State of the Union (1948)

Where did this come from? Being unheard of for so many years I fully expected either a load of rubbish or a press & politically sabotaged surprise. It turns out to be both. Clearly based on a stage production (and a successful one) the movie also feels too much like a filmed play. Technically it's both big-budget-slick, and messy. It also looks as if it might have been tampered with after the completion of the initial edit - with some of the worst continuity cuts seen in a major release or maybe they had trouble with Tracy's drinking and lines?? The movie is politically on target as would be expected from Mr Capra and reminds us of the present day arena. Tends to suggest the Democrats remain as out for themselves as ever while the common worker gets shafted. This picture is not treated as 'idealistically' as earlier politically themed Capra shows but, it does suffer with going on for too long. It also suffers with some eye-rolling poor technical details - such as some hi-jinks in a light plane with Tracy in the pilot seat. Performances are all top notch with many classic faces from the era but the length makes the staginess seem even more apparent. Some knowledge of American political history would help keep up with the one liners and comments that flow freely. Seems Katharine Hepburn took over from Claudette Colbert at the last minute but, as she'd been assisting Tracy with his rehearsals was already up to speed. A 23 yr old Angela Lansbury makes for a formidable newspaper heiress out to ruin the aspirations of Tracy's candidature and would imagine that John Frankenheimer or his casting agent would have seen this performance before casting her in The Manchurian Candidate. 'Union' is harder to settle into than other Capra offerings, but interesting for its observations of the day and how some still hold true.

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!"

Recently, I saw the Broadway revival of Gore Vidal's "The Best Man", a 1960 play about a presidential convention overrun with scandal concerning secrets of two candidates. The head of the women's division in that play was portrayed by Angela Lansbury who 64 years before played the head of a powerful newspaper manipulating, err.. supporting Spencer Tracy for the Republican Nomination. (That was before the term "Republican" became a dirty word...) In between this movie (based upon a hit Broadway play that was still running when this movie was released) and that Broadway play, she played another political power, albeit a viperously evil one, in John Frankenheimer's extremely controversial "The Manchurian Candidate". So the world of politics has really turned for this magnificent actress who wouldn't become the huge star she is today until a certain Broadway musical and later a smash hit TV series made her a house-hold name.It is insinuated that Lansbury has been "the other woman" in the marriage of Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, the model couple with two adorable children. Once, in fact, it is said that Hepburn threw Lansbury out of their house. So now Lansbury, as the deviously intelligent Kay Thorndyke, has taken over her late father's newspaper, and convinces political bigwig Adolph Menjou that Tracy is their puppet..I mean, man. Knowing that an underlying element of scandal is afoot concerning Lansbury and Tracy, Menjou insists that Hepburn support her husband, becoming more of an Eleanor Roosevelt than a Bess Truman. Tracy is the honest sort, an older version of director Frank Capra's previous heroes Mr. Deeds and Mr. Smith, although Lansbury is extremely close to Jean Arthur's Babe in "Mr. Deeds" and Barbara Stanwyck's Ann Mitchell, perhaps a bit more crafty and self-serving. Hepburn comes off like Donna Reed's wife in "It's a Wonderful Life", exploding when she needs to, particularly a wonderful drunken bit at a party where she must try and be cordial to Lansbury.The wonderful supporting cast can't be topped; In addition to those I've mentioned, there are wonderful performances by Lewis Stone (in a cameo as Lansbury's dying father), Van Johnson (as the typical grinning "fair-haired" boy, Lansbury's ace reporter with mixed loyalties), Charles Lane, and the wonderful Margaret Hamilton who shines as the flirtatious maid with a crush on Johnson. Some other less known faces have magnificent moments too, particularly Maidel Turner as a judge's wife with a taste for booze; Raymond Walburn (a Capra regular) as the buffoon judge; and Florence Auer as a larger-than-life supporter of Tracy's campaign (as long as her agenda is met). Irving Bacon is hysterically funny as the bartender in the party sequence with a justified mistrust of Lansbury.Most Capra films were often dramas with bits of comedy thrown in (to take away the sentimentality of the plots, hence the term "Capra-Corn") and this film is no exception. Probably one of the best known sequences of this film is the aviation scene where Tracy and a pilot pal show off their flying skills. Johnson prepares to get sick as the plane does loopty-loops while Hepburn simply knits. This adds a more human touch to Tracy's character so when he starts to get sidetracked by Lansbury's manipulations, you'll root for him to find his way back.In this year of an election, some might call these political dramas of a different time quite dated. Yes, if you take away the cell phones, blogs, tweets, over-abundance of social media that can destroy a candidate before they even have a chance to defend themselves, they are dated. But seeing them is a reminder of while they were still ruthless and sometimes deadly, there was still more truth and honesty than there is today. Tracy's speech towards the end is up there with his beautiful soliloquy at the end of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner". Hepburn, the Meryl Streep of her day, proves that while she may be known to everybody else as just a wife and mother, she's got a lot more in her than everybody (especially Lansbury) believed. I think this is perhaps Lansbury's finest screen performance while at MGM (certainly her best photographed), but the Oscars tended not to acknowledge villains all that much. Lansbury's well-dressed viper is up there along with Gale Sondergaard for her sometimes quiet calculated cat-like manner. She would be a check-mark on my ballot box for this performance any day.

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.