Posted on 11/14/2004 7:56:23 AM PST by EggsAckley
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.
Could this movie have given cover to FDR? Read up on the NRA (not the pro-gun organization) and some of his other un-Constitutional acts...
Yeah, I loved "Mr. Smith." But I loved anything Stewart did.
I thought the "Gabriel" movie was at times trying to be a dark farce, some of it's plot lines were so odd. It was just startling to see something I'd never even heard of, and for it to be so strange. And the background of the issuing of the film was so odd, too.
Very likely to be connected to FDR.
*ping*
Thanks for the post.
I always check TCM to see what's playing - - I love old movies, especially old movies from the '30s ans '40s which show the contemporary America of the period.
Did you see "Gabriel?"
It's not like me to post about movies, but this one is SO unusual that I wanted to get some Freeper feedback on it.
*ping*
I first saw it long ago and luckily tapped it. You never see Gabriel, but do see the Oval Office drapes sofly rustle and the comatose presidents face glow a bit as well as the far-off sounds of trumpets when the Angel comes. I took it to mean that Arch Angel Gabreal himself took over the presidents body. An excellent movie and the ending is quite moving.
Unfortunately, I missed 'Gabriel' but I assure you I'll be looking for it. Sounds like it's right down my alley.
For people interested in film history, it's worth a look. But one should be very careful not to fall for any of the film's rotten political propaganda.
I agree.
I see that Dickie Moore was in 'Gabriel'. He showed up in a lot of movies from that period.
I once watched a movie on TV (about 30 years ago) which made a terrific impression on me. It was 'Peter Ibbetson' starring Gary Cooper, Ann Harding, and Dickie Moore. Incredibly, this amazing movie HAS NEVER BEEN AVAILABLE on either VHS or DVD. It's a Gary Cooper movie, for crying out loud! Apparently it has been lost to the ages, which is a real shame. Great, great movie.
That's one of the scenes that cracked me up when I first saw the film.
While people knock this picture for being too unrealistic (among other things), I recommend it, because it shows what is in the back of the minds of the left. Too unrealistic? How many millions have died at the hands of "do gooder" socialists?
Nah. Never even heard of it. It was made 10 years before I was born.
Nope, 'Peter Ibbetson' is alive and well also on one of my VHS tapes. haha I also see it sold on VHS, i think. Now that is some movie! Very strange; how lovers meet in eachother dreams only. The beginning with Dickie Moore and that little girl playmate, the last time they see eachother, always brings me to tears. I love old movies.
I'm sure the ACLU was cringing the whole time.
Whoa....!
I have been looking for that movie for YEARS!
Any ideas where I can pick it up?
Last time I checked Amazon, they apparently never even heard of it.
bump!
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