Gabriel Over the White House (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Feb 27, 2025
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
Gregory La CavaRelease Date(s)
1933 (January 28, 2025)Studio(s)
Cosmopolitan Productions/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Warner Archive Collection)- Film/Program Grade: B+
- Video Grade: A-
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: B-
Review
Downright bizarre, the pre-Code Gabriel Over the White House (1933) is one of the strangest films ever produced during the classical Hollywood era. A political drama-cum-religious film ultimately advocating fascism, the only other movie that comes close to its cross-eyed politics is the hysterical anticommunist sci-fi religious epic Red Planet Mars (1952). That, however, was a low-budget film that played the B-circuit, while Gabriel was produced in association with MGM, the biggest of the majors. With its long-winded speechifying and clumsy, last-minute retooling, as entertainment it’s not very good, but as an artifact of the Great Depression it’s endlessly fascinating.
At the height of the Great Depression, with millions out of work and the country besieged by organized crime violence, corrupt, newly-elected U.S. President Judd Hammond (Walter Huston) settles into his new job with absolutely no intention of tackling the national emergency, preferring to play with his young nephew (Dickie Moore) instead of monitoring the plans of John Bronson (David Landau) to lead an army of the homeless to march on Washington. “Beek” Beekman (Franchot Tone) settles in as his wide-eyed secretary, unshaken when Hammond hires his mistress, “Pendie” Molloy (Karen Morley), as Beek’s assistant.
After wrecking his car, Hammond is near death when, apparently, his body and mind are possessed by the archangel Gabriel—this is never explicitly stated, and never does Gabriel himself appear in any form. Yet, unaccountably, Hammond recovers, albeit with an (inconsistent) ashen pallor. Completely reversing himself, he vows to put the homeless to work, end racketeering (the primary gangster a grotesque Italian stereotype), and asks Congress for billions in aid. When they refuse, he declares martial law. Hammond now a virtual dictator, many in Congress are appalled by this attack on democracy, but as far as Hammond is concerned, he who saves his country does not violate any law.
Soon enough, Hammond assembles an SS-like goon squad, enthusiastically led by Beekman, to round up and execute the racketeers, while the President threatens the rest of the world to cough up the money on past debts or face annihilation from America’s supposedly superior air power.
The schizophrenic politics of Gabriel Over the White House is perhaps best explained by noting that it was produced by tycoon William Randolph Hearst’s Cosmopolitan Productions, the film production arm of his media empire. Hearst, like Charles Foster Kane, was a man of contradictions: he supported the rise of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party (as would Orson Welles’s Kane) but, surprisingly, for a brief period was an ardent supporter of Franklin Roosevelt. During the 1932 Presidential election, with incumbent Herbert Hoover historically unpopular due to the crashing economy, Hearst initially opposed Roosevelt as the Democratic nominee, preferring Texan John Nance “Cactus Jack” Garner III, but when Roosevelt won the nomination, Hearst had enough influence to ensure Garner as Roosevelt’s running mate. Hearst apparently believed Roosevelt would be more conservative than he turned out to be, and became one of the new President’s most powerful enemies from 1935 onward.
Roosevelt was inaugurated on March 4, 1933, with Hearst positing Gabriel Over the White House as, apparently, his vision of what form that administration might/should look like. Production began in February 1932, with the original intended cut, running 102 minutes, reviewed by Variety at the end of December that year. MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer, a conservative Republican and Hoover supporter, was horrified, and ordered cuts and retooling of other scenes. When the film was finally released at the end of March 1933, Roosevelt was already in the White House while La Cava’s film had been reedited to a brisk 87 minutes.
While the possessed Hammond in some respects anticipates Roosevelt’s democratic socialism, this quickly gives way to Nazi-esque fascism complete with sham trials and mass executions, Hammond’s ends always justifying his means. The ending unambiguously positions him as a great man sacrificing his all to save his country. Although the picture was modestly successful, critics and audience didn’t buy its message, and the movie was quickly forgotten. Except, maybe, as a most peculiar time capsule of its tumultuous era.
Warner Archive’s Blu-ray of Gabriel Over the White House looks great for an early-‘30s big studio release. Despite all the post-production tinkering, the film has handsome, if not especially elaborate production values and the black-and-white 1.37:1 standard image is generally free of obvious damage and wear. The DTS-HD 2.0 mono is also good for its vintage, and optional English subtitles are provided on this region-free disc.
Extras are limited to three black-and-white cartoons: Bosko in Person, Buddy’s Beer Garden, and The Dish Ran Away With the Spoon. Warner Bros’s cartoon department still a long way from establishing its unique sense of humor, and these shorts are basically sub-par imitators of Walt Disney’s better-animated cartoons, Disney only beginning to move away from its crude barnyard humor.
Gabriel Over the White House, wearing its politics on its sleeve, isn’t much as entertainment, but as a document of its era, it’s quite fascinating and recommended.
- Stuart Galbraith IV