if you can. The President of the United States is involved in a serious car accident and, while recovering, receives a visit from the Archangel Gabriel. Forced to acknowledge the desperate state of the country due to his poor leadership, the President vows to set the nation right, fires the crooked cabinet members who got him elected and transforms himself into an all-powerful dictator who wages war against organized crime, all in a determined bid to restore social order in America. What sounds like a right-wing paranoid fantasy is actually the plot of Gabriel Over the White House, a political allegory that was one of the first films to openly address the problems resulting from the Great Depression such as unemployment, homeless people and the rising crime rate. You also won't see another Hollywood film in which our fearless leader is viewed by his constituents as either a madman or a messiah.

Filmed before Roosevelt took office as President of the United States, Gabriel Over the White House was a collaboration between producer Walter Wanger and publisher William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Studios, whose films were distributed by MGM. Hearst's political views were well known through the editorials he published in his own papers and when he read Rinehard, a novel by British novelist Thomas F. Tweed, Hearst knew he had found the perfect vehicle to express his views on the state of the nation. President Judson Hammond (played by Walter Huston in the film) is the total autocrat: he storms into the House of Representatives and declares a state of national emergency, convincing the lawmakers to grant him absolute power. Freely adapting Jefferson's concept of democracy, which was based on "the greatest good for the greatest number," President Hammond is able to smash through bureaucratic roadblocks, gun down gangsters without a trial, and bully the world into meeting his demands. By the end, he has solved the unemployment problem and enforced a worldwide disarmament but dies a martyr for his efforts. It's easy to see the appeal President Hammond had for an all-powerful newspaper tycoon like Hearst.

Louis B. Mayer, on the other hand, was a staunch Republican and was appalled by Gabriel Over the White House. "Put that picture in its can. Take it back and lock it up!" was the directive he reportedly gave Eddie Mannix, his top executive, after screening it for the first time. Mayer considered it an attack on President Hoover and demanded extensive retakes on the film before he would release it; the theory being that Hoover would be out of the White House by the time Mayer allowed the film to open theatrically.

Ironically, Gabriel Over the White House turned out to be one of the biggest box office hits of 1933; its topical subject matter obviously spoke to audiences who felt the need for strong leadership after the economic chaos of the Great Depression. It also sparked some lively debates among film critics in its day. The New York Times wrote "It is a curious, somewhat fantastic and often melodramatic story, but nevertheless one which at this time is very interesting." The reviewer for The Nation said "Gabriel Over the White House is probably the most important bad film of the year. It is important because it marks the first attempt by Hollywood producers to exploit the current popular interest in social and economic ideas...Its all-too-evident purpose is to convert innocent American movie audiences to a policy of fascist dictatorship in this country." He also added that it "has about as much reality as a diagram on a blackboard."

One thing almost every critic agreed on, however, was Walter Huston's mesmerizing performance as President Hammond; his metamorphosis from a party stooge who enjoys detective magazines to a messianic leader is completely credible, despite its outlandish conception. At this point in his career, however, Huston felt that he was wasting his talent on inferior films and that MGM undervalued him since they often lent him out to other studios like RKO. Gabriel Over the White House offered Huston a meaty role for a change and proved to be a turning point for the actor. Within three years, he would be named Best Actor of the year by the New York Film Critics for Dodsworth (1936) and go on to win Oscar nominations for his work in Dodsworth, All That Money Can Buy (1941), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). Still, Huston was always partial to Gabriel Over the White House since it ended up securing him an invitation to the White House for drinks with President Roosevelt, who was a big fan of the film.

1999: Sanderson Beck Review

In this adaptation of T. F. Tweed's novel a U. S. President is inspired to reform the government by putting the unemployed to work, eliminating gangsters, and bringing about international disarmament.

Judson Hammond (Walter Huston) is inaugurated as U. S. President, but he considers millions of unemployed and rampant racketeering as local problems, as he is oblivious to calls to alleviate the misery of the unemployed. He tells the press he may not be quoted. His private secretary Pendola Malloy (Karen Morley) tells him he could do important things. He drives 98 mph past his police escort and gets into an accident, leaving him in a coma. His doctor tells the press he is still unconscious, but for three weeks he has been taking time to think. He asks Miss Malloy for information on the unemployed and their leader Bronson. Hammond calls a cabinet meeting as one million unemployed are marching on Washington. He asks for the resignation of the secretary who suggests calling out the army, and he tells the press he wants to be quoted.

The gangster Nick Diamond (C. Henry Gordon) bribes an inspector and tells Bronson to keep the unemployed in their camps. The leaders of the march are shot, and Bronson dies. Hammond orders his war secretary to provide food for the marchers in Baltimore. He goes to their camp there and promises the people who want work the government will create an army of construction without profit. Pendola tells Beekman (Franchot Tone) she believes the angel Gabriel is influencing Hammond. The President asks his entire cabinet to resign and speaks to Congress, asking for $4 billion to restore buying power; or he will declare a national emergency, because the Congress has turned its back on the people. Congress makes Hammond dictator. He prevents foreclosures, gives aid to farmers, and aims at the racketeers, while studying the European debts. He tells Nick Diamond the government is going to muscle in on his bootlegging. A government liquor store is soon bombed, and Pendola is shot in a drive-by shooting of the white house. Hammond puts Beekman in charge of federal police against gangsters. Tanks attack Diamond's warehouse; he is tried by a military tribunal; and seven men are shot by firing squad.

Hammond holds an international debt conference on a ship during a naval display. He insists that half the debts owed the U. S. must be paid. Speaking on radio he repudiates the naval limits agreement and wants to have the greatest navy. Hammond says how much is spent on obsolete armaments and has airplanes destroy two battleships. He says the next war will destroy cities and asks them to save the world by eliminating armaments. The Washington Covenant is signed by Japan, Great Britain, France, and by himself; but then he collapses. Pendola holds his hand as he passes on, and then Beekman thanks the delegates for establishing the milennium of peace and announces that Hammond is dead.

This inspired story shows that the government can help the poor in a crisis and that ending Prohibition can reduce organized crime, though the fascist methods of dictatorship and martial law are bad methods for doing so, reflecting the trend toward dictatorship in 1933. Yet in my view the plan to save the world from the scourge of war by eliminating massive armaments in all countries is a truly prophetic idea which could have prevented the second world war and still is needed to prevent future wars on this planet.

I've seen it more than once, because I enjoy old movies. It's a pretty bad movie. It's a ridiculous plot, revealing a total lack of understanding of the American Constitutional system of government. Here's a short, sweet and to-the-point viewer comment from the Internet Movie Database: "love song for fascism." That about sums it up.

Here's the IMdb's review: "Newly elected president Judson Hammond is shown to be a lackey of his party, willing to follow the party line even if it's not in the best interest of the people. Showing off by driving his own car to a political meeting, he crashes at high speed. Comatose, he is not expected to recover. But on regaining consciousness, he is a changed man. Dismissing his cabinet and defying Congress, he assumes near-dictatorial powers in order to cut through red tape and institute sweeping measures to reduce unemployment. He even goes so far as to gently threaten nations owing the United States money from World War I to find a way to repay their debts by reducing their arms races. Having brokered this important safeguard for the world's peace, Hammond is stricken down, his work done."

For those who want to see a really great 1930's movie about the American political system, see "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." James Stewart as the naive young senator is one of the finest performances ever put on film. The central theme of "Mr. Smith" is stil very relevant today -- check out this film if you want to see what a real filibuster was like, versus the corrupt version used by the senate these days.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.