Wilson (1944-08-01)
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Directed By: Henry King
Star Cast: Alexander Knox , Geraldine Fitzgerald , Thomas Mitchell , Ruth Nelson ,
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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.