State of the Union (1948) User Reviews

One of the better Tracy-Hepburn collaborations

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 8/10 · 11 January 2012]

The plot is slick: Newspaper magnate Angela Lansbury wants to push her lover -- aircraft tycoon Spencer Tracy -- into running for President on the Republican ticket, thus making her the power behind the throne. But there are some sticky problems -- the affair, the real wife (Katharine Hepburn), and Tracy's own reticence to run. And, Lansbury wants to use Hepburn's disdain of the affair as a way to lead her to support Tracy's candidacy. The climax comes when a nationwide fireside chat is planned from the Matthews' home, and both Lansbury and Hepburn are present.

Spencer Tracy: In this film, Tracy continues a very rapid transition from middle-aged to beginning to look old. Appropriate for a presidential candidate, but Tracy was aging rather quickly, considering that in his films of the mid-40s, he still looked mid-40ish himself. Then in films of the late 40s ("The Sea Of Grass" and "Cass Timberlane") the transformation came quickly. And here, in 1948 he is looking very distinguished. Tracy is at his best, particularly at the climax of the film.

Katharine Hepburn: I consider this one of her best performances, particularly her soliloquy near the end of the film. And the chemistry between Spencer and Katharine...remarkable...and it certainly shines through here.

Van Johnson: As I was watching, I was thinking about how much better Van Johnson's smart-aleck reporter went across in this Tracy film, than did Gene Kelly's in "Inherit The Wind". Here Johnson's character attempted to show the negative side of politics, and succeeded, and it's remarkable how many lines still ring true 60 years later! Adolphe Menjou: Not one of my favorites, but brilliant here as the stereotypical smoke-filled-room era politician, and interested to note that the conservative Menjou and the liberal Hepburn were apparently at each other to the point of not speaking during the shoot (according to the new Tracy biography).

Angela Lansbury: Remarkably, Lansbury was only 23 years old when this film was made, and I think you may see parallels between her role/performance here and in "The Manchurian Candidate".

Lewis Stone: Has a small, but critical role at the beginning of the film as Lansbury's father...a powerful but spurned politician that commits suicide while suffering from intestinal cancer...and the scenes between Lansbury and Stone are critical to understanding what makes Lansbury's character do what she does.

This is a wonderful film, and one of the better examples of the Hepburn-Tracy relationship. Each shines here. And, of course, this is one of the later films by director Frank Capra, and although it is not held in as high esteem as some of his earlier films, I personally think it is one of his best. A great addition to your DVD shelf. My rating -- an "8".

Politics as usual

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 23 December 2009]

It never ceases to amaze me how one can see a film about politics made in the '30s, '40s, '50s - doesn't matter when it was made, it always seems like it was made yesterday. "State of the Union," a 1941 Frank Capra film, is another political film that comes off as very fresh. A plain speaking, likable man, Grant Matthews (Spencer Tracy) is convinced to run for President by the publisher of a newspaper, Kay Thorndyke (Angela Lansbury) who is also his mistress, and before he knows it, his words and intentions are no longer his own. Because he wants to win, he compromises and lies down with the dogs. When he stands up, he's got fleas.

Katharine Hepburn costars as Grant's wife Mary in a role intended for Claudette Colbert, and she's excellent. She got the part by sheer happenstance - she was with Tracy when Capra called to say that Colbert was out. Colbert wanted to be filmed from the left only and didn't want to work after 5. Because the studio wanted the film out before the actual 1948 Presidential election, there wasn't the time or budget to accommodate her.

All the performances in this film are marvelous. Van Johnson is very funny and charming as a newspaperman who becomes Grant's campaign manager. Adolphe Menjou is perfect as Kaye's mouthpiece who wants to go after the money people and court big business and the union heads. Lansbury is fantastic as the ambitious, cutthroat Kaye, who took over the paper from her father and knows how to use and abuse power.

By today's standards, "State of the Union" is probably too talky - Capra often has big monologues in his films, but they're always delivered powerfully. Here is no exception. A rousing film about the breakdown of idealism before political realities.

Tracy and Hepburn fight dirty politics...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 4 November 2006]

It's ironic that this is probably the least well-known of the Tracy/Hepburn collaborations--and yet, it's among their best as far as performances and overall content is concerned. Everyone, including KATHARINE HEPBURN and SPENCER TRACY, looks good in this film. VAN JOHNSON has one of his most engaging roles as the good guy who sees through the manipulations of corrupt ANGELA LANSBURY and ADOLPHE MENJOU.

And so, dirty politics is the theme of this film taken from the stage play by Howard Lindsey and Russel Crouse that starred RALPH BELLAMY and RUTH HUSSEY. Unfortunately, as directed by Frank Capra, it has a certain staginess about the proceedings with actors making entrances and exits as if on cue in rather static situations. But it's a pretty polished script and it's amusing to see the wonderful ANGELA LANSBURY (all of 23) playing a sophisticated woman in her 40s with such ease and perfection.

Spencer has a role tailor-made for his abilities, a man whose integrity is so challenged that he refuses to play by the rules of the game and play party politics. Hepburn, as the wife aware of his affair with Lansbury, is forthright and honest in her performance and, thankfully, less mannered than usual.

Still timely in the way it talks about Republicans and Democrats, it's worth seeing for the marvelous cast and what they manage to do with the stage material. The title, of course, refers to politics as well as the marital union of Tracy and Hepburn.

Spencer Tracey is Grant Matthews, a famous aircraft tycoon courted by the Republican Party to become their candidate for President of the United States.

[Nehmer · 1 May 1999]

`Is there any difference between Democrats and Republicans?' `The difference is that they're in and we're out.' -- A line from State of the Union, one of only a handful of political films to use direct partisan language.

Based on a 1945 play by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse, State of the Union marked Frank Capra's return to the political genera. This film is also the third of nine pictures featuring Spencer Tracey and Katharine Hepburn. In this outing, Tracey plays Grant Matthews, a famous aircraft tycoon courted by the Republican Party to become their candidate for President of the United States. The film's title, in addition to referring to the country, is also a metaphor for Matthews' relationship with his wife, Mary (Hepburn). The two are having marital problems sparked by Matthews' affair with a newspaper heir Kay Thorndyke (played by a 22-year-old Angela Lansbury convincingly portraying a woman in her forties).

Once the campaign is underway, the classic theme of a good man sacrificing his ideals in order to win begins to surface. Matthews' speeches are reworked as to not offend any big political establishments (e.g. big business, labor, agriculture, etc.), and soon he begins to loose his own voice along with his identity. Finally, in the film's climax, Matthews is forced to choose between a certain nomination for the presidency or a wife who represents his true character.

Incidentally, for a movie centered on a republican character, State of the Union does not focus on a conventional conservative theme, nor does it only target liberals. The film ribs big business, `the American Dream is not about making money,' in addition to labor. And even though Harry S Truman is the subject of several quips, he was said to have really enjoyed the film, often playing it on his presidential yacht.

At the box office, State of the Union performed better in smaller outlets than large markets. It premiered at New York's Radio City Music Hall to a opening week of $137,000, `this is a bit under hopes, especially in view of intensive advance campaign and strong reviews,' reported Varitey. In Los Angeles, the film opened at No. 1 with $52,000 but `not a smash.' Though in markets such as Minneapolis, Kansas City and Seattle, the film pulled big numbers. Overall the film was a success, but it did not match the box office bounty of Capra's earlier films including Mr. Smith Goes to Washington or the other Tracey/Hepburn parings for that matter (e.g. Adam's Rib, Pat & Mike, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner).

Tracy and Hepburn Wade Through Capra-Corn as Lansbury Sharpens Her Talons

[EUyeshima · 6/10 · 24 July 2007]

This somewhat forgotten 1948 dramedy is not the undiscovered gem of the Tracy-Hepburn pairings, but the 2006 DVD provides an opportunity to take a look at the political corruption running rampant in Washington at the time, clearly as prescient now as it was relevant then. The subject is well suited to film-making legend Frank Capra, who made the classic "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" a decade earlier and echoes a similar theme of an honest man surrounded by those who tear at his ethics. Adapted by Anthony Veiller and Myles Connolly from a play by Russel Crouse and Howard Lindsay, the plot centers on Grant Matthews, a pulled-from-his-bootstraps industrialist who has not lost touch with the common folks, a quality seized upon by Machiavellian newspaper publisher Kay Thorndyke, who uses her considerable media power to shape him into a viable candidate for the presidency.

Thorndyke also happens to be Matthews' lover, even though he is still married to stoic, disillusioned Mary, his estranged wife who has remained in the marriage not only for the sake of their two children but also in the dimming hope that he will come back to her. Initially, Matthews balks at the idea of becoming President, but he recognizes an ambition to improve the country. At the same time, Thorndyke and her cohort, proto-Karl Rove political adviser Jim Conover convince him to make compromising speeches to win the votes of powerful lobbies. If you know Capra films, you know how it will all turn out. The main problem I had with the film is the pacing and the relative inconsistency in tone. Much of the time, it feels truncated with little transition between scenes, and farcical moments are mixed with more serious ones in ways that make the film feel emotionally askew at times.

The performances can't be faulted. Spencer Tracy is well cast as the plainspoken Matthews, while Katharine Hepburn lends her much-needed verve and snap to the cautiously hopeful Mary. All of 22 but looking far more commanding and mature, Angela Lansbury almost steals the picture as Kay, even though her character is so venal and humorless that it is hard not to hiss when she's on screen, especially with her dragon-lady cigarette holder. It's easy to see the future Mrs. Iselin in John Frankenheimer's "The Manchurian Candidate". Adolphe Menjou plays Conover in his typical blowhard manner, while Van Johnson is unctuous in a likable sort of way as reporter Spike McManus. Capra lays out his familiar flag-waving cornpone thickly here, sometimes quite effectively, but the attempts at slapstick humor are pretty laborious. This remains an interesting curio in his canon. The DVD provides a fairly clean print but has absolutely no extras, not even chapter stops.

A Masterful Chemistry Class

[janiceferrero · 9/10 · 12 August 2007]

Politics then and now, what's the difference? "People are beginning to think that there is no difference between the Republican and the Democratic party" Sounds familiar? Special interests groups, lobbyists, mercenaries and somewhere in the middle of it all Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, projecting the hopes of all well meaning Americans, or earthlings in general for that matter. The chemistry between Tracy and Hepburn is so all consuming that whatever we see them do or hear them say we believe, we believe totally. As if this was not enough, Adelph Menjou gives his character a truth that is as relevant and uncomfortable as it is entertaining. But the crowning jewel of this wonderful film is Angela Lansbury - she was barely 20 years old when she made this movie and look at her, just look at her. Not merely holding her own with seasoned stars like Tracy and Hepburn but at times, overshadowing them. This is considered a minor Capra, I just say, you must be kidding.

Spencer Tracy is nice as a liberal mutimillionaire seeking the Repuplican Presidential nomination

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 9 February 2022]

This is a political fable but basically an emotive drama dealing with an American businessman (Spencer Tracy) who is encouraged by opportunities to run the presidency and while leaving his integrity behind in the process . Along the way , the cunning and powerful named Kay Thorndyke (Dame Angela Lansbury) helps him become Republican nominee for President . Then the party machine starts to worry as he begins speaking for himself and against ambition and corrupt politicians . His estranged wife (Katharine Hepburn) is asked to return so they can masquerade as a loving couple for the sake of his political career . As she attempts to help him , as the backstage political machinations erode his personal convictions . How's the State of the Union? It's GREAT!

Another Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn vehicle with wonderful wisecracks , being adapted from a highly successful , topical Broadway play , but the writers Anthony Veiller , Myles Connnolly and Frank Capra himself changed dialogue constantly to reflect the news . Capra and his colleagues at Liberty Picture originally hoped to cast Cary Cooper and Claudette Colbert . Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn are a joy to see , as usual . Here shines Spencer Tracy giving an excelent acting , providing a tour-de-force in his outburst at the end that reminds one of the speech he was to make nearly twenty years after at his last film : Guess who's coming to dinner . But this movie loses much of its impact due to much overtalking and the overuse of obvious political stereotypes in its main and supporting players . Hepburn and Menjou were at odds politically , over communist witch hunts in Hollywood with the House Un-American Activities Committee or House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC or HCU) , but they are really splendid together onscreen. Remaining secondary cast are frankly fabulous , as they're very well accompanied by Angela Lansbury who has a magnificent nasty role which she performs icily and to the hilt , along with Van Johnson , Adolphe Menjou , Lewis Stone, Charles Dingle , Howard Smith , Raymond Walburn , Margaret Hamilton , among others.

The motion picture was well directed by Frank Capra who carries out a sharp dissection of political chicanery and delivering good acting from the prestigious actors . Frank Capra was an expert in manipulating emotions such as proved in his films of the 1930s and 1940s , as he influenced the lives and beliefs of people of the nation with movies as 'Mr Deeds goes to town' ,' It happened one night' , 'You can't take it with you' , 'It's wonderful life' , 'Mr Smith goes to Washington' , ' Mr Deeds goes to town' , and 'Meet John Doe' . State of the Union (1948) rating : 6.5/10 . The flick will appeal to Spencer Tracy , Katharine Hepburn fans , as well as Frank Capra enthusiasts.

Another neglected gem!

[bestactor · 10/10 · 1 July 2003]

This is an outstanding movie that belongs in the standard viewing repertoire of great movies from the 1940's. There is a reason this movie is not so well known. It was obviously filmed as a big MGM production (you can hear the lion's roar on the soundtrack!) that became owned by Frank Capra's Liberty Films. The script is very intelligent and demonstrates a knowing cynicism of the political world, but much more believable and less sentimental than Mr. Smith or other Capra films. Most people have seen only a few Tracy-Hepburn movies. Hopefully with Hepburn's recent passing the rights owner will produce a digitally restored DVD with background explaining the history and perspective of this seldom seen classic.

Filmed Play

[kenjha · 6/10 · 30 December 2011]

This political drama is based on a play, and it sure looks like it. There are scenes after scenes with characters engaging in long conversations, mostly about politics. It basically looks like a filmed stage play and it soon becomes tiresome. Capra tries to break up the monotony by including a scene featuring planes barnstorming, but it looks out of place and feels tacked on just to make it cinematic. This is one of the weakest entries in the Tracy-Hepburn series, but the stars are not to blame. They try their best, but are let down by the material. Lansbury is fine in a role that's a precursor to "The Manchurian Candidate." Johnson provides the comic relief.

My favorite Tracy-Hepburn film

[stphifer · 10/10 · 30 August 2006]

This is my favorite Tracy-Hepburn film and one of my favorite Frank Capra films. I recommend reading Capra's out-of-print biography, "The Name Above the Title" for the interesting story of the reaction to this film by official Washington in 1948.

Quite reminiscent of "Meet John Doe," the story tests the character of a man against the political power-brokers who want to use him for their own purposes. Ideals battle pragmatism in ways that still ring true 50+ years later.

Angela Landsbury is a wicked woman (can we call her a fem fa tale?) in an amazing performance foreshadowing her role in 1962's "Manchurian Candidate." Adolphe Menjou's sleazy political boss is about a greasy as they come.

All in all there is nothing like a Capra film to make me what to stick to my principles and listen to the people who really love me. Add to Capra's theme of the inherent wisdom of the people this first rate group of actors and you have two hours of time well spent.

Shocking.

[onepotato2 · 7/10 · 23 August 2008]

This movie is shocking from it's first few minutes. It presents politics as being as despicable, bitter, dirty and calculating as it is today. It's astonishing that in 1948, politics could be portrayed much more honestly than any movie or news outlet would even attempt today. Oddly, the plot involves the disclosure of a candidate as a big phony who's sold the country to power-brokers and big industry; not for his sexual entanglement with a woman who isn't his wife. Is this a thematic choice for the movie, or the oft-repeated rubric that this behavior was known before Kennedy, but held secret by a complicit press. Only Capra's ridiculous imposition of his cherished immigrant patriotism (which has nothing to do with the hateful foreground action) mucks things up. The political gamesmanship is NOT presented lightly or for comic value. And that part of the story (the much better part) whole-heartedly resists the preachy jingoism that Capra tries to paste on it.

Hepburn is the estranged wife of Tracy. We meet her, only after Tracy's lady-friend has had a lengthy, forceful impact on the film. Lansbury plays a pathetic, scheming politicians daughter almost as evil and hateful as she is in Manchurian Candidate. It is not the usual Tracy/Hepburn vehicle. Capra is in John Doe mode and tries to sell a rotten ending that's just so much sentimental pap. He could never resolve his more complicated scripts. Thankfully his signature cuteness has been relaxed almost to non-existence. It's shot better than most Capra movies, and the DVD transfer is unbelievably crisp.

This would make a very intelligent double-feature with "All the Kings Men" about Huey Long.

Let the hens runs the country

[detore2 · 10/10 · 3 February 2007]

Although the political references are dated (Hoover, Harding,FDR, Truman) this film is wonderful. If you just cued to the speeches about cutting taxes and the American Dream it could be an editorial out of the magazine The Nation. In 1948 Hollywood was able to take incredible actors and actresses, record more words in five minutes than a movie today speaks in an hour, and still appeal to the "common folk" politically. Hokey but sophisticated, patriotic but cynical, State of the Union grapples with the corruption behind political machines. Its main weakness is the presentation of a powerful woman as someone who belongs "in a kennel" and the good woman the mother with two kids who kneels and sews a loose thread in her husband's suit (even though she knows he is cheating on her). Hepburn manages to be powerful, strong willed, but a typical mid-century hausfrau-there for her man. You may not agree with its presentation of women, but its politics are as astute anything you will read on a blog today.

A preachy relic of the 1940s

[jjodo32 · 7/10 · 15 January 2004]

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.

Boring and corny

[HotToastyRag · 3/10 · 11 November 2017]

When State of the Union started, I was at the edge of my seat. Angela Lansbury, newspaper tycoon, has handpicked the next Republican candidate for president, and she sells the idea to Adolphe Menjou, a top political adviser, and Van Johnson, a campaign manager. The man she wants has no political background. He's a successful businessman and a millionaire, and he connects with the common man because he's not a typical politician. Sound familiar? Here's the even better part: It turns out Angela is having an affair with the candidate, and when his wife shows up to squelch infidelity rumors and promote a good family image, Angela sneaks into their bedroom and places her reading glasses on the nightstand, knowing the wife will find and question them. Exciting, isn't it?

Well, that's as exciting as it gets. The rest of the film tries to show the dirtiness of politics, but to anyone who's ever paid attention to the political realm, it doesn't even scratch the surface. Spencer Tracy is cast as the likable, honest politician, but he comes across as neither. He seems angry and stupid, even though that's not how his character is written. Fredric March would have been a better casting choice, in my opinion. He pontificates and gets in his own way—and on the audience's nerves—while his wife, Katharine Hepburn pretends to argue but really always goes along with whatever the politicians tell her to do. Normally, she's a fantastic actress, but in this film, she rushes her lines and says them without much feeling. It felt like a rehearsal the actors didn't know was being filmed. She does say one funny line, though: "No woman could ever run for President. She'd have to admit to being over thirty-five!"

Boring and corny to the very end, this is a movie to skip unless you're a die-hard Tracy-Hepburn fan. As for me, whenever I see them on screen together, I can't help but remember how mistreated Kate was. I don't think they're movie-magic, and I don't see sparks flying off the screen. I see an angry, arrogant man and his abused partner.

DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, there's a scene in this movie that will not be your friend. When Spencer Tracy pilots his airplane, the camera swirls excessively and it will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

Ronald Reagan stole this line.

[gordon_02140 · 18 February 2003]

In the 1980 New Hampshire primary, an exasperated Ronald Reagan blurted out the famous line "I'm paying for this microphone!" when a moderator threaten to turn off the microphones at an unruly debate. It was a hugely successful and defining moment for Reagan, nailing down his image as a man of rugged independence who refused to suffer fools gladly -- to say nothing of his ability to craft a clever quip. However, given his Hollywood roots, it seems more likely he consciously or unconsciously lifted this line from Spencer Tracy's character in "State of the Union."

Great satire on American politics

[dazfiddy · 7/10 · 1 October 2017]

State of the Union is one of the best Hollywood films about American politics, especially the behind the scenes dealings during a presidential election.

Spencer Tracy plays Grant Matthews a successful businessman who builds aeroplanes. He is touted as the potential Republican nominee for President. Katherine Hepburn is his wife Mary,who believes in him and his ideals.Her problem is that his mistress,Kay Thorndyke (an icy Angela Lansbury)is a powerful newspaper mogul who also is one of his supporters. She believes that she can make him President and be the power behind the throne. Which woman will gain control of his heart and his political soul? The film shows how Matthews gradually loses his way as compromises have to be made with various interests from unions to farmers. Ambition leads to expediency.Mary watches as the man she loves becomes a shell of his former self as he gives in to special interests. His lofty speeches become standard stump speeches just like any other politician.

Adolph Menjou is great as Jim Conover, the fixer who loves the back room dealing and horse trading.His character is so cynical about the process,you wonder if he believes in anything apart from process.

Angela Lansbury is a revelation, as this role is a million miles away from cosy Jessica Fletcher in Murder, she wrote. Kay can only be described as ruthlessly ambitious. She can stand her ground in a room full of men and is not afraid to tell them who is boss. If she can't run for President herself, she can at least make one. Only Mary stands in her way. The personal and political become intertwined. I love the scene when the two meet near the end of the film and eye each other up.

Special mention has to go to Van Johnson, as Spike Macmanus the campaign manager who provides relentless comic relief.

I noticed a couple of things in this film, which shows how chaste Hollywood was in the late 1940s. You never see the Matthews in bed together. Grant and Kay's affair is referred to, but very rarely are they seen together. How times have changed! This film is the perfect companion to The Candidate(1972) starring Robert Redford. There are lots of comparisons.Both films made over twenty years apart, ask the same questions: Can a politician remain idealistic once the process gets hold of him or her ?Is compromise inevitable?

A Classic, But...

[Homeric · 9/10 · 11 February 2008]

Okay, this is a great film with great actors, a great director, a great script, and so on. I own the DVD and enjoy watching it very much. Tracy and Hepburn are terrific together, as always. And their chemistry really shines, as always. And that is what causes one little problem for me. I never believe for an instant that Tracy would cheat on Hepburn for Lansbury. Lansbury's character is too cold and calculating and quite frankly just not very attractive, while Hepburn is at her most charming and attractive best. There is no chemistry between Tracy and Lansbury and I just cannot help thinking that there's no way in heck that he'd go for her over Hepburn. Actingwise, Lansbury can more than hold her own with either Tracy or Hepburn, and that is saying quite a lot, but she just doesn't have that indefinable something that would make her a great catch for someone like Tracy's character who already has Hepburn.

Capra-corn and then some

[MOscarbradley · 6/10 · 30 March 2006]

This political comedy wasn't a success and consequently it isn't revived much. It's based on a play and it shows. It's made up of 'scenes' and with one exception, (some hi-jinks involving airplanes), it's set mostly in one or two rooms, (in one scene the actors keep entering and exiting through doors to the left and right of the screen as if in a play). In some respects it represents the very pinacle of Capra-corn but by the time it was made audiences had grown tired of this kind of liberal chest-thumping. (Had it been made fifteen years earlier it would probably have been a huge success). And yet it is very well played and highly enjoyable and, on at least one occasion, it seems to be ahead of it's time. Maybe Tracy's vision of the future was as unpalatable to the American public of the period as Adolphe Menjou suggests it would be in the film. But if one is going to get slapped up the face with political sentiments aren't they better to come from the liberal left? The climatic scene may be preposterous, (I can't believe anyone on the verge of being elected President is going to turn down the job because of his wife's liberal conscience. Don't these people think things through?), but at least it's preposterous in a gooey, rose-tinted and embarasingly sincere way without an ounce of cynicism.

Of course, Capra picked the most liberal, grand-standing actors on the planet to portray the potential President and his wife when he chose Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn and, of course, they're marvellous. They cut through all the goo and marshmallow stuff to get to the heart of their characters. You just wish at times they had better material to work with. As the unscroupulous, unfeeling newspaper woman with whom Tracy has been having an affair and who is doing all she can to put him into the White House, (and, therefore, vicariously herself), Angela Lansbury is terrific. She was still very young when she made this film but you would never know it and her performance here prefigures her work in "The Manchurian Candidate" some fourteen years later. And as Tracy's cynical young campaign manager, Van Johnson does the best acting of his career. In a just world both he and Lansbury would have been Oscar nominated.

After the relative failure of this film, Capra's career began to wind down, (he only made four other films). Perhaps he felt that any change in direction at this stage would be a sell-out. At least he escaped with his integrity intact.

Marital or political union on shaky ground

[lora64 · 10/10 · 23 July 2001]

My impressions: Fast paced, fast talking, no letup, enough dialogue for three movies! It's a frank look at the underbelly of politics, the wheelings and dealings of the back room. Grant Matthews (Spencer Tracy) is the likely candidate for the presidency but he's filled with such fine idealism that he becomes more of an encumbrance to his supporters who think that getting ahead means sacrificing one's ideals, pandering to those in authority, or whatever it takes to gain votes. Enter on the scene Grant's wife, Mary (Kate Hepburn) who is adamant and uncompromising when she sees how dishonest and insipid his public speeches are forced to become. But right triumphs in the end.

I must say Angela Lansbury, here in the role of a wealthy heiress, is remarkably poised and mature as an older woman in spite of her youthful looks -- a very talented lady. Both Adolphe Menjou and Van Johnson keep up the pace of dialogue and events splendidly as substantial supporting cast members.

If the term can be coined, this is a "politician's movie" yet still of interest to the ordinary viewer.

Angela Lansbury Upstages Everyone!

[Dan1863Sickles · 7/10 · 13 November 2021]

The political drama isn't always compelling, and Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy just don't have the old fire in a lot of scenes. But watch for Angela Lansbury in a sensational early role! She's the villain, but she's also moody, sensual, unpredictable and enigmatic. Amazing actress in an amazing early role!

As true, or truer today, as it was 60+ years ago.

[sbrix · 10/10 · 24 December 2009]

Sadly, politics haven't changed, and probably never will, in the intervening 61 years since this movie was made. As with most Capra movies, it's not hard to get the message, but that doesn't make it any less hard hitting. Also, as with most Capra movies, it allows the viewer to wonder "what if" if only for a couple of hours. All of the major actors are stellar, but then again, they were seldom anything but in most of their films. It was a little distracting to see Spencer Tracey looking down to apparently read some of his final speech, but the speech and the entire movie were very powerful. It should be required viewing for today's political science classes.

State of the Union

[CinemaSerf · 7/10 · 5 January 2023]

This is a fine example of the on screen chemistry between Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. The former is a successful businessman talked into running for the Republican nomination for US President by the ambitious "Kay Thorndyke" (Angela Lansbury). She vows to put her not inconsiderable resources (newspapers and the like) behind his campaign. His wife "Mary" (Hepburn) is somewhat of a free spirit, as you'd expect, and soon she proves to be a bit of a liability to the party machine encouraging her husband to challenge the establish politics (and politicians) not only rocking, but potentially sinking the boat. Lansbury stands out for me here, she plays the duplicitous character convincingly marrying subtle menace with a femme-fatale style elegance really well. There are a couple of solid supporting roles from Adolphe Menjou and the slick Van Johnson ("Spike") and the whole scenario gives us an interesting, well written, look at just how undemocratic an election proves can actually be...

Dated, But Still Gets Some Great Mileage

[theowinthrop · 8/10 · 27 August 2006]

This is probably (except for WITHOUT LOVE ?) the most forgotten of the Tracy - Hepburn film parings. As has been pointed out it has not been revived that frequently, and as a result people barely remember it. But it has a terrific cast (the two leads, Angela Lansbury, Van Johnson, Adolphe Menjou, Charles Dingle, Raymond Walburn, Irving Bacon, even Carl "Alfafa" Switzer), and for all the dated references to politics in 1947 - 48, it still has amazing relevance. Therefore, if it is not up to the best Capra films of the late 1930s to IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, it does help lead the second tier with POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES and A HOLE IN THE HEAD.

Tracy's character (as pointed out by another poster on this thread) is suggested by Wendell Wilkie. Wilkie is another figure who once loomed largely in America, but who is now as faded as old wall paper. He headed the largest privately owned utilities company in the U.S., which had to be broken up after the New Deal got underway. This was really ironic, because Wilkie was a life-long Democrat. Coming out of Indiana he had gone a long way (F.D.R.'s acid tongued Interior Secretary, Harold Ickes, referred to him - with a look towards an old poem by John Greenleaf Whittier - as "The barefoot boy from Wall Street.").

Wilkie got involved in politics in the late 1930s, with respect to his suspicions about where the New Deal was headed. He turned Republican, and in 1940 surprised the nation by beating out Thomas Dewey and Senator Robert Taft for the Republican nomination for President at Philadephia. It has been pointed out that in the movie, I MARRIED A WITCH, the slogan "Win With Wilkie" is used as a reference for gubernatorial candidate Wooley (Frederic March) as "Win With Wooley". A Bugs Bunny cartoon about "gremlins" (little mechanical problems in war machines) has the "gremlin" shout that he isn't Wendell Wilkie. F.D.R. won, but his sizable victories in 1932 and 1936 were not repeated. Wilkie actually demonstrated that the Republican Party was far from dead.

Unfortunately Wilkie never repeated this success politically. An independent, most of the party leaders felt he wasn't Republican enough. He took a trip around the globe to visit the battlefronts, and wrote an account ONE WORLD, which became a best seller - and helped prepare the American people for the successful creation of a United Nations. In 1944 FDR was approached by some advisers to consider Wilkie as his running mate for Vice President. Roosevelt was less than happy with the idea. In the end it did not matter - Wilkie died.

Keeping that in mind, Tracy's character Grant Matthews makes sense. He is a wealthy independent person. He is married but he has extra-marital affairs (as did Wilkie, which was one of the reasons his campaign did not use FDR's affair with Lucy Mercer against him). If you recall, Tracy tells a stunned Adolphe Menjou his idea of bringing democracy to the world through a United States of the world (like Wilkie's "One World").

Tracy's relationship with Hepburn is that of a good man who has fallen into a trough in his home-life. Apparently at one point they shared a great deal, but Tracy's ego takes off when manipulated by Lansbury, as opposed to Hepburn who is more down-to-earth. It is only when she bitterly throws her own opinions aside and makes a hated speech for his campaign that he realizes how much she compromised her ideals for him, and how much he's compromised - and for what? His Presidency would owe a lot to the likes of Walburn, Dingle, and Florence Auer: a questionable Southern Republican, a crooked labor leader (who thinks John L. Lewis and William Green are anathema), and a woman's whose power base is due to prejudice against certain foreign groups. He'd also owe Menjou (more about him later) and Lansbury would expect free access to the Oval Office.

The most interesting of the group is actually Menjou. One of American's best political managers he is bitter. His Connover is not a bad man (actually he is quite tolerable), but he has been shunned because of a connection he could not avoid with the "Ohio Gang" that put Warren Harding in the White House in 1920, and then stole millions (Connover didn't). He'd like to get the Chairmanship of the Republican Party to get back at his foes - not a nice thing but it is understandable. In the end he does not get too upset when plans go awry. He's kept on the payroll as a political editor for Lansbury. Actually one feels good for him.

Similarly one feels good for Van Johnson. A cynic, like Lionel Stander in MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN, he regains his ideals observing Hepburn's reactions to the political crap, and is involved in finally turning Tracy around. Lansbury is aware of this, and fires him. He smiles with happiness to be well out of the job for her.

The best moment to me in the film is a nice moment when Tracy is contemplating the run for the White House offered by Lansbury and Menjou. He stands in front of the White House next to an actor named Maurice Cass, who is only in this scene in the movie. Cass is rhapsodizing about how wonderful it is that every President since John Adams has lived in the White House. Tracy says it needs a paint job. Cass takes him to task for only seeing that. Tracy sticks to his guns about the paint job, but he lists all of the great figures who fought for freedom (including Crispus Attucks, by the way) and how the White House is their monument. At the end he and Cass go off for a drink together. A simple moment - pure Capra-corn, but really worth it.

Post War Utopianism

[davidmvining · 7/10 · 9 February 2024]

Frank Capra's final film for Liberty Films which was sold to Paramount in the middle of production (tax laws really didn't help things which even David O. Selznick had to deal with after the success of Gone with the Wind) could be described as generically Frank Capraesque except for the scene where the central character describes his vision of the world under his authority (I'm going to assume it comes from the source play, but if it didn't get changed, I'm going to imply Capra wasn't that opposed to it). It's also one in a long series of films that Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn made together, Tracy recommending Hepburn after Capra fired Claudette Colbert. It's a solidly good portrait of the little guy fighting the corrupt institutions, but it's definitely not top-tier Capra.

Kay Thorndyke (Angela Lansbury), the daughter of a newspaper magnate who has recently died and granted her ownership of the newspaper to her, wants to use the fractured nature of the Republican Party in 1948 to back a dark horse candidate to face off against Harry Truman in the presidential election. She brings in the political fixer Jim Conover (Adolphe Menjou) and shares with him the idea of backing her lover, the airplane manufacturer Grant Matthews (Tracy), as the outsider who can storm in and sweep aside the established, tired order within the GOP. The only real barrier is Grant's wife, Mary (Hepburn), who knows about the affair with Kay which has caused a rift between them. The affair must be kept quiet, and she must be on board to make it work.

Where this film tends to work best is in the relationship between Grant and Mary. Since Tracy and Hepburn were a real couple, it doesn't really surprise that they have an easy chemistry that works when they're bickering or when they're on good terms. They really do seem like they belong together. The relationship in the film is a strenuous one that navigates the ebbs and flows of an affair with another person that may be over but probably isn't, as well as Grant's efforts to keep things honest in his speeches. He gains popularity in the beginning, really catching Conover's attention by speaking his mind, but Conover and Thorndyke aren't backing him to be himself but to have their own candidate that they can control, mostly through the efforts of their speechwriter, the journalist Spike McManus (Van Johnson).

One of the funny things about this is that it's a film about a campaign that never even gets to a primary vote. It's all about securing the support of delegates because, as Conover says, primary voters are too lazy to vote and its dictated by those who can deliver little pockets of voters like union leaders. Grant ends up in a conflict between Mary who wants him to speak his mind and Kay who wants him to follow Conover's advice and be more milquetoast, normal politician, with the pro's advice winning out, and the scene where Grant outlines his worldview is just...weird. I don't often bring up political specifics here because that's not what this is for, but I have to do it here.

There's a strange subset of thinkers who see the failure of one level of government, pointing out its corruption and inefficacies in dealing with larger issues and decide that the only solution is...a higher level of government with even more power (I'm pretty sure it's one of Alexander Hamilton's Federalist Papers that lays this out as an explanation for why the federal government is needed because state governments are...corrupt and inefficient). It's a reaction to the two worst wars in human history happening a generation apart, but the way Grant asserts that it's what the people wants and the only reason he can't say it is because the local labor leaders will balk, or something, is just shoehorning in these ideas and sticking out like a sore thumb. I'm going to assume that Capra had no problem with the viewpoint, and it kind of sours me on him slightly.

Anyway, the dramatic conflict (back to that) is that Grant is essentially selling himself out to the political operatives, and he knows it. He sees it as a necessary evil to get into power, but it becomes increasingly obvious that he's giving away his ability to govern his own way since Kay and Conover keep negotiating things like patronage without his input (he delegates, they don't take it) to the point where he will never be able to govern as he sees best. I have no problem with the idea that the ruling parts of the political parties of America being corrupt and self-interested in power over policy without any concern for the needs of the American people, but it's the specifics of Grant's vision that makes it a bit weird (though he doesn't get a chance to explain his desire for a world government to the people, which is tipping the rhetorical and dramatic scales in his favor).

So, the romantic side works pretty well. The portrait of a moribund party getting railroaded by a straight-talking outsider feels right. The specifics of Grant's philosophy are...weird. Performances are solidly good, as one would expect from a Capra film, but this is something of a letdown from Capra's masterpiece, It's a Wonderful Life, and the final film of his experiment in independent filmmaking before he became a Paramount contract director as dictated in the contract of the sale of Liberty to the major studio. It's good, standard Capra but not the classic that he seemed so easily capable of.

Not Good

[samwa-27311 · 5/10 · 27 February 2022]

Stilted dialogue.

Really phony, and Angela, is the most annoying dame, in any picture, with such a phony voice.

Spence, is my favorite actor, but he can't keep this together.

Kate Hepburn : Well, that phony, so-called mid Atlantic accent, is impossible to listen to, so affected. No one spoke like that, even then. It was created, to sound upper class, but is real hard, to listen to.

The movie is not practical, and is almost an insult to our intelligence.