| Wilson | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Henry King |
| Written by | Lamar Trotti |
| Produced by | Darryl F. Zanuck |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Leon Shamroy |
| Edited by | Barbara McLean |
| Music by | Alfred Newman |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century-Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 154 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5.2 million[1] |
| Box office | $3.103 million (U.S. and Canada rentals)[2] |
Wilson is a 1944 Americanbiographical film aboutWoodrow Wilson, the 28thpresident of the United States. Shot inTechnicolor and directed byHenry King, the film starsAlexander Knox,Charles Coburn,Geraldine Fitzgerald,Thomas Mitchell,Ruth Nelson,Sir Cedric Hardwicke,Vincent Price,William Eythe andMary Anderson.Darryl F. Zanuck, then head of20th Century-Fox, was an ardent admirer of Wilson and personally oversaw production.Character actor Alexander Knox was cast in a rare leading role as Wilson.
Wilson received critical acclaim, earning ten nominations at the17th Academy Awards and winning five, includingBest Writing, Original Screenplay. However, it was abox office bomb due to its unusually high budget.[3] Zanuck was so disappointed over the failure of the film that for years he forbade Fox employees from mentioning the film in his presence.[4]
In 1909,Woodrow Wilson is the president ofPrinceton University and the author of several books on thedemocratic process. The localDemocratic Partypolitical machine convinces him to run forgovernor of New Jersey. After he wins theelection in 1910, Wilson proves himself independent of the machine and its interests, fighting for progressive causes.
The U.S. is going through a progressive change in national politics and a split is developing in theRepublican Party, providing a chance for Wilson to win on theDemocratic ticket. He receivesthe party's nomination andwins the presidency in 1912. He pushes through a series of programs, called 'The New Freedom'. WhenWorld War I breaks out inEurope in 1914, Wilson tries to keep the U.S. neutral. At the same time, his wifeEllen dies ofBright's disease.
Early in 1915, at around the same time of thesinking of the RMSLusitania, he meetsEdith Bolling Galt, aWashington D.C. widow, whom he marries in December 1915. He winsreelection in 1916, and as he starts his second term, the war finally comes to America. In 1918, theAllies defeat theCentral Powers, and Wilson travels to France to have a hand in theParis Peace Conference. He intends to establish his long-promisedLeague of Nations, but many Republican senators, includingHenry Cabot Lodge, feel the president is leaving the United States vulnerable to future wars, and decide to block whatever treaty he brings back.
President Wilson takes the issue to the people in a multi-state tour, but his health fails and days after returning to Washington, he suffers astroke. Edith shields the president and screens visitors, leading some to question how powerful she is and how much Wilson is truly acting as president. In the end, Wilson recovers enough to see the election of RepublicanWarren G. Harding, who has promised to keep the country out of the League of Nations. As Wilson's administration ends, he laments his failure but remains hopeful that the League will, in some form or another, be successful in the future.
Wilson was initially intended as a historical drama about a fictional American family living during theProgressive Era before being rewritten by Lamar Trotti into a biopic about Woodrow Wilson.[3] Wilson's daughter,Eleanor Wilson McAdoo, served as an informal counselor.[10] JournalistRay Stannard Baker, an authority on Wilson, served as an adviser.
Before Knox was cast as Wilson,Ronald Colman andFrank Conroy were considered.Claudette Colbert was also considered for one of Wilson's wives.[3]Dwight Frye was cast as Secretary of WarNewton D. Baker but died of aheart attack on November 7, 1943, a few days prior to his filming start.[11]Ernest Palmer was hired as cinematographer but had to be replaced byLeon Shamroy after falling ill, whileJames Basevi quit as art director due to disagreements with the rest of the crew.[3]
With a budget of $5.2 million,Wilson was the most expensive film produced by Fox at that time. Much of the budget went to constructing accurate and detailed sets forWhite House locations such as theEast Room, theBlue Room, theOval Office and theLincoln Bedroom. Scenes of theDemocratic National Convention were shot atShrine Auditorium in Los Angeles while scenes set at Princeton were shot on-location inTrenton,New Jersey. Other scenes were shot at theBiltmore Theater in Los Angeles;Pueblo, Colorado; and Midwick Country Club inAlhambra, California.[3]
Wilson was promoted by theNBC Blue Networkradio showHall of Fame Broadcast with a radio adaptation of sections of the script.[3]
Wilson reportedly lost $2 million for Fox.[12] Ticket sales were damaged due to theUnited States Department of War prohibiting the film's exhibition onArmed Forces bases duringWorld War II under provisions of theSoldier Voting Act against the screening of political material that could influenceelections such as theones about to be held on November 7, 1944.
The film's unusually high budget (US$5,200,000, equal to about US$90,000,000 today) caused 20th Century-Fox to ask a much higher rental price and an unusually high percentage of each admission, as confirmed byVariety: "Twentieth-Fox's deal onWilson will call for advanced scales of 76c matinees and $1.10 evenings. Terms onWilson, for which 20th is seeking quick release and dating, will be 60% straight from the first dollar but with a guarantee of 15% profit to the theatre. Twentieth-Fox will also demand extended playing time onWilson."[13] Theaters that usually charged 25 cents admission were forced to charge Fox's stipulated $1.10 admission (US$19.95 in 2025) forWilson,[14] keeping customers away in droves.
The film received generally positive reviews[15] but was not without its detractors.The New Republic film criticManny Farber was particularly unenthusiastic, calling the production "costly, tedious and impotent" while writing: "The effect of the movie is similar to the one produced by the sterile post-card albums you buy in railroad stations, which unfold like accordions and show you the points of interest in the city ... The producers must have known far more about the World War, the peace-making at Versailles, and Wilson himself, but that is kept out of the movie in the same way that slum sections are kept out of post-card albums ... About three-quarters of the way through, a large amount of actual newsreel from the first World War is run off and the strength of it makes the film that comes before and after seem comical."[16] InThe Nation in 1944, criticJames Agee wrote, "No matter how friendly I feel towardWilson and the people who made it, any such review would amount chiefly to a specification of occupational psychosis. With the best intentions in the world, Hollywood took a character and a theme of almost Shakespearian complexity and grandeur, and reduced the character to an astutely played liberal assistant professor of economics; the theme to a few generalizations which every schoolboy has half-forgotten ... Every major problem, opportunity, and responsibility which the picture set its makers was, in other words, flunked—now through timidity, again through habitual half-blindness, and most of all perhaps through the desire to sell and ingratiate and essentially to render a two-and-a-half-hour apology for one sustained impulse of daring and disinterestedness."[17]
PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt, a protege of Wilson's, screened the film for guests at theSecond Quebec Conference in 1944. British Prime MinisterWinston Churchill, however, was no fan. He excused himself in the middle of the film and went to bed.
Despite lackluster commercial performance, the film received ten nominations at the17th Academy Awards, winning five:
Wilson was also nominated for:
TheAcademy Film Archive preservedWilson in 2006.[19]
Jess Lee Brooks, 50, Negro stage and screen player, died Dec. 13 when stricken with a heart attack while driving to Paramount studio where he had a character role in 'The Lost Weekend.' [...] His recent screen appearances were in 'Sullivan's Travels' and 'Wilson.'
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