Movies from the Heart—State of the Union

Last week we looked at a movie that came out just before WWII was shifting into high gear in Casablanca. This week we look at a movie that came out after the war, in 1948—State of the Union by Anthony Veiller and Myles Connolly, based on the Broadway play of the same name.

The plot is pretty straight-forward. A successful businessman is persuaded to run for the Republican nomination for President but, shocker, politics is tough. The irony is, if we were to remake the film today, some of the same themes the film touches on would be in our contemporary version of the film!

Take a look at a trailer for the film

In many ways, this film was pretty racy for its time. Grant and Mary Mathews have a fairly good marriage, but when politics enters the picture, things change. Grant begins an affair with his campaign manager, Kay Thorndyke and she is both a femme fatale and the villain of the piece. Kay has no scruples and thinks that Grant should do anything to win—after all, winning’s what it’s all about. But when Mary gets wind of some of what Kay has planned, she’s livid.

The title is a clever one, as State of the Union refers, of course to the country. What is the state of the union that is the United States? But it also refers to the marriage between Grant and Mary—what is the state of their union, of their marriage?

It’s hard to make a compelling film about politics. No matter whether you support democrats or republicans in your film, half of the political spectrum will feel they haven’t been fairly represented. Politics is all about taking sides—you can only vote for one candidate or the other—you have to make a choice. But filmmakers seriously don’t want to alienate half of their audience. So making a political film forces you to walk a fine line.

But it's not just about politics – this film also becomes a film about loyalty—to your country, of course, but also to your spouse.

Is the film dated? Sure. My favorite bit is a joke made at the expense of women. Someone talks about the possibility that a woman could run for president. And Mary, the wife of the piece, says that a woman could never run for president because she’d have to then admit that she was over 35.

A fun exercise, when looking at a film like this, is to imagine you’ve been given the task by the studio to remake it. How might you change it? How might you rework the characters and story so that the film could appeal to a contemporary audience?

In the case of The State of the Union I think you’d have a lot of possibilities—and you’d also have the chance to comment on the state of American politics, which could be fun! And to add the romance element to the film takes it from what could be a dry, rather predictable film, to one that’s rich in the human element. Romance and politics… hmmm… something to think about!

Next week a Christmas romance, The Shop Around the Corner.

Copyright © Diane Lake

17Dec23

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com