Archive of films Advise & Consent / Advise & Consent
USA
1962, 139 min
Section:
Tribute to Otto Preminger
Year: 2016
A fundamental film on the American political system, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, takes a fascinating plunge into the world of intrigue and manipulation within the United States Senate. Will Secretary of State nominee Mr. Leffingwell (Henry Fonda) be confirmed over the calculated objections of Southern Senator Cooley (Charles Laughton) and his gang?
Synopsis
Preminger’s adaptation of the bestseller that won Allen Drury the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for fiction proved to be last century’s most remarkable film about American politics. The American president is convinced that Robert Leffingwell (Henry Fonda) is the best candidate possible to fill the suddenly vacated post of Secretary of State. The confirmation process by the Senate is no mere formality; a subcommittee appointed to evaluate the nominee discovers the dark side of Leffingwell’s past: ties to the Communist Party. The subsequent investigation and the attendant motives mustered from outside the capital represent the best of Preminger’s trademark directorial style. His examination of the procedures of fundamental American institutions, at first glance starkly analytical and surgically precise, offers up a fascinating group character study of senators for whom manipulation and intrigue are their stock in trade. The Senate chamber through the eyes of close cooperator Sam Leavitt – who uses long uninterrupted tracking shots to coolly yet intently focus on the action – naturally conforms to the parameters of a theater stage, while acting icons Charles Laughton and Walter Pidgeon turn in the requisite “histrionic” performances as a pair of worldly-wise politicians.
Karel Och
Contacts
Hollywood Classics
Suite 31, Beaufort Court, Admirals Way, E14 9XL, London
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 207 517 7525
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.hollywoodclassics.com
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Film Archive
1313 Vine Street, 90028, Beverly Hills
United States of America
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.oscars.org
About the film
Black & white, 35 mm
Section: | Tribute to Otto Preminger |
---|---|
Director: | Otto Preminger |
Screenplay: | Wendell Mayes podle románu / based on the novel by Allen Drury |
Dir. of Photography: | Sam Leavitt |
Music: | Jerry Fielding |
Editor: | Louis R. Loeffler |
Art Director: | Lyle Wheeler, Eli Benneche |
Producer: | Otto Preminger |
Production: | Sigma Productions, Alpha Alpina |
Cast: | Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Don Murray, Franchot Tone, Lew Ayres, Walter Pidgeon, Peter Lawford |
Sales: | Hollywood Classics |
Contact: | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Film Archive |