Thursday, July 5, 2012
State of the Union by Frank Capra, 1948 (NR)
with Charles Lane, Van Johnson, Katharine Hepburn, Angela Lansbury, Adolphe Menjou, Spencer Tracy, Lewis Stone, Howard Smith, Charles Dingle, Maidel Turner, Raymond Walburn, Margaret Hamilton, Art Baker, Pierre Watkin, Florence Auer
At the urging of power-hungry newspaper executive Kay Thorndyke (Angela Lansbury), industrialist Grant Matthews (Spencer Tracy) is persuaded to campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. To boost his public persona, Matthews reunites with his estranged wife (Katharine Hepburn). She quickly uncovers the corruption that's infected her once moral husband. Frank Capra directs this compelling adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
I loved the dialogues. There are witty, fast, intelligent, putting into context the movie in a perfect way, reminding us of a little history when the Republican were failing to be elected, and at the same time, developing on the power of the media, the politics, the failures of our election system with their primaries based on pressure and token of generous amounts. The movie reminded me of "Game Change" with Julianne Moore where we explore the pre-political campaign, the influence of the medias and the failure to be honest. In this story, the focus is on the relationship of Grant Matthews with his wife and lover, the game of influence that impact his career heading towards true belief of a Nation, and the political game of the Union representatives. Very Intelligent. I would love to mention on a lighter note how amazing Katharine Hepburn is at 41, she is beautiful as ever, with a great sense of fashion, elegant, feminine. She acts perfectly at all levels, whether as a hurt wife and mother, of as the perfect wife of the reckless kid in the first plane scene, with to me was hilarious, or drunken with a few glasses of I do not know what (the ones who drink it in the movie do not know either), and making great sense when it comes to practicality, from the beginning knowing her husband is into a run for president, by his side along the pre-campaign ect... The ending is a bit too hysterical, too much tears and screams, too much show, to much happy ending, but hey, those were the times, 1948 is about rebuilding our values in a world that just got out of a war.
Now I have got to watch "Ides of March", which apparently has a very similar topic...
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