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| Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn 's characters already have problems before he decides to run for president, in 1948's "State of the Union." |
State of the Union, successful in 1948, has been long considered
second-tier Frank Capra. Hard to top a string of hits from original material during
one's youth, for sure. Post-war, Capra questioned his place in movie making. He
turned out It's a Wonderful Life in
'46, not a smash but not the flop that legend has long claimed.
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| Frank Capra's "State of the Union" still has some pertinent political zingers! |
Noteworthy is the fact that State of the Union came from a 1945 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, from Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, the creators of Life with Father, among other hits.
Capra wasn't exactly slumming here! And this was a faithful rendition, with
plenty of its sharp political humor intact. Technically a Frank Capra Liberty
film, State of the Union was essentially
a MGM movie, with their contract talent. Metro head L.B. Mayer probably wouldn't have permitted all of this adult, liberal
material. Still, it reunited Tracy and Hepburn much more successfully than
the previous year’s soapy Sea of Grass,
directed by the young hotshot Elia Kazan.
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| The stars of Frank Capra's political comedy-drama, 1948's "State of the Union." L to R: Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson, & Angela Lansbury. |
State of the Union was filmed in the last quarter of
1947. Spencer Tracy was 47 and looked much older; Katharine Hepburn was 40 and
looked great onscreen, with the aid of MGM's glam squad. Then there’s
Angela Lansbury as the villainous other woman, who turned 22 during production!
Angela always looked older and was cast as such, though she could have been
cast as Tracy and Hepburn's daughter.
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| Spencer Tracy as self-made man and presidential hopeful Grant Matthews, in 1948's "State of the Union." |
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| Katharine Hepburn as Mary Matthews, the estranged "good wife" of Spencer Tracy's presidential candidate, in 1948's "State of the Union." |
Tracy is the beacon of decency as Grant Matthews, though that
light flickers a bit since he has had an affair with Angela Lansbury's Kay
Thorndyke. In his latest test of integrity, running for President, the
self-made man has a hard time not being made over by political hacks. Fear not,
Grant is played by Saint Spencer, who will come through it all, decency
intact.
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| Kate, fussing over Spence as usual, in 1948's "State of the Union." |
Hepburn plays her political wife well, though her '40s
woman, whose man has wronged her, feels that she deserves a kick in the pants... for not being unquestionably
loyal. I also didn't realize that Kate’s doting on Spence so slavishly onscreen
went back this far. Most movie fans eat it up, but I find it a bit
much. That said, Tracy and Hepburn perform with their usual
professionalism, intelligence, warmth, and wit as a couple who have had their
ups and downs.
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Angela Lansbury's performance as Kay Thorndyke steals the
show, from a cast at the top of their game. As a newspaper heiress, her Kay
wants to determine the next Republican presidential candidate. The ruthless
character is played with precision and no mercy, reminding me of Faye Dunaway's
mad programmer in 1976's Network.
As the malevolent political opportunist, Lansbury gets a
dress rehearsal for her classic political manipulator of nearly 15 years later,
in The Manchurian Candidate. And once
again, Angie was cast as much older. At 37, she was cast as Laurence Harvey's
mother!
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Lansbury's performance is extraordinary at such a young
age. And had it been an actual MGM movie, Angie might have scored a Best
Supporting Actress nomination. The film's opening scene, where Kay is saying
farewell to her dying news magnet father (an excellent Lewis Stone), is
chilling, and made me think of Bette Davis at her stone cold best.
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| Angela Lansbury as Kay Thorndyke, about to be come heir to her father's newspaper empire. With Lewis Stone in 1948's "State of the Union." |
Van Johnson, not a favorite of mine, is very good as a one
man Greek chorus of non-stop humorous sarcasm. As Spark, he has some of the
best lines in this movie, reacting to all the political monkey business. The
only scenes with Van that I didn't like was of the maid (Margaret Hamilton)
mooning over him, and Spark wincing in response—it seemed like a cheap shot at
her expense.
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| Van Johnson is Spark, the freckled Greek chorus of 1948's "State of the Union." |
Adolphe Menjou was famously a right-wing Republican, so he's
well-cast as Jim Conover, who only wants a candidate that will win. Menjou was
an expert actor in comedy and drama, and it's fascinating to watch him in
scenes with the famously liberal Hepburn.
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| Adolphe Menjou schools Katharine Hepburn & Spencer Tracy's characters on political realities, in 1948's "State of the Union." |
Frank Capra must have had a soft spot for Carl
"Alfalfa" Switzer. Capra gave the fading young star a fun bit in It's a Wonderful Life and a showy one in
State of the Union as the over-tipped
bellboy.
While some of the dialogue in State of the Union is dated, it makes you realize that nearly 80
years later, there's nothing new in the world’s second oldest profession!
Director Frank Capra is in good form here as a storyteller
and State of the Union is stylishly
done and moves at a good clip. Capra only goes Capra-corn when Tracy's idealist
waxes political and the about-face finale where Grant reclaims his integrity.
Corny, but Capra and the cast put it over.
It struck me as unbelievable that Kay Thorndyke would try to
shoehorn old flame Grant Matthews into a typical Republican candidate. By
this time, the actual party was becoming even more conservative and Grant's
political views were very liberal left. Kay may think she can tone down Grant's
pie in the sky liberalism, but the tough cookie should know better. BTW, director
Capra was a populist who later became a Republican.
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| Old flames in 1948's "State of the Union." Well, at least one was old! Spencer Tracy was 47 and Angela Lansbury was 23. |
The only scene I found flat-out too much was the flying
scene where Tracy goes all Top Gun
with a fellow pilot, capped by tubby, middle-aged Spence putting
on a parachute and leaping out of the plane. What a he-man!
State of the Union may be the first film to look at the packaging of a political candidate with the modern media of television. This State is not a classic, but classy entertainment boasting a great cast and a subject that never goes out of style.
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| Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn, on the set of 1948's comedy-drama, "State of the Union." |
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| MGM’s 1942 drama, Keeper of the Flame. |
MGM’s suspense story Keeper
of the Flame is one of two dramas that Spencer Tracy &
Katharine Hepburn made, from their nine films together. This is the story of a revered American hero who turns out to
be a cultish fascist. Spencer is the reporter on the story; Kate is the hero’s
widow. My take here:
https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2025/05/tracy-hepburn-team-in-rare-drama-keeper.html
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