Gabriel Over the White House (1933) User Reviews

Mr. Hearst and his Political Confusions.

[theowinthrop · 7/10 · 16 December 2005]

In some way historians can argue that certain figures in our history should have had a chance to become President. Senator Robert Taft deserved an opportunity to show his abilities in that job, as did Senators Henry Clay and Daniel Webster and Robert La Follette. Mistakes, political miscalculations, and sheer chance prevented their elections (and in Taft's case even his nomination). But while there is a general feeling of pity for those four gentlemen in failing to reach the White House, most historians agree that William Randolph Hearst did not fully deserve to even approach it. Hearst was extremely good at building up a newspaper empire, and of creating an exciting and stimulating model for the modern newspaper. But his overwhelming desire to reach the White House became such a joke that he became known as "William - Also Ran - dolph Hearst".

Problem with Hearst was that he enjoyed playing with public opinion and guiding it, but he also enjoyed...well enjoyed living the life of a remarkably wealthy man. His father George Hearst was a prospector who found one of the great gold mines in the west and rose to the post of U.S. Senator from California (ironically, a higher national office than his son ever reached). The image of Hearst from CITIZEN KANE of the boy whose father was a drinker, and whose mother signs over to the boy ownership of the mine is not true. In the course of doing business, Hearst Sr. got ownership of the San Francisco Enquirer, and Willy (who'd been tossed out of several colleges) asked to run it. George allowed Willy to do that, and Willy found his true métier.

His bug to become President never left him. He did win a Congressional seat from New York City in 1901, and held it for two terms. But by then his yellow journalism made so many enemies that he was ignored in Congress (when he decided to show up - he really could not apply himself to the job of Congressman). Yet in 1904 he managed to gather over 200 delegates for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency. Unfortunately he could not get the two thirds majority needed, and the delegates nominated Chief Justice Alton Brooks Parker of New York State's Court of Appeals (who was thrashed by Teddy Roosevelt in the election). Possibly, had Hearst got nominated, it would have enabled him to rid himself of Presidentialitis. That was not to be the case. He would run for Mayor of New York, Governor of New York, and seek a nomination (in the 1920s) for Senator from New York. He never won any of these elections, and he did not get nominated for Senator. His influence in the 1932 Democratic Convention was thrown to FDR, but he subsequently broke with the newly elected 32nd President.

Hearst, in his career, had pushed for better conditions for the poor, and better treatment of Labor. He had been hard on the trusts. He opposed our entry into World War I and Wilson's League of Nations. All of this is familiar from Welles' CITIZEN KANE. But his views turned rightward after 1915. Being German, his anti-war views (however wise they may have been) were colored by a pro-German viewpoint. His pro-labor point of view turned sour as he faced more and more serious financial problems (especially in the Depression). He did, however, think that the government of the day was inept in handling the Depression, and thought stronger measures were needed.

So he financed and produced GABRIEL OVER THE WHITE HOUSE. His solution was that the President must seize power, despite that antiquated series of checks and balances called the Constitution, and force relief in the form of jobs on the public. This mirrors part of FDR's New Deal (like the CCC, which built public roads), but FDR did try to get this legislation through Congress in the first 100 days. Hearst also was against expensive military build-ups. He has Walter Huston force "THE WASHINGTON COVENANT" on Europe and the World, which will reduce the armed navies. Actually (and somewhat intelligently) he shows that the large battleships are dinosaurs - Gregory La Cava uses film of Billy Mitchell's sinking of old battleships by aircraft from 1921 in the movie to demonstrate this. But it is doubtful that in real life such a treaty could be forced on anyone. They would resent the strong arm lecturing involved.

The film is fascinating despite the ridiculous populist - cum - fascist viewpoint. It helps that Walter Huston is playing the President, as he certainly gives whatever juice he has into such a thankless role (from hack politician to injured car passenger to international savior?). The rest of the cast seems adequate, though C. Henry Gordon does what he can to make his gangster boss seem villainous enough (including a drive by shooting near the White House). I give the film a seven out of 10, as an interesting curiosity, and a quick look into the mind of one of our most fascinating millionaires.

All we need is a good old fashioned dictator--a wonderful anti-civics lesson!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 2 June 2010]

The film is a sort of modern fairy tale and begins with the inauguration of a new President. This one is COMPLETELY unlike any other president (uh, huh), as he has absolutely no ambition to do or change anything--even though the country is in the midst of the Depression. When he's asked important questions at a press conference, his answers have absolutely nothing to do with what was asked. When there is an army of unemployed who are converging on DC (like the real-life 'Bonus Army' during the Hoover administration), he's shown playing with his young nephew--oblivious and happily so. To put it bluntly, he's a selfish and lazy jerk.

When the President is in a motorcade, he behaves very irresponsibly--choosing to drive his own car AND drive it like a maniac. As he drives at 100 miles per hour, his escort can't even keep up and the audience knows something is about to happen. Naturally, there is an accident and he's expected to die. BUT, unexpectedly, he awakens and is physically fine, but is also a thoroughly changed man. Instead of the lazy jerk he'd been, he's now a good man ready for action--even if the Congress and his own Cabinet couldn't care less. Assuming near dictatorial powers, he now does exactly what needs to be done for good of the nation. And, in the process, he introduces an enlightened form of socialism for the good of America. How this all came to be and what happens next you'll just have to see for yourself.

The film comes across as a very entertaining and well-meaning film--and clearly a product of the times. While most will no doubt enjoy it, the film scared the crap out of me. Although the film was not meant as a ringing endorsement for National Socialism (i.e., the Nazis), the message could easily be interpreted as approval for such a heavy-handed and all-controlling government that is acting 'for the good of the nation'. While in the case of this film the President is a benevolent dictator, such unhealthy desires for a tough guy who does what MUST be done (despite the Constitution) is a very dangerous idea indeed! Hitler himself sold his nation a similar bill of goods--which looked awfully attractive back in 1933. Hitler ALSO asked his congress to declare a state of emergency, dissolve themselves and grant him almost unlimited powers. At least this is my perspective as a history and government teacher.

Well made, well meaning...and a bit dangerous.

By the way, for you fans of classic Hollywood films, get a load of the performance of Mischa Auer as a reporter who confronts the President. His usual accent and European manners are just about completely absent here--probably one of the very few times he played a role this way during his career.

Heavenly Intervention

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 18 September 2008]

Gabriel Over The White House comes to the movie going public, courtesy of William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Productions, at a very special time in history when there was grave worry as to whether America and the capitalist system would survive. What producer Hearst is telling us is how he feels that the Deity if he intervened would solve all our problems.

Walter Huston is our star/protagonist here, a newly elected president who is no Franklin D. Roosevelt, but rather more of a Warren Harding type. Catch Huston offering up the usual political pablum at his press conference in terms of what to do about the Depression. It's rather depressing. Later on at his cabinet meeting some issue about an appointment comes up and he just remarks that if you boys in the cabinet and party feel this way, who is he to question it.

But then our president who the Secret Service would NEVER let get behind the wheel of a car totals the White House limousine and goes into a coma from the concussion. It's at that point Huston gets a heavenly intervention into his nature and starts enacting policies, presumably that God and William Randolph Hearst would approve, not necessarily in that order.

Huston makes first an amiable nonentity and then a stern statesman in the White House. It's like he's playing two different parts and in fact that's precisely the point of the film.

Besides economic want, folks in 1932-33 were very much concerned about the rise of lawlessness, organized criminal gangs that grew out of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. A lot of what Huston does could be construed as worse than the disease in terms of civil liberties. Repealing Prohibition was something only a few wackos like Alfred E. Smith wanted and Smith was Hearst's mortal political enemy.

From the man who couldn't wait to get to war in Cuba in 1898, William Randolph Hearst had become a pacifist and an advocate for disarmament and he proves it by going farther than either the Washington or London conferences on that subject. Adolph Hitler was on the verge of becoming Germany's Chancellor at the time Gabriel Over The White House came out, someone like him wasn't factored into the equation for world peace.

All in the name of peace, prosperity, and the coming millenia and since it's all directed from heaven, we don't and aren't supposed to question it. The perfect world in the mind of William Randolph Hearst.

Gabriel Over The White House tells us a lot about America midst the Depresssion, our hopes, fears, and aspirations. And it offers the more authoritarian method of attaining those aspirations. It's an entertaining film, but it's more a psycho-political picture of the USA at that point in our history.

Understand something about Wm R. Hearst

[lmdeutsch · 14 November 2004]

Fascinating and important historical document.

I want to briefly address the historical comments that this was "left wing" propaganda. This is a real misreading of the film and the historical context. This was an earnest, non-ironic celebration of proto-fascist ideals by Wm. Randolph Hearst, including not so veiled references to the "foreigners" who he felt were responsible for all ills in American Society. I am, by the way, a fairly consistent Republican, so I'm not writing on behalf of the left wing.

Let's not give such credit for "prescience" as to misread the film entirely out of its time, as a pre-emotive critique of FDR. Some modern viewers mis-interpret the film as "left wing" because, to modern eyes, it is so obviously "corny" and wrong-headed that they assume it is meant as ironic. Hearst was notoriously sympathetic to fascist ideas --and as this was pre WWII, the ideas of fascism were not yet fully discredited in the US, and enjoyed some widespread support given fairly desperate times and the intellectual movements of the day. This film was produced by Wm Randolph Hearst in 1932, before FDR was elected. It was held over for distribution by Louis B. Mayer (who did not sympathize with its fascistic views) till after the Hoover-FDR election, to avoid influencing the election.

The film does, of course, have relevance to FDR (and others) who would subvert the Constitution for expediency. However, to understand what the film maker meant, you have to view it as a pro-dictatorial document, by an individual who was not afraid to state those views, in the context of his time. Today, we have the luxury to see how obviously wrong those views were. But to miss the endorsement of proto-fascism in the movie is to forget the history of those who, in desperate times, with receptive elements of the population, were once willing to embrace a form of fascism in the USA.

Hearst's views were also, to some degree, responsible for an under-reporting of the ominous nature of Nazi Germany, as it is well documented that he instructed his news gathering organization to be sympathetic to that fledgling regime, and not to focus on abuses of Jews and others under the Nazis. This movie is a fascinating window into a mindset that was real, had an effect on history, and which found resonances in the ideas of Father Coughlin, Huey Long etc.

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A precode in a class by itself

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 4 October 2009]

I call this a precode in an unusual sense of the term. "Precode" usually drums up visions of movies like "Baby Face" and "The Divorcée" - films filled with sexually controversial situations and language for that period of time (1928-1934). However, precode was more than this. It also involved political ideas that were over the top and the existential doubts that made the fine horror films of Universal Studios in the early 30's. This film is definitely a political precode. The censors would have never allowed such a film to be released just 18 months later. At this point I quote Wikipedia, which gives some context for the film:

"Filmed during the 1932 presidential election on the orders of media magnate William Randolph Hearst, the film was intended to be an instructional guide for Franklin D. Roosevelt during his presidency. Hammond as he exists prior to his accident is an amalgamation of caricatures of Presidents Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover, Roosevelt's immediate predecessors. After his accident, he is Hearst's idealized image of the perfect president, the president he wanted Roosevelt to be."

Hearst always had great sway at MGM, with him also directing the career of his mistress, Marion Davies, at that same studio. President Judd Hammond in his "idealized" form is much more of a fascist than a socialist, though, declaring martial law and putting people in charge of trials because they have a grudge against the defendant. It is also interesting that Pres. Hammond after his transformation not only has a new interest in the welfare of the citizens, but he is rendered sexually neutral, addressing his former mistress as Miss rather than by her first name. It is like Judd Hammond has had some supernatural being possess his body more than it seems that Hammond has had some kind of transformation of his own world view.

Definitely recommended. I don't think I've ever seen a film quite like it.

The New Deal meets The Twilight Zone

[Mark-Rhoads2 · 7/10 · 10 March 2006]

Many commentators say this is a strange film. But you have to see it for yourself to understand just how strange it is. There is an interesting and even comical debate between modern viewers, who have their own political agendas to push, as to whether this movie might be seen as a precursor to The New Deal with a socialist penumbra, or an instructional guide from William Randolph Hearst on how to promote American fascism.

The premise of that debate is that there was a lot of difference between socialism and fascism at that time. But in truth it was an academic distinction. People often forget that the word "NAZI" does not stand for "fascism." NAZI is an abbreviation for the German words "Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei" which translates into English as "National Socialist Workers Party of Germany." One distinction between garden-variety socialism and German National Socialism was that under the former system, government owned the major means of production allegedly to benefit all, while under the Nazi variant there was some private ownership of industry but with so much government control it might as well have been state ownership.

Second-generation Fabian socialists in England in the 1930s might have talked about Communists as being on their "left" and fascists as being on their "right." But there is no reason for American advocates of freedom to indulge in that purely internal socialist semantic contraption regardless of how popular it may have been with simplistic historians and journalists who did not know any better. American Democrats and American Republicans should view all forms of totalitarianism, including Nazi Germany, as being variant strains of socialism on the far left side and beyond the American spectrum.

"Gabriel Over The White House," according to other comments, was produced in 1932 before the election and was released in 1933. If that is true, it is even more fascinating when seen as an "alternate 1933" to the New Deal. The Bonus March of May-July 1932 was very fresh in people's memory when theater audiences first saw this film that includes bonus marchers as one important element of the plot.

The president's demonstration of the force of air power over naval battleships is forward-looking for the time. But it is also presenting the views of Gen. Billy Mitchell who successfully bombed and sunk captured battleships from the air in a 1923 test and who was tried and convicted of insubordination at his court martial in 1925 for accusing his superiors of "criminal negligence" for neglecting the development of military airplanes.

The interesting depiction in the film of the president's ideas for putting bonus marchers to work on the public payroll was certainly adopted by FDR in creating the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps--both organized in a fashion similar to military service.

The scariest parts of the film that one could easily see as fascist propaganda include the military court martial for bootleg-financed gangsters and the president's confrontation with Congress as an elected branch that was acting too slow for his taste.

These parts may have been influenced by the crazy ideas of Hearst that unfortunately did not seem crazy enough to some demoralized business leaders at the time. The fascistic and/or socialistic propaganda elements of this film are even more interesting in view of the fact that Walter Huston also starred ten years later as Ambassador Joseph M. Davies in a pro-Soviet propaganda film called "Mission to Moscow."

In watching this film, I almost got the impression that I was seeing the political equivalent of the 1936 science fiction classic called "Things to Come" starring Raymond Massey. This Walter Huston film is not an alternate future but an alternate present for the audience of 1933 somewhat in the way that the TV show "The West Wing" was an alternate present reality for its viewers from 1999 to 2006. "Gabriel Over The White House" shows us a 1933 that could have happened but did not. Whether it was a pleasant fantasy or a nightmare for civil liberties is left a little ambiguous and that is why the film challenges the imagination of the viewer and befuddles political scientists.

unabashed fascist propaganda - insight into 1930s desperate thinking

[jcravens42 · 7/10 · 6 April 2010]

Movies provide a window into the thinking and trends of a particular era, and this film provides *incredible* insight into what many people were thinking in the 1930s, in the years leading up to WWII. I gave this film 7 out of 10 not because I think it's a great film, but because I think it provides tremendous insight into the fears and, at times, warped thinking, of the 1930s.

This is right-wing, fascist propaganda at its most cunning and most sincere. Watching it a first time, you might think, "The film makers were being ironic; this a cautionary tale." Nope! This is a genuine endorsement of "benevolent dictatorship" -- fascism. When the crowd cheers the President for evoking martial law, the audience of the film at the time, many of them facing desperate economic times and living in fear, was meant to cheer too. When you read history and wonder how people could cheer speeches by Charles Lindbergh (one of the most popular fascists in the USA of the time) and even Hitler, this film shows how.

Watch this film, where such fascist ideas are heroic, and then watch "Meet John Doe", made nine years later, where the exact same ideas (voiced by the media mogul D.B. Norton) are horrific, and you get an idea of the political ideological battles in the USA (and beyond) before WWII. This film was produced by real-life media mogul William Randolph Hearst, and speaks volumes about his very earnest and very autocratic beliefs.

It's a jaw-dropping film and an excellent example of unabashed propaganda. Zowie.

Weird

[franknemec · 7/10 · 19 July 2005]

I definitely enjoyed watching this weird movie. It makes you realize how desperate people were in the depression. The people had little problem with a President that would declare marshal law, or with a President that would suspend Congress, or with a President that would send armies of "Federal Police" in tanks to arrest criminals and then summarily execute them by firing squad after a short military tribunal. Lots of surreal scenes in the movie, like the Presidents maniacal drive to Annapolis, and the part when gangsters led by a guy named Nick Diamond do a drive by at the White House. I couldn't quite figure out why the President's nephew was even in the movie. He just sorta disappeared after the first reel.

A fascinating political fantasy

[mengel · 8/10 · 31 December 1998]

Anyone with an interest in American history or politics should see this--if you can find it! It's a fantasy about a political hack who is elected president during the Depression, who is transformed by an angel after an auto accident into a national savior--the perfect president, from a 1933 point of view. The result is just a bit scary. The fact that this movie came out during FDR's first few months in office makes it particularly interesting. It reveals a lot about what America was looking for then--and what it may be looking for today.

La Cava's strange and unusually prescient political satire.

[MOscarbradley · 7/10 · 23 April 2020]

Gregory La Cava's "Gabriel Over the White House" is a Capraesque fantasy but without any of Capra's corn. Rather, under La Cava's direction, this is a fairly serious satire on Roosevelt and the New Deal with Walter Huston as a potentially weak US President who, after a near-fatal accident, becomes an all encompassing do-gooder, doing whatever he can for the mass unemployed and the American people. However, good intentions may not be enough and as the movie progresses it takes a surprisingly dark turn.

It's certainly well made even if its message is sledge-hammered home with too much emphasis on the religious aspect and the potential conflict between good and evil. Also Huston is unusually stiff here and it's left to Franchot Tone and Karen Morley as his secretaries to inject a little feeling into proceedings. It wasn't successful and it's hardly ever revived but today it feels surprisingly prescient with Huston's President reminding you, at times, of someone much closer to home.

love song for fascism

[maildest · 1/10 · 14 January 2004]

According to this movie, the US could solve its problems (then in the Great Depression after the market crash in '29) by making the president a dictator. Guided by the advice of the Angel Gabriel, the president made dictator avoids the red tape from due process and the balance of powers. For example, he can get rid of gangsters by trying them for execution in police courts (without being too fussy about requiring evidence for things the police ``know'' to be true). The quaint set of populist policies advocated is naive and crosses modern liberal/conservative lines. In the movie, the only alternative is having things run by Congress and a Cabinet that are self-interested, corrupt, and beholden to corrupt bosses. Pure political fertilizer, just like a modern campaign.

A fascinating artifact from 1933

[duke1029 · 9/10 · 5 October 2014]

The American political film genre has a long and highly respected tradition. Classics like "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Advise and Consent," and "The Best Man," generally reflect a liberal political outlook. When a movie politician veers from his initially progressive agenda, such as in "All the King's Men" and "A Lion Is in the Streets," it is usually a sign that he has lost his moral compass and sown the seeds of his own self- destruction.

In "Gabriel over the White House," Walter Huston's newly-elected President Hammond is initially a cynical career politician reminiscent of Warren Harding, a political hack steeped in the corrupt culture of backroom deals, nepotism, crony patronage, and influence-peddling. However, after a surviving a near-death experience he is transformed by an undefined supernatural force into an idealistic crusader for a much different agenda that he zealously pursues: a divine mission that includes an imperial Presidency that suspends Constitutional checks and balances, ignores civil liberties, and invokes martial law.

The use of the name Gabriel in the title posits that this change in American government is sanctioned and approved by some kind of divine authority. In addition, Director Gregory LaCava also associates Lincoln's image with Huston's transformation, which gives his subsequent metamorphosis a gravitas and moral authority it might not otherwise have. The casting of respected character actor Walter Huston may not have been an arbitrary choice. Just three years earlier, the actor had played the title role in D. W. Griffith's last major film, "Abraham Lincoln," a part that was very closely associated with his 1933 screen image. (This is well before Huston played more iconic roles such as "Dodsworth" and "Treasure of the Sierra Madre.")

Because of the tradition of American political films, viewers' preconceptions have often prompted the misreading of "Gabriel" as a Liberal diatribe. The film certainly does postulate that a totalitarian state of some stripe is the answer to America's problems. However, while there are certain aspects that may appear Leftist, there are more that are reminiscent of the Fascist policies of European National Socialism.

Huston authorizes Franchot Tone's character to create a private federal police force which operates totally at the whim of the now dictatorial President. This force receives no governmental oversight and enforces the President's will without due process. It is reminiscent of the then-powerful Ernst Rohm's SA in Germany. Rohm and the SA would not be eliminated until the infamous "Night of the Long Knives" in 1934. Although it's difficult to judge color in a black and white film, the uniforms of Tone's "storm troopers" appear to be brown. Their military tribunal summarily dispatches the undesirable criminal foreign immigrants without aid of counsel in the manner of a totalitarian state.

President Hammond's demonizing of foreign elements as the cause of the country's social ills suggests the tactics used by European fascism in the early 30s. What is the nationality of C. Henry Gordon, who plays foreign immigrant hoodlum Nick Diamond? Early on it is shown that Diamond's real name is something ending with a "ski." Although he is careful not to use a clearly identifiable Italian or Eastern European accent, Gordon, a native New Yorker, specialized in swarthy villains throughout his career, most memorably as the Muslim fanatic Surat Khan, who massacred prisoners including women and children under a white flag in the Errol Flynn epic, "The Charge of the Light Brigade."

Especially impressive is the bravura, almost 360 degree camera dolly during the firing squad sequence in which Gordon and his immigrant criminal associates are summarily executed. The shot ironically shows the Statue of Liberty in the background, clearly implying with in-your- face pointed irony that these executions are taking place on Ellis Island.

The saber-rattling show of military force toward the end of the film in order to collect outstanding WWI debt is somewhat reminiscent of Billy Mitchell's famous demonstrations of air power from a decade earlier. (In fact, it has been reported that archival footage from the Mitchell demonstrations is used in this sequence.) Among the countries Hammond signs agreements with are France, and ironically Italy and Japan. Huston's bellicose, thinly-disguised threats of military action are not unlike Germany's bullying of Europe during the Thirties.

One of the last statements the dying Huston character says is that the power structure he has left in place will last a "millenium." Does the use of a thousand years as a political time frame sound like a familiar paraphrase (i.e. Hitler's Thousand Year Reich)?

The original book was written anonymously by someone named Tweed. (How's that for a nom-de-plume?), but the real power and economic force behind "Gabriel over the White House" as a novel and movie was William Randolph Hearst. Although Hearst was a progressive reformer when he first began delving into politics, by the early 30s he had moved to the right and was a great admirer of Mussolini. (In the opening newsreel montage of "Citizen Kane," Kane, a thinly-disguised roman-a-clef version of Hearst, can be seen schmoozing with Facists.)

Despite this, Hearst was an avid Roosevelt supporter in 1932 although at that time he couldn't have known the full extent of FDR's New Deal agenda. Hearst had established his own production company, Cosmopolitan Pictures, at MGM in order to insure the production of star vehicles for his mistress, Marion Davies. This clout undoubtedly aided him in securing Metro's support of the picture. Hearst reportedly submitted the script to Roosevelt who apparently approved of it but asked for some changes. No one has said definitively what Roosevelt contributed, but it was agreed that for a variety of reasons, distribution would be postponed until 1933, well after the election.

Today "Gabriel over the White House" is looked upon today as an aberrant curiosity and relic from Hollywood's pre-Code era. In 1932 America was in a dark place, and I think "Gabriel" clearly reflects that angst-ridden period on our history.

Interesting curio starring Walter Huston as an inspired President of the USA

[jacobs-greenwood · 6/10 · 13 October 2016]

Directed by Gregory La Cava (Walter Wanger and William Randolph Hearst were its uncredited producers), with a screenplay by Carey Wilson (additional dialogue by Betram Bloch) that was based on T.F. Tweed's British bestseller Rinehard, this interesting if flawed fantasy drama features Walter Huston as newly elected President (of the United States) Judson 'Judd' Hammond who, after an automobile accident and apparently divine influence (though his possession and/or actions are more demonic than angelic at times), solves all of the nation's (and then the world's) problems.

Hammond becomes an FDR-like POTUS that helps the country get back on its feet and out of its Depression by putting jobless veterans to back to work through construction projects, usurping Congress's power by declaring martial law, defeating (then executing) Prohibition's gangsters (there was talk of repealing the 18th Amendment), and even solving World Peace (by forcing the disarmament of all the other nations, who were in debt to us)!

Karen Morley and Franchot Tone play the President's secretaries, Pendola 'Pendie' Molloy and Hartley 'Beek' Beekman; both are initially disappointed with Judd (aka the Major), after his inauguration and before his transformation, during which they fall in love with one another.

Arthur Byron plays his campaign manager come Secretary of State Jasper Brooks, whose party ties force Hammond to fire him. Dickie Moore plays the President's young nephew Jimmy Vetter. C. Henry Gordon plays mob boss (naturally) Nick Diamond, David Landau plays the unemployeds' (and "Million Man March") leader John Bronson; Jean Parker (without a line to speak? in only her third credited role) plays Bronson's daughter Alice. Samuel Hinds plays the President's physician H.L. Eastman. Even Mischa Auer appears (uncredited) as a reporter who's initially disillusioned by the President's cavalier attitude (before he changes after his driving the Presidential limo too fast and causes his own life altering accident).

A most unusual political film!

A curiosity of film history

[75groucho · 5/10 · 6 April 2006]

"Gabriel Over the White House" is one of the most unique films you're likely to see. By turns it is a wild-eyed cinematic op-ed piece and an apologia for fascism. It's even more stunning when you realize that it was released to theaters just a few weeks into FDR's famous 'First Hundred' days of office.

The film opens with the inauguration of President Judd Hammond, followed by a get-together where he explains the aims of his presidency. Hammond's a party hack who dismisses any questions about runaway unemployment and organized crime as 'local problems' that are not his responsibility. He stonewalls the press, demanding questions submitted in advance and refusing to answer them for the record. He keeps a mistress and is more concerned with the new issue of his detective magazine than matters of state.

Change comes in the form of a car accident. Hammond insists on driving himself to Annapolis for a ceremony at the Naval Academy when he speeds his way into a wreck. His condition appears grave and the public is kept in the dark. In truth, he has undergone an epiphany. More empathetic, he now wants to be a man of action. He's willing to be quoted for the press. He starts making grand promises about helping the army of the unemployed marching on the Capitol. He catches his cabinet meeting in secret, plotting to defy him, and demands their collective resignation.

With that, Congress begins proceedings for an impeachment. Amazingly, Hammond appears before Congress and convinces them to adjourn, elevating the president to a dictatorship and declaring martial law. Then he REALLY goes to work, proposing sweeping new laws, suspending old ones, and declaring war on the gangsters. After a few skirmishes, he sends the military to rout them out of hiding and a court-martial gives them what's coming to them.

With peace declared in urban America, he takes on foreign policy. In a three-minute speech from the bridge of a battleship, Hammond eliminates the global debt problem and the arms race. At his triumphant moment, the president is crowned with a halo of martyrdom, collapsing, presumably, from the injuries of his car wreck that were delayed by divine intervention while he pursued his greater mission.

To call "Gabriel Over the White House" fuzzy thinking doesn't do justice to its childishly simplistic view of the world. The beliefs informing it are naive and solutions presented are irresponsible. As such, it's a remarkable document of its time. There was certainly an audience for such a fantasy in the crime and poverty ridden days of the early Depression. Hence, "Gabriel Over the White House" is poor in drama but rich in historical perspective. I can't think of an appropriate rating except to split the difference between its artistic and documentary values: 5

Look for the little-seen alternate version

[FilmFan2001 · 23 May 2000]

While I was living in Madrid, the Filmoteca showed both the American version and the little-seen European version of this. My memory is a little hazy, but the European version was by far the more interesting of the two: firstly Hammond is seen to go just that much further into fascism; and secondly, rather than have him nobly struck down at the end, Pendie actually chooses NOT to save him, because she sees what he has become. I've yet to find anything written about this other version though. I think we should be told...

I love my uncle Jud because he's going to cure the Depression and make everybody rich

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 1 January 2014]

Judson Hammond (Walter Huston) is sworn in as the new President of the United States. It's quickly obvious that he's nothing more than another politician with no intention of trying to fix the nation's problems, such as staggering unemployment, bootlegging, and unpaid war debts. After Hammond is in a car accident (for driving 100 mph!), some outside force seems to come over him. Suddenly he's completely changed and starts making radical decisions that ultimately lead to him becoming a dictator!

Fascinating political drama that has to be seen to be believed. Obviously, it has great historical value and lots for history buffs to chew over. Franklin Roosevelt and wife Eleanor loved the film. FDR was a part of the process of making it, even giving script notes to the filmmakers! The movie was produced by FDR supporter William Randolph Hearst (Citizen Kane himself) and the star Walter Huston was as big an FDR booster as they come. This was made during the Great Depression and, in many ways, this story reflected the desire of the Roosevelts and supporters to fix the country by any means necessary. It's interesting to think about the real-world implications as you watch the movie.

Absolutely Amazing How History Repeats Itself

[moogie777 · 7/10 · 14 December 2008]

I happened to watch this movie during the height of the debates about "bailouts" for the banks and car companies. People in the movie used exactly the same arguments as people today; I think the President even used the word "bailout" for the working people! I know that this movie was made at the height of the Great Depression, when there were numerous debates about what should be done to stimulate the economy. The difference between then and now is that in the movie the President basically shut down Congress and declared marshal law....and Congress went right along with it. The President became a benign dictator, which apparently the angle Gabriel had told him to do. I was just floored, watching this guy who looked so Presidential, it was very realistic in my opinion. Could we ever be convinced to give up our rights for the greater good? Well, we forget that Lincoln suspended Constitutional rights during the Civil War; but I'm not convinced that today's American would ever allow such a thing. Nope, not convinced at all. Extremely interesting movie.

Very similar to 'Dave'

[HotToastyRag · 6/10 · 22 February 2020]

Gabriel Over the White House has been touted as a visionary political satire of the silver screen, but since there have been so many of that genre made in the past 90 years, watching it now doesn't have the same meaning. There's no more punch to Walter Huston's lines, and the audience will be thinking of more twists and turns than there are, simply because in more modern movies, snappier lines and twistier turns have been filmed.

If you liked Kevin Kline's Dave, though, you'll probably want to watch this one, as there are very strong parallels. Walter Huston stars as an unpopular, cold president who doesn't care about the people. He's having an affair with a political aide and frequently conducts backroom deals. Then, he gets a bad bump on his head and completely changes. He's warm, friendly, extremely moral, and wants to help the people regardless of political standing. It's as if he turned into a completely different person after his accident--sound familiar?

Unless you feel extremely in tuned with the 1930s lifestyle and politicians during the Great Depression, you won't get as much out of this movie as you might have. Walter Huston is a wonderful powerhouse actor who commands your attention no matter if he's one the screen for two hours or five minutes. Taking second fiddle is Franchot Tone, the suspicious secretary to the President, who is also in his prime before his personal and professional life took a hit. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is much more famous, but if you like social commentaries of the past, rent this one, too.

remarkable, strange film

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 1 July 2006]

I basically checked out "Gabriel Over the White House" because of Walter Huston, an actor I have always considered one of the greats. He doesn't disappoint as the President of the United States in this bizarre fantasy, produced by William Randolph Hearst and promoting his ideas of fascism.

I gave this film a high mark (8) not because I loved it but because it is a fascinating film from a historical point of view. Newly-elected President Hammond (Huston) pays lip service to the needs of the depression-ridden people by uttering platitudes, and meanwhile, is content to do what the party tells him. Meanwhile, he brings his girlfriend on as his personal assistant. He pays no attention to the head of a group of unemployed men who plan to march on Washington, though it isn't made clear why his party isn't interested in doing anything to stop the depression. One day, while driving his car at breakneck speed (as if all Presidents are encouraged to do this), he crashes and slips into a coma. When he comes to, he hears a horn playing a passage from Brahms Symphony 1 in C Minor, Opus 68 and has a change of heart. This supposedly is the angel Gabriel checking in. After that, he becomes a dictator of sorts, usurping the system of checks and balances. He forms a WPA of sorts for the unemployed, has executions of gangsters, and forms the Washington covenant to reduce arms buildup from countries around the world. Supposedly there was an assassination attempt that takes place in the film that was cut after an attempt was made on Roosevelt's life.

Supposedly this film was shelved by a nervous Louis B. Mayer until after FDR was elected. It's surprising he released it at all. There is supposedly an alternate version that acknowledges the dangers of fascism. Whatever version you see, this is a film very much of its time as far as the political climate and the thinking of a powerful man like Hearst, and as such makes for remarkable viewing.

"A simple, honest man can solve anything..."

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 24 October 2009]

Walter Huston is excellent as always portraying a Depression-era President of the United States who sees his work for the American people as just another job. He's reckless and cavalier, but after coming out of a coma brought about by a car wreck, the lazy leader suddenly reforms and gets down to business. He wants his entire Cabinet to resign and Congress to adjourn so that he can take control over the U.S. via a one-man dictatorship. Dated, though still interesting piece of political folly and impudence, written by Carey Wilson from an "anonymous" novel, was probably a timely and enjoyable picture of its day; however, with Hitler's dictatorship in Germany about to change all of Europe, the movie soon lost its novelty (and the fascist overtones and the subtle religious angle, with Huston apparently overtaken by an otherworldly spirit, likely didn't help matters). Were the filmmakers trying to say that if God has His way, America would best be ruled under Marshall Law? One can certainly enjoy the picture without having to parallel its tactics with events in world history, although some may argue this angle is the only thing which keeps the film engaging. In either event, the acting is solid (if occasionally broad), the editing is sharp, and director Gregory La Cava does striking work; his strong, provoking visual sense causes several sequences to resemble German Expressionism. **1/2 from ****

This is a really bad film but absolutely fascinating!

[1930s_Time_Machine · 4/10 · 12 August 2023]

Curiously and deliberately the author's name is replaced with "Anonymous" in the opening credits. Why? Two seconds in and you're intrigued by the mystery already!

It's based on an English novel written by a futurist from Liverpool. With his ability to 'think outside the box' Thomas Tweed became a trusted advisor to David Lloyd George during the former prime minister's twilight years. The President in the novel and indeed the film is Lloyd George - or rather Tweed's idealised Lloyd George.

The 'Welsh Wizard' is remembered today as being both one of this country's best and at the same time, worst leaders. Best because not only did he lead the country to victory in the war, do his best to make the country "a land fit for heroes" but also helped to make it a place where everyone, irrespective of class or status didn't need to be wealthy to live happily. Many of his ideals were to championed by FDR when he took over the US decades later - that was the good bit. Lloyd George was also bad because he perfectly summed up the old adage: "power corrupts" - let's just say he wasn't the world's most honest politician! Walter Huston's Hamilton begins as bad Lloyd George with a bit of Hoover thrown in and then a miracle turns him into good Lloyd George with rather a large bit of FDR.

Considering that this was written by an actual political advisor, this is staggeringly naive - then again, nobody back then really understood what was causing The Depression. To appreciate this, it helps if you have a reasonable knowledge of what was happening in American politics at that time since the plot is based on actual events. Knowing the hiatus however also equally unhelpful! The more you know, the more childish and annoyingly over-simplistic the solutions seem (although some of these ideas were FDR's and they did work)

That it's semi-factual, essentially a political advertisement and that we now know what happened next makes this film uneasy viewing. You can't simply watch this as a piece of entertainment, it's more of a snapshot into the thinking of the time. The premise of a self-serving politician becoming president who is subsequently possessed by an angel from God which runs the country, ends the Depression and engenders world peace is just too silly to be taken seriously.

At one point, Pendy, the president's mistress (based on Lloyd George's own mistress) says: I'm not a religious person but I wonder - Does it seem too fanciful to believe that God sent the Angel Gabriel to do for Judd Hammond what he did for Daniel?

Yes, of course it bloody does!

They take it all too seriously but bearing in mind that this a serious topic that's understandable. This approach does however make this particularly unenjoyable but nevertheless fascinating.

How A Republic Falls to an Emperor

[electrictroy · 10/10 · 12 September 2005]

Circa 20 b.c., there was another government similar to our own - the Roman Republic. That government was ruled by a Senate which was picked via elections... not exactly the same, but similar to our American Senate & House (Congress). That democratic Republic ceased to exist when a man declared himself "Emperor".

It was that history Benjamin Franklin had in mind when he said, immediately following the Convention that gave birth to the U.S. Constitution: "You have a Republic... if you can keep it." Franklin and the other Founders knew well the dangers of a repeat of Roman history.

.

That brings us to this movie - This movie shows America in 1933, during the worst of the Great Recession. It shows the fall of the American Republic to a president as Emperor, not in name, but in acts. He suspends Congress & suspends democratic Law-Making, and becomes a modern-day Emperor. Exactly what the American Founders feared.

Those who have seen this movie may ask, "So what? He performed good acts & brought the country out of the depression." The answer lies in Germany where this film became reality. The German democratic Republic fell... taken over by a man who was Emperor, not in name, but in act... and who appeared to be a good man serving the People. But that man suspended democracy, took absolute control, and killed thousands of his own citizens.

Just like the Emperors of Rome.

When this movie was made, I'm sure a lot of people thought President = Emperor = Dictator was a good solution to the 1930's Recession. But now hindsight shows us, via looking at Germany, how dangerous it is to suspend democratic Rule and hand too much control to one man.

I gave this movie a 10, not because I approve of Dictatorship, but because it shows how easy it is to slide down the slippery slope from American Freedom to Presidential Tyranny. It's a warning to future generations.

wake up you sleepy heads

[rsternesq · 7/10 · 9 October 2008]

This in an interesting parable that is not well understood by those who refuse to read history. There is no such thing as a truly conservative fascist because us small government types do not want control. Rather the dream of ultimate power is the dream of the left. Hey guys, Nazi means National Socialist, not Republican and if ever we have reason to fear the appetite of the left for power it is now. in the world of the left, all is either prohibited or mandatory, the only thing you have a choice over is the flavor of the koolade you get to guzzle. Be afraid of the smiley faced fascists on the left. They are the ones we should fear.

One loony-bird of a movie

[marcslope · 3/10 · 11 July 2005]

OK, it was the Depression, the New Deal hadn't been cobbled together yet, Americans were desperate and looking for any possible way out. That still doesn't account for the wild fancifulness of this very uncharacteristic MGM production, based on an anonymous novel, that suggests that the way out of economic disaster was a benevolent dictator. Huston, looking haggard, plays a party-tool Prez (it's never made clear which party) who, after a near-death experience, suddenly dis-empowers Congress and singlehandedly saves the Republic. And what are his solutions? Why, to combat crime, stand up bootlegging hoodlums (the Volstead Act hadn't been repealed yet) to a firing squad. War debts? Eliminate the European military machines and use the savings to repay the U.S. Unemployment? Just get the jobless working, and meantime, suspend their mortgages so that no one is turned out of his home. Not only are these ridiculously simplistic political solutions, they're stiffly staged -- by Gregory La Cava, of all people. Add to that some unconvincing plotting (the unmarried President's mistress falls for his chief aide; the President graciously retreats; there's a drive-by shooting BY THE WHITE HOUSE), and you have a wish-fulfillment political fantasy that can't have persuaded anyone in 1933, much less 2005. Have I omitted anything? Oh, yes -- this fascist Chief Executive isn't really acting on his own will at all; he is an instrument of the angel Gabriel, represented by arty lighting, fluttering curtains in the West Wing, and offstage trumpets. A real odd duck of Metro's 1930s output, in short, and not even that interesting as a curio.

Gabriel with an Assist from Brahms

[dougdoepke · 16 September 2007]

No need to repeat points already made about the film's interesting origin or plot line. For once, MGM's lavish production machinery is put to excellent use. The crowd scenes are quite convincing both in size and in tone. Catch that early scene where the silken Karen Morley makes an unexpected call on the newly sworn-in president. It's a minor masterpiece of adult-level innuendo, beautifully performed and directed. We know why she's there even if Franchot Tone's accommodating chief-of-staff takes a few moments to sink in. Yes, indeed, this is the White House and 30 years before the meandering young JFK. In fact, the script plays things revealingly cagey, never once disclosing Hammond's marital status-- a possible dictator, yes; but a possible philanderer, now that's just too touchy to reveal!

In fact, the subject matter is, on the whole, intelligently handled, even if it has to include moments of occult intervention-- a reference that usually puts a strain on my digestive tract. Director La Cava knew how to keep results under control, which is key to the movie's success. Sure, it's primarily a document of its time, but when I read in today's news about a "unitary presidency", and "presidential signings exemptions" from the laws Congress passes, I'm not so sure that the past remains the past. Anyway, this wacky excursion into the realm of political fantasy stands as a one-of-a-kind and should not be missed.