Wonderful Movie

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

NOTES: Beulah Bondi was nominated for an AMPAS Award for Best Supporting Actress, losing to Gale Sondergaard in Anthony Adverse.George Folsey was one of three nominees for Best Black-and-White Cinematography, yielding to Tony Gaudio's Anthony Adverse.Shooting commenced: 27 April 1936. When initial shooting shut down is not known. Certainly, the studio was still dickering with the film on 15 August 1936.COMMENT: Joan Crawford's rare period picture wasn't received well by the fans. Yet Joan looks very attractive in her Adrian costumes and curls, and is beautifully photographed throughout by Folsey. Maybe what the fans were objecting to is that this is a very long film with very little action. Instead we have lots of political speeches in which Lionel Barrymore hogs the camera in his usual superficially bombastic style, fulminating at tiresome length about preserving the union, egged on by other cardboard caricatures of well-known political figures. Beulah Bondi is the worst offender, James Stewart is not far behind. At least Franchot Tone manages to invest Eaton with a degree of charm, while Melvyn Douglas gives Randolph a similar degree of conviction. Taylor is not out of his depth as the superficial fun-loving Bow Timberlake and there is a happy selection of character players to help things along. The film is superlatively well produced.

1952's "The President's Lady" cast Charleton Heston and Susan Hayward as Andrew and Rachel Jackson, the very controversial couple that once faced charges of bigamy when her first marriage wasn't actually final upon their union. That film covered many years of their relationship, so it was appropriate that the two stars aged throughout the film. In "The Gorgeous Hussey", it is the quite different Lionel Barrymore and Beaulah Bondi who play this couple, already aging, with him about to be elected president and her ailing as a result of both the affects of smoking a pipe and the sadness by how her reputation as a supposed fallen woman has affected his public image. The women of Washington are all resentful of a pipe-smoking first lady (who sadly never makes it into the White House) and their resentments and extremely petty jealousies move on to his surrogate daughter, Peggy Eaton, whom they consider beneath high society in a still infant nation.The film shows these women (among them Alison Skipworth and "The Wizard of Oz's" Clara Blandick) gossiping non-stop, so viciously that you wish the president could pass a law against it that would put each of them into solitary confinement. The hysterically funny Zeffie Tilbury has a great moment telling off the hags in this social circle and gets a good wink in later when the wives of the president's cabinet meet with Barrymore who is revealing some changes.Peggy is played by Joan Crawford, the only historical character she ever portrayed, the widow of a Naval hero (Robert Taylor) and now wife of the Secretary of War (Franchot Tone) whose love for one of Barrymore's rivals (Melvyn Douglas) was cause of scandal of its own and lead to murder. James Stewart, still a rising young star, has a small role as one of Crawford's confidantes, and Louis Calhern plays a political villain. A lot of real-life American heroes of this time (the 1830's and 1840's) appear in the story, so in spite of its somewhat inappropriate title, this is a fairly good history lesson of the early years of our country, then only 24 states and even then faced with trouble.This is a film also about rising above ridicule and the importance of understanding why gossip is a vile evil which needs to be continuously smashed. It is obvious as to why these petty women hate both Rachel and Peggy; They are ladies who remained free from the temptations of the tongue and were true to themselves, their men and their ideals. The society women are more concerned with status, power and a misused sense of respectability which makes them keep their husbands prisoners and is ultimately the disease which destroys them.Powerfully acted, especially by Crawford and Bondi, it is extremely well directed by Clarence Brown who directed many of MGM's most lavish epics of the time. Lionel Barrymore gives his all to the powerful role of Andrew Jackson and in spite of bellowing many of his lines is riveting.

If you recall Charleton Heston's first film about Andrew Jackson, THE PRESIDENT'S LADY, Jackson married Rachel Robarts (Susan Hayward) thinking she was divorced from Lewis Robarts. But the divorce was not completed. They had to remarry - unfortunately the scandal of a brief period of adulterous life together never was forgotten by Jackson's enemies. THE PRESIDENT'S LADY shows how Rachel's great love for Andrew took him to the White House in 1829, but that the scandalous political campaign against Jackson at her expense killed her. This apparently is true, and Jackson (a man who hated powerfully) never forgave his enemies for killing Rachel.THE GORGIOUS HUSSEY touches this tragedy. Beulah Bondi is Rachel, and Lionel Barrymore Andrew, and Beulah dies early in the film, just as Andrew becomes President. She has a friend here, Peggy O'Neal (Joan Crawford)who tries to confront the widowed President. She's popular, having at least four beaux: Lt. Timberlake, a naval officer (Robert Taylor - in a very brief early part); Senator John Randolph (Melvyn Douglas), a distinguished spokesman for southern states rights; John Eaton (Franchot Tone), Jackson's Secretary of War; and James Stewart. She rejects Randolph's offer of marriage (he's too old for her), and marries Taylor - but there is some question about the legality of the marriage (we see them accidentally lose the marriage certificate). Taylor dies while at sea. Tone marries Crawford, and due to her "loose" behavior it causes a massive cabinet crisis that splits the U.S. government. But Jackson stands by Peggy O'Neal Timberlake Eaton, and remakes the cabinet and his government to mirror his view of democracy.This film has a lot going for it and a lot going against it: It is a juicy, crazy scandal that makes an interesting tale - and it is true. But the script is full of errors - I will leave it to others to comment on the main one concerning one of the main characters in the film. All the performers play their parts well, from Crawford and her beaus to Bondi and Barrymore, Sidney Blackmer (as Daniel Webster) and Louis Calhern as a fictional villain. Some of the dialogue is ridiculous: the decision by Jackson to demolish Nicholas Biddle's Second Bank of the United States is consolidated to one line (but it was an issue that lasted six or seven years!). One hopes another attempt is made at telling the story of Peggy Eaton - one that is not so full of errors, and explains how petticoat politics got out of control in the early 1830s.

Joan isn't all that gorgeous, only a halfhearted hussy, and not much of an actress, either--at least not here. Rather, she's a nice but confused innkeeper's daughter in 1820s Washington with love and politics on the brain. Mostly she lifts her considerable eyebrows up and down, up and down, to indicate joy, worry, bafflement, empathy, ecstasy... All the while she's pursued by most of the leading men of MGM circa 1936, for reasons best known to them, since there's nothing particularly fascinating about her character. This lengthy melodrama does have first-rate production values and intermittent good acting, especially from the quieter performers, Melvyn Douglas and (most of all) Beulah Bondi, as a gentle, pipe-smoking Mrs. Andrew Jackson. But as a historical romance it's rather listless, with a rote Snidely-Whiplash villain (Louis Calhern) and much nattering about states' rights. The conflicts feel painted-on. The ending feels hurried and contrived. And Joan always seems to be looking for her key light.