Waste of time

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Blistering performances.

The Great director Frank Borzage does it again with this magnificent film. Ginger Rogers not only looks sumptuous in it but what a performance ,especially as the climax of the movie. Definitely one of her best dramatic performances and a revelation, as this movie was a financial flop at the time and what a great shame. Universal obviously pulled out all the stops with this and everything about it is top notch. It was just a pity that they didn't film it in Technicolor which would have been the icing on the cake. Great performance too from David Niven who really at times seems very sinister in his unlikable role which was a very unusual role for him to play. Burgess Meredith is likewise very good and gives very admirable support to the main leads. Interesting to see Peggy Wood in it, as Dolly's mother, and , of course, she played Mother Abbess in the film version of "The Sound of Music". The movie, as always from the director, is beautifully photographed and wonderful direction to the actors obviously bringing out the best in all of them. Costumes, too, created by the great Travis Banton as well as Vera West. All in all great entertainment that one can now appreciate, despite awful reviews at the time as often happened from some of those so-called expert critics, whom one wonders sometimes if they even watched the film.

Dolly Madison's life as it was would seem to provide plenty of interesting material for a Hollywood Biopic, but the makers of MAGNIFICENT DOLL (script by Irving Stone, direction by Frank Borzage) apparently didn't think so. What we get of her life is dominated by a fictional love triangle between Aaron Burr (David Niven), Dolly (Ginger Rogers) and James Madison (Burgess Meredith). In reality, there's no reason to believe that Burr was any more than an acquaintance of Dolly Madison's. There is also little reason to believe that she was particularly unhappy in her first marriage. Her first husband and young child did, indeed, die of yellow fever, but there was another son who survived and grew up to become an alcoholic, a major embarrassment for Dolly and her second husband, James Madison. And she certainly had nothing to do with Aaron Burr's treason trial, or its aftermath! Indeed, nearly everything dramatized in MAGNIFICENT DOLL is nonsense while those events quickly passed over and accompanied by Dolly's voice-over narratives are generally accurate. One would have thought that there would be much of interest in Dolly's efforts as Thomas Jefferson's de facto First Lady, her accomplishments in whipping the new White House into shape, and her rescuing of the Declaration of Independence and Washington's portrait during the War of 1812, but Hollywood had other ideas.Alas, the drama that they did give us is rather sluggish and not very dramatic at all. Being short himself and giving off an intelligent air, Burgess Meredith was a good choice as James Madison, in real life a brilliant and scholarly fellow lacking much in the way of social graces. Today we would call the 'Father of the Constitution' a nerd. Ginger Rogers may seem unlikely casting for a 'Founding Mother', but in fact she was a first cousin of no less than George Washington himself, and if Dolly Madison was anything she was one 'Vivacious Lady'. Indeed, it would have been better if Ginger had allowed much more of her own natural vivacity to shine through, but she appears to have approached the role of an American Heroine with too much reverence for the movie's good. She also had a tendency to rush through her lines, possibly noticing the inherent dullness of the many long speeches with which she was saddled.MAGNIFICENT DOLL actually belongs to the character of Aaron Burr, played more or less as a Byronic Hero (which wouldn't be anachronistic) by David Niven, a rare descent into villainy for that fine actor. He gets the Satanic charm down pat, but I'm not sure that the character's eventual madness really became this normally droll thespian. Burr is a difficult historical character to pin down, and such an interpretation of him is perfectly defensible.Though these are all marvelous actors and the history is ripe for storytelling, MAGNIFICENT DOLL is mediocre at best. It would be nice to see another shot taken at telling the story of Dolly Madison.

I saw this movie 45 years ago on the "Fabulous 52", a late night show dedicated to old movies. I was a teenager at the time and would stay up very late while babysitting. It made a big impression on me and I never forgot it. I especially enjoyed the story line of her first marriage although, I later found out it was not accurate. I searched in recent years to find it on DVD to no avail. To my delight, I recently was able to watch the entire movie on the Internet, 45 years later! What a treat! I remembered a lot of it. I would love to have a copy of it. Although the story line is not quite accurate, the movie got me interested in Dolley Madison and her life. I thought it was very well done for a movie of its time. I would recommend it to old movie buffs.

It's considered polite to consider Borzage's post -war movies mediocre,which is completely unfair.Although they cannot match the director's 1927-1940 brilliant production (who can anyway?),some of them are acceptable,and some even highly commendable:such is the case of " I've always loved you" (1946) or "moonrise" (1948)."The Spanish main" (1945) although hailed by some as a pirates classic ,fails to excite ,perhaps because it is an impersonal movie."Magnificent doll" blends love stories with political subjects .David Niven ,cast against type ,plays the part of the villain,a politician who won't be satisfied till he owns everything .Ginger Rogers is good,but her character is a bit unbelievable.In fact,at least to my eyes,only the first part is Borzagesque: Dolly's first husband is the good man we meet in many of his movies,the one ready to give it all ,to sacrifice everything,even his own happiness if the woman he loves is happy ;that was the story of the heroes/heroines of "street angel" "lucky star" "green light" "big city" ....