tavm After so many years of only knowing about this film bio of the 28th President of the United States, I finally got to see this on YouTube just now in honor of Presidents Day. It begins in 1909 when Woodrow Wilson was just president of Princeton as he's watching the college football game in which Yale is defeating his team in Princeton's home turf. From there, some men arrive to offer him a chance to run for governor of New Jersey which he wins. It then covers both of his terms of being president during which his first wife dies before courting and marrying another, he reluctantly enters his country in World War I, and then tries to form a lasting peace with other countries by forming the League of Nations. Despite the 2 and a half hour running time, I was enthralled by the whole thing while also being aware of it glossing over some of the not-so-good-things about Wilson like his attitude about blacks not unlike those of others raised in the South like him. Alexander Knox seemed really authoritative in taking on the role. So on that note, I recommend Wilson. P.S. Since I always like to cite when players from my favorite movie-It's a Wonderful Life-are in other films, here it's Thomas Mitchell-Uncle Billy there-and Charles Halton-Mr. Carter there-who appear as Joseph Tumulty and Colonel House, respectively. By the way, they have contact in this movie unlike in IAWL!

reisen55 Zanuck - his name is all over this bio-pic of Wilson, and he was heavily invested in both the war waging at that time and a peaceful future, as advocated by Wilkie's book ONE WORLD. The budget was lavish for the film and Knox was perfect, as was the rest of the cast. Many reviews are more negative and I tend to agree. Certainly Wilson has his bad aspects to the story, most of which were not known in 1944 and, besides, 2 hours is an indecent limit of time to pose on a biography of anybody. It can't be done, but some do it better than others. Zanuck tried to get it right and succeeded on some levels as above. He violated, though, Capra's singular rule of film-making: boredom. The film has zero visual movement, takes run long and dynamic it is not. Zanuck was too close to his subject to see this flaw. It is worth the view to see the performances and learn about an interesting President, one for the shelf and to be watched when the interest is up.

jvillar-77-736261 Described by the great British actor Roddy McDowall as "pure chloroform" it is not too difficult to see why a bio of the the most sociopathic and racist president in U.S. history since Jackson would put you to sleep - you edit out all the evil episodes of this freak's life and you end up with a snoozer. Woody got a break when he dropped dead in 1924, he didn't live long enough to see the judgment of Nuremberg. Strip out the racism, the segregation of the Army, the callous disregard of the rioting of the Red Summer of 1919, when this piece of human garbage stood by and did nothing while thousands of Americans were murdered in the streets. What's left? Only boredom. It's the best obituary this of trash could have hoped for, this man who , to paraphrase Churchill, represented the one of the most "discreditable" periods in American history.

jacabiya This is a film I've wanted to see for a long time since it was nominated for best picture and won a bunch of Oscars in 1944 (in what may be considered one of the weakest years for the Oscar with "Going My Way" winning best film (over the great "Double Indemnity") and Bing Crosby winning best actor). Worldwide as well this was not a great year, as I could only find "A Canterbury Tale", "Ivan the Terrible" and "Henry the V" as memorable films made that year (you could add "Laura" and a couple of Preston Sturges comedies. Blame it on the war). I was also interested in watching a color film made in 1944 in order to compare it with the great British color films made at that time. All in all, the cinematography was very good but the film was dull as hell, I suppose because Wilson was boring as hell and was interpreted by Alexander Knox who gave a performance boring as hell. I heard Henry Fonda was considered for the part and that would have certainly helped the quality of the film and its box office, which was terrible. Regarding historical accuracy, I leave that to others who have studied the matter.