Wilson (1944 film)
Wilson | |
---|---|
Directed by | Henry King |
Written by | Lamar Trotti |
Produced by | Darryl F. Zanuck |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Alfred Newman |
Color process | Technicolor |
Distributed by | 20th Century-Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 154 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $5.2 million[1] |
Box office | $3.103 million (U.S. and Canada rentals)[2] |
Wilson is a 1944 biographical film about Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States. Shot in Technicolor and directed by Henry King, the film stars Alexander Knox, Charles Coburn, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Thomas Mitchell, Ruth Nelson, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Vincent Price, William Eythe and Mary Anderson.
Wilson received critical acclaim, earning ten nominations at the
Plot
In 1909,
The U.S. is going through a progressive change in national politics and a split is developing in the Republican Party, providing a chance for Wilson to win on the Democratic ticket. He receives the party's nomination and wins the presidency in 1912. He pushes through a series of programs, called 'The New Freedom'. When World War I breaks out in Europe in 1914, Wilson tries to keep the U.S. neutral. At the same time, his wife Ellen dies of Bright's disease.
Early in 1915, at around the same time of the
President Wilson takes the issue to the people in a multi-state tour, but his health fails and days after returning to Washington, he suffers a stroke. Edith shields the president and screens visitors, leading some to question how powerful she is and how much Wilson is truly acting as president. In the end, Wilson recovers enough to see the election of Republican Warren G. Harding, who has promised to keep the country out of the League of Nations. As Wilson's administration ends, he laments his failure but remains hopeful that the League will, in some form or another, be successful in the future.
Cast
- Alexander Knox as Woodrow Wilson
- Charles Coburn as Professor Henry Holmes
- Edith Wilson
- Thomas Mitchell as Joseph Tumulty
- Ruth Nelson as Ellen Wilson
- Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Senator Henry Cabot Lodge
- Vincent Price as William G. McAdoo
- William Eythe as George Felton
- Eleanor Wilson
- Ruth Ford as Margaret Wilson
- Sidney Blackmer as Josephus Daniels
- Madeleine Forbes as Jessie Wilson
- Admiral Grayson
- Eddie Foy
- Charles Halton as Colonel House
- Thurston Hall as Senator E.H. Jones
- J. M. Kerrigan as Edward Sullivan
- James Rennie as Jim Beeker
- Katherine Locke as Helen Bones
- Stanley Logan as Robert Lansing
- Marcel Dalio as Georges Clemenceau
- Edwin Maxwell as William Jennings Bryan
- Clifford Brooke as David Lloyd George
- Count Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff
- John Ince as Senator Watson
- Charles Miller as Senator Bromfield
- Francis X. Bushman as Bernard Baruch (uncredited)
- Davison Clark as Champ Clark (uncredited)
- Eula Morgan as Singer (uncredited)
Production
Development
Wilson was initially intended as a historical drama about a fictional American family living during the Progressive Era before being rewritten by Lamar Trotti into a biopic about Woodrow Wilson.[3] Wilson's daughter, Eleanor Wilson McAdoo, served as an informal counselor.[5] Journalist Ray Stannard Baker, an authority on Wilson, served as an adviser.
Casting
Before Knox was cast as Wilson,
Filming
With a budget of $5.2 million, Wilson was the most expensive film produced by Fox at that time. Much of the budget went to constructing accurate and detailed sets for
Reception
Box office
Wilson was promoted by the NBC Blue Network radio show Hall of Fame Broadcast with a radio adaptation of sections of the script.[3]
Wilson reportedly lost $2 million for Fox.[7] Ticket sales were damaged due to the United States Department of War prohibiting the film's exhibition on Armed Forces bases during World War II under provisions of the Soldier Voting Act against the screening of political material that could influence elections such as the ones about to be held on November 7, 1944.
Reception
The film received generally positive reviews[8] but was not without its detractors. The New Republic film critic Manny Farber was particularly unenthusiastic, calling the production "costly, tedious and impotent" while writing: "The effect of the movie is similar to the one produced by the sterile post-card albums you buy in railroad stations, which unfold like accordions and show you the points of interest in the city ... The producers must have known far more about the World War, the peace-making at Versailles, and Wilson himself, but that is kept out of the movie in the same way that slum sections are kept out of post-card albums ... About three-quarters of the way through, a large amount of actual newsreel from the first World War is run off and the strength of it makes the film that comes before and after seem comical."[9]
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a protege of Wilson's, screened the film for guests at the Second Quebec Conference in 1944. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, however, was no fan. He excused himself in the middle of the film and went to bed.
Awards
Despite the negative press and lackluster commercial performance, the film received ten nominations at the 17th Academy Awards, winning five:
- Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color (Wiard Ihnen and Thomas Little)
- Best Cinematography, Color (Leon Shamroy)
- Best Film Editing (Barbara McLean)
- Best Sound, Recording (E. H. Hansen)
- Best Writing, Original Screenplay (Lamar Trotti)[10][4]
Wilson was also nominated for:
- Best Picture (Darryl F. Zanuck)
- Best Director (Henry King)
- Best Actor in a Leading Role (Alexander Knox)
- Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (Alfred Newman)
- Best Effects, Special Effects (Fred Sersen and Roger Heman Sr.)
Preservation
The Academy Film Archive preserved Wilson in 2006.[11]
References
- ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1.
- ^ "All-time Film Rental Champs". Variety. October 15, 1990.
- ^ a b c d e f "Wilson". AFI Catalog. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
- ^ a b Erickson, Hal (2013). "Wilson (1944) – Review Summary". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
- ^ Knock, Thomas J. "History with Lightning": The Forgotten Film Wilson. American Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 5 (Winter, 1976), pp. 523–543
- ISBN 9780786454723. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
- ^ "You Can Sell Almost Anything", Variety 20 March 1946
- ^ Codevilla, Angelo (2010-07-16) America's Ruling Class Archived 2011-02-25 at the Wayback Machine The American Spectator
- ^ Farber, Manny, The New Republic, August 14, 1944
- ^ "The 17th Academy Awards (1945) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
- ^ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.
External links
- Wilson at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Wilson at IMDb
- Wilson at AllMovie
- Wilson at the TCM Movie Database
- Wilson at Rotten Tomatoes