Customer Reviews

Gabriel Over the White House [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A crook becomes President and mysteriously reforms...Definitely a curiousity from the thirties: this is a bizarre but wholly fascinting film. Because of the honest performance of the great Walter Huston, this was a big springtime hit in 1933. Much of the story first indicts the Republican administrations which had occupied the White House, notably that of Warren G. Harding's. Later on, it takes on the newly appointed personality of the Roosevelt adiministration: this wasn't a fluke: William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper czar, urged producer Wanger to put this on film. When Wanger - worried about what his boss, M-G-M mogul Mayer would say - Production chief Irving Thalberg replied "Don't worry about him". At the time, Louis B. Mayer despised Roosevelt (although he later supported him) and wanted the film to be canned. But Mayer really didn't have the power to shelve the film. Almost eerily, Huston is seen addressing the US via radio broadcasts: a preview of FDR's famed Fireside Chats! Enjoy!

I call this a precode in an unusual sense of the term. "Precode" usually drums up visions of movies like "Baby Face" and "The Divorcee" - 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 more like the old Judd Hammond is actually dead and that some supernatural being has possessed his body more than it seems that Hammond has had some kind of transformation of his world view.

This is a very interesting film that would make a great addition to Warner Home Video's "Forbidden Hollywood" series. I hope to see it on DVD soon along with an interesting commentary on the film in the context of the Great Depression and Hearst's political beliefs. Definitely recommended. I don't think I've ever seen a film quite like it.

I had a field day watching this great, socio-political themed movie, which was released at the peak of the Depression (1933) and which depicts the "glorious" events that took place in the story, when the just elected U.S. President's being is "possessed" by an "angel" of justice & peace.

It's an allegorical, unique photoplay, expertly directed by the great Gregory La Cava, with another mesmerizing performance by one of the greatest American actors of all-time, Mr. Walter Huston, as the President.

Franchot Tone and Karen Morley, two very fine actors that were under contract to MGM during this period, show their skill and wide acting range, giving Huston flawless support as the President's aides.

The sequences that take place at the U.S. Congress and during an International Confference aboard a big ship, are especially noteworthy.

Once again, since I watched it on TCM, thanks TCM for being one of the most cherished treasure-vaults of the Media and please Time Warner, release it on DVD!

...then by all means, check out this delightfully bizarre and obscure film.
Firstly, I want to stress my disappointment with the outrageously negative reviews that proceeded my post. It seems certain people can not separate a politically charged fantasy film from their current and modern perspectives concerning politics. They blast this harmless little film because of its content, never once commenting on the entertainment value as a movie. They write harshly against the film as a whole because it goes against their personal political beliefs, yet, these same type of people will profusely praise films that deal with serial killers, drug addicts and thieves. Their negative words would be the equivalent of me saying "Psycho" (1960) is a horrible film because it's about a very disturbed killer, so do not watch Psycho. This attitude is really absurd, isn't it ?
Anyway, I highly suggest watching the great "Psycho," and I would also suggest watching "Gabriel Over the White House." This happens to be a well acted and directed film that is so unique and refreshing, especially considering the fact that it was released in 1933. Of course, any intelligent viewer will detect shades of fascism and even a revenge mentality, but duh, this is only a movie and I never once felt like the film was promoting anything, but rather, simply trying to entertain. And it does just that, on several levels. The great Walter Huston is a treat, as usual, and Franchot Tone actually matches him, scene for scene. The supporting cast provides satisfying support, and the dialog in this film is intelligent and thought provoking.
Again, I can't stress enough how unique and offbeat this film is, so, if you are a classic hound thats always looking for an obscure delight, then do seek out this wonderful film.

When America was being buffeted by the one two three punch of organized crime, a depressed economy, and debts owed to America from the Great War, it seemed that the only way to maintain America as a functioning entity was to trash the constitution and give dictatorial powers to the right man who could use executive discretion as to when to surrender those powers when the reason for their being had vanished. Now if this sounds like the vortex that spawned Julius Caesar and Adolf Hitler, then GABRIEL OVER THE RIGHT HOUSE reverberates with a warning that was probably not worried about too much back in 1933. Director Gregory La Cava and media mogul William Randolph Hearst collaborated on the then current belief that that previous occupants of the White House, Coolidge and Hoover, were simply not up to the job, but FDR--that was a different story. William Huston plays President Hammond as a man who starts out as corrupt but through a near divine intervention when he recovers from a car crash soon morphs in the first coming of Franklin Roosevelt. Hammond uses the constitution to subvert it. He takes into his hands the entire apparatus of the government, first by using his considerable powers of rhetoric, then by bullying everyone else into accepting his fiats. Huston begins as your typical Chicago style corrupt politician, then turns into a smooth talking socialist who sees that all must share equally from the same pot, finally turning into a fascist who is quite content to execute by firing squads all those who land in his military tribunals. Americans then probably needed the assurance that help was right around the corner. The irony is that in Germany at the same time another smooth talking politician tries much the same tactics. The results of this latter politician's deeds now fill this movie with a more subtle, more insidious context. GABRIEL OVER THE WHITE HOUSE is exactly the kind of gem that ought to be seen by anyone who fears that the promises of a fluid teleprompter reader hold the key to his nation's survival.

The Great Depression may have been a devestating time in America otherwise a film like this could never have been produced. I'm not going to mince any words-this is one of the strangest films I've ever seen! The basic premise is a cynical president survives a near death experience by calling martial law and declaring himself the autonomous head of state so that he can cure all the ills of the nation without interference from the other branches. Regardless of the benevolence of such a totalitarian government this kind of smacks of "Triumph of the Will". The movie is based on a book by Anonymous and methinks that Anonymous was off his or her meds when this was written. I was looking for a tongue-and-cheek quality but there's a dead earnestness to the whole enterprise. Oddly enough this was produced by MGM, biting the hand that feeds them I suppose. Star Walter Huston, one of the great actors of the early talking era, delivers his lines with eery seriousness which adds to the bizarre nature of the affair. I give the film four stars instead of three because it has a jaw-dropping quality to it not unlike the "Springtime for Hitler" segment of "The Producers". If you're looking for subtlety in political cinema check out "Dr. Strangelove" instead.

I really liked this movie because of the patriotic theme it had, that is, a president who was doing what's right for America instead of party or personal agenda. It is clear that makers of this film were in favor of a new deal with a benevolent dictator in the White House. I would be in favor of it if indeed God was calling the shots. However, we know that FDR did not have a hotline to heaven and created a vast overreach of government power. We also know that we now have men in office who would and have sold this country and native born Americans out for personal gain and power. So enjoy this fantasy and take a break from reality for a little while.

cranking out one movie after another. This one, at first, kind of flew under the radar. It was released at a sensitive time, that is, the start of FDR's administration & the "New Deal".
A dispicable man is elected president, a puppet to his powerfull rich friends & the politicians of his party thet helped him get elected(Republican?). How this happens isn't made clear. MGM hated wasting time on exposition in it's movies. This president is totally corrupt cares nothing for the people except to exploit their misery & enrich his cronies.
He suffers a life threatening injury & is visited by the arch-angel, Gabriel. This is a life changing experience & he becomes a changed man, taking on dictatorial powers. He feeds the starving masses, solves unemployment, wipes out organized crime & with the help of the military, forces peace on the rest of the world.
There is a scene on the waterfront. He has gangland criminals lined up to be shot, without due process. The Statue of Liberty is framed in the background. Quite effective.

A somewhat bizarre Depression-era political drama, which transforms the Capra-style populist comedy into a grim, protofascist litany. And I don't use the term "fascist" lightly -- it's meant quite literally. Walter Huston stars as Judson Hammond, a newly elected Republican President, appropriately cynical and snugly placed in the pockets of big business, who faces the same challenges as Roosevelt did in '32, namely, the continuing misery of the Great Depression and the disaffection and anger of millions of working class poor. Hammond has no intention of meeting any of his lofty campaign promises, and sees the Presidency itself as a bit of a lark. An ardent isolationist, he even jeers at the congratulatory telegrams sent to him by other world leaders ("Siam? Where's that?" he asks, in an early scene, prompting an easy comparison to our own geographically-challenged G.W. Bush, back in the days of the 2000 campaign...)

Everything changes, however, when Hammond has an automobile-related brush with death, and comes back from the brink with a newfound commitment to saving his fellow man. Initially his impulses are markedly Rooseveltian -- he asks Congress to authorize a gigantic public works program to get the working poor back on their feet, and fires any of his old cronies who object. Faced with a backlash from his own party, and legislative opposition in Congress, he counters the accusation that he seeks to become a tyrant by embracing the idea, claiming that a benevolent dictatorship is more moral than neglecting the interests of "the People." Later, as he confronts an ongoing wave of gangster-related violence, Hammond takes a can-do attitude, and annihilates a Mob boss who won't buckle under... The scene in which the criminal kingpin is sentenced to die is spectacularly fascistic: Hammond's aide-de-camp (played by an under-used Franchot Tone), dressed in a gleaming military outfit, sits behind a huge Greco-Roman, art deco tribunal bench, and ardently praises Hammond's ability to "cut through the red tape of legal procedures and get back to the first principles -- an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life." Finally, Hammond uses a gigantic display of American military power to blackmail and intimidate the other nations into disarming, summoning an apocalyptic (and sadly, somewhat prophetic) vision of the horrors that await the world if the arms race should continue.

The film is quite remarkable in its outright emulation of fascistic, authoritarian politics, and is unlike practically any other American political film of the era (which were much more prone to upholding the nation's fundamental democratic ideals). Still, it does capture the zeitgeist of the times -- the anxiety and desperation, the urge to find stability and salvation, and the fear of a renewed global war -- it just comes down on a side which didn't get much credence on this side of the Atlantic. Admittedly, this film is a dramatic failure -- for one thing, Huston was a horrid actor; and secondly the script is a bit brusque, talky and shrill -- but historically speaking, it's a fascinating document and deserves consideration in that regard. Those who see it as a parable for the New Deal are sadly mistaken, however -- I think the film's creators may have been far more enamored of Mussolini than they were of good old FDR, who actually did pull us back from the brink.

This is an amazing film, which should be viewed by every history student. Made shortly after the Crash, this film glorifies a despotic (and angel anointed) presidency that uses military might to further seemingly reasonable goals. And sure enough, the wish was granted in the election of an imperial president who ruled for 4 terms, tempered only by the checks and balances of the constitution. An remarkable example of the ability of cinema to tap into the dark dreams of a nation in crisis.