5.5
Summary
The political career of Woodrow Wilson is chronicled, beginning with his decision to leave his post at Princeton to run for Governor of New Jersey, and his subsequent ascent to the Presidency of the United States. During his terms in office, Wilson must deal with the death of his first wife, the onslaught of German hostilities leading to American involvement in the Great War, and his own country's reticence to join the League of Nations. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in 2006.
Cast
Alexander Knox
Woodrow Wilson
Geraldine Fitzgerald
Edith Bolling Galt
Thomas Mitchell
Joseph Tumulty
Ruth Nelson
Ellen Wilson
Cedric Hardwicke
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge
Charles Coburn
Professor Henry Holmes
Vincent Price
William Gibbs McAdoo
William Eythe
George Felton
Mary Anderson
Eleanor Wilson
Ruth Ford
Margaret Wilson
Sidney Blackmer
Josephus Daniels
Madeleine Forbes
Jessie Wilson
Stanley Ridges
Dr. Cary Grayson
Eddie Foy Jr.
Eddie Foy
Charles Halton
Colonel House
Thurston Hall
Senator Edward H. 'Big Ed' Jones
Marcel Dalio
Premier Georges Clemenceau
Katherine Locke
Helen Bones
Stanley Logan
Robert Lansing, Secretary of State
Edwin Maxwell
William Jennings Bryan
Paul Everton
Judge Westcott (uncredited)
J.M. Kerrigan
Edward Sullivan
James Rennie
Jim Beeker
Clifford Brooke
Prime Minister David Lloyd George
Tonio Selwart
Count Von Bernstorff
John Ince
Senator Watson
Charles Miller
Senator Bromfield
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks - at WWI Rally (archive footage) (uncredited)
John Hamilton
Legislator in Wilson's Office (uncredited)
Ian Wolfe
Reporter (uncredited)
Will Wright
Hughes Campaign Orator in Maine (uncredited)
Eddie Borden
Missouri Delegate (uncredited)
Gino Corrado
Italian Restaurant Waiter (uncredited)
John Davidson
Princeton Team Doctor (uncredited)
Edward Earle
Reporter (uncredited)
Sam Flint
Orator (uncredited)
William Forrest
Minor Role (uncredited)
Reed Hadley
White House Usher (uncredited)
Frank Orth
Smith (uncredited)
Emory Parnell
Chairman of Democratic Committee (uncredited)
Roy Roberts
Ike Hoover - Chief White House Butler (uncredited)
Ralph Sanford
Minor Role (uncredited)
William Yetter Sr.
German Delegate (uncredited)
Harry Carter
Secretary (uncredited)
Gladden James
Redfield (uncredited)
Walter Baldwin
Wilson Campaign Orator (uncredited)
Lester Dorr
Reporter (uncredited)
George Macready
William McCombs (uncredited)
Crew
Director
Henry King
Writer
Lamar Trotti
Reviews
Geronimo1967
June 30, 2022
6
Had they been contemporaries, one might be forgiven for thinking that Daryll F. Zanuck owed Woodrow Wilson quite a sum of money. The 28th President could hardly have written a more favourable biopic, had he penned it himself. Oscar nominated Alexander Knox is superbly cast, though, in this depiction of the rise of the academic, principled fellow to the White House. Insofar as history in concerned, however - it is pretty factually "loose", somewhat fanciful, and though an interesting assessment of America's leader during the latter stages of WWI - clearly a man of ideals and vision - the only thing it doesn't credit him with is the invention of the wheel. The production looks terrific. especially at the beginning when we are exposed to the hustings of his gubernatorial and then presidential campaigns, when the film is lively and energetic (assisted ably by Alfred Newman's score). Once ensconced in office, the pace slows to that of a snail in a bowl of treacle, and the melodrama of his rather tragic personal life ensures the story just becomes quite dull - more of a rose-tinted chronology. Brief interventions from Sir Cedric Hardwicke as arch-opponent Senator John Cabot Lodge help occasionally, but this is essentially a kindly, very long, retrospective on a man that is pretty much entirely intended for domestic, and sympathetic, consumption.
Media
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$2,995,000.00
Revenue:
$2,000,000.00
