In this filmed stage play, Arliss enacts the celebrated British statesman as he outsmarts a glamorous spy (Doris Lloyd) working for Russia who is trying to disrupt Disraeli's attempts to arrange for Britain to purchase the Suez Canal. One must commit to listening very carefully to the dialogue and squinting earnestly at the images to work up any involvement in this time- tarnished strip of celluloid, so weak is the soundtrack and so murky are the visuals. If these efforts are made, some entertainment can be derived.
Arliss commands attention with his hawklike features, extreme coiffure (a sort of pageboy style with a big curl plastered down the middle of his forehead) and theatrically trained diction. He performs this role which he had played on stage and in the silent era with energy and relish. His real-life wife, Florence, plays his wife here and seems to spend half of her screen time chuckling at her husband's utterances. Joan Bennett in the full bloom of late teenage loveliness does "British lady" very well as a noblewoman whom Disraeli takes under wing, as does the strapping Anthony Bushell as her love interest who also works as Disraeli's secretary and agent.
Arliss commands attention with his hawklike features, extreme coiffure (a sort of pageboy style with a big curl plastered down the middle of his forehead) and theatrically trained diction. He performs this role which he had played on stage and in the silent era with energy and relish. His real-life wife, Florence, plays his wife here and seems to spend half of her screen time chuckling at her husband's utterances. Joan Bennett in the full bloom of late teenage loveliness does "British lady" very well as a noblewoman whom Disraeli takes under wing, as does the strapping Anthony Bushell as her love interest who also works as Disraeli's secretary and agent.