STATE OF THE UNION takes several elements into consideration in 124 zippy minutes; satire, relationship drama and time capsule, with the title dual-referring to the marital troubles of the two lead characters and to the strength and weakness of the body politic they’re part of, the good ol’ USA in 1948.  It not just offered smart and fun entertainment but took the erratic national pulse and became the year’s 10th most popular picture. Going on eighty years later, with the population increased by 140%, hundred of trillions of dollars burned thru, wars galore and 21 administrations riding the teeter-totter it remains relevant, happily for the skilled and amusing delivery, sadly for its look in our mirror.  *

“You politicians have stayed professionals only because the voters have remained amateurs.”

Three years after taking charge, FDR heir Harry Truman is in the White House, but the Republican high command smells Democratic blood in the tea leaves. Hoping to return the New Deal ran into the Old Steal, the reins of power to conservatives, newspaper publisher ‘Kay Thorndyke’ (Angela Lansbury), right-wing, rich and ruthless, lines up veteran Republican strategist ‘Jim Conover’ (Adolphe Menjou) and snappy campaign manager ‘Spike McManus’ (Van Johnson) to help convince aircraft tycoon ‘Grant Matthews’ (Spencer Tracy) to run for President. Persuading Grant is one thing, having him fall and stay in line another. There is also the pesky issue of his wife ‘Mary’ (Katharine Hepburn); the couple are at a rocky place in their marriage, not least because Grant had/has? an ongoing thing with the coolly calculating Kay. Will the maverick Mathews stay true to his principles (let alone his principal partner) when power, glory and fate are at stake? Who’ll get what out of the campaign, win or lose? Oh, and what about “The People”? Yeah, mac—the ‘us’ part of U.S. In the picking and choosing of our health, wealth and future, do we figure much? Any?

A cinch deal for Frank Capra, who, though a political conservative, had brilliantly directed ‘Common Man Decency vs. The Greed Creed’ classics like Mr. Deeds Goes To Town, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington and Meet John Doe. With William Wyler and George Stevens he’d also formed Liberty Films, an independent hoping to break free from the control grip of studio czars. Liberty dissolved (no kiddin’) in 1951 having produced just two movies: It’s A Wonderful Life, which bled red ink at the box office (deification came later) and this show, which socked its $2,439,000 cost with a gross of $9,200,000. The source was a 1945 play written by Russel Crouse and Howard Lindsay that ran 765 performances and walked off with a Pulitzer Prize. Myles Connolly and Anthony Veiller adapted it into a screenplay, moving up the dateline the time of Truman’s go for a second term.

“I haven’t enjoyed myself this much since Huey Long died!”

Tracy (47, everyone’s first choice for the role) is in great form as the decent yet flawed and malleable hero/patsy, and Spence’s not-so-secret partner Hepburn, 40, is excellent as the loyal/wounded wife, dialing back her forcefulness to convincingly suggest that Mary might be outmatched by the devious Kay. Just 22 but keenly mature, Lansbury proves fully up to the mark against established top-drawer stars. Johnson is in voluble joker mode, and Menjou (right-wing zealot offscreen) attacks his party animal with energetic keeps. Assorted back-slappers, connivers and rats in suits are cut to fit by Charles Dingle, Howard Smith, Lewis Stone, Raymond Walburn and Florence Auer. The pace is swift, the editing sharp, the jokes are funny, the dramatic moments telling. It was topical as heck at the time, name-dropping Truman and pols and would-be’s of the day like Dewey, Stassen, Eisenhower and MacArthur—those who remember know who they were: others ought to look ’em up ( in Ike’s case, look up to them). Though the people portrayed in the movie are mostly Republicans (as they used to be) and though he’s kidded by them, Truman was encouraged by the film: no doubt Menjou and those on his side of the divide had apoplexy when the derided Harry surprise-clobbered expected winner Dewey. Also a plus is that the script doesn’t simply b-slap politicians, it pleads with the herd to wake up and pay friggin’ attention.

“Oh, that’s silly. No woman could ever run for President. She’d have to admit she’s over 35.”

With Margaret Hamilton (a sweet hotel maid who’s sweet on Van), Maidel Turner (a Dixie Dem hootin’ up a storm over repeat rounds of Sazeracs), Pierre Watkin (as a slime, literally rubbing his hands together), Maurice Cass, Irving Bacon, Charles Lane (of course), Carl Switzer, Tom Fadden, Tom Pedi, Dave Willock and Stanley Andrews. Look fast for Arthur O’Connell, 39, ten years in and still uncredited).

* State of Shock—eight decades have rocketed by since this movie came out, fourteen Presidents come & gone (or refusing to go) and much of the deserved scorn and wishful hoping that was in the script has remained locked in place. Not enough, our political/social/public/brotherly/familial discourse has degenerated into vicious, sickening farce. Where is Spencer Tracy when we need him? “I’m going to tell them that the wealthiest nation in the world is a failure unless it’s also the healthiest nation in the world. That means the highest medical care for the lowest income groups… And I’m going to tell them the American dream is not making money. It is the wellbeing and the freedom of the individual throughout the world, from Patagonia to Detroit… And I’m going to tell them there’s only one government which is capable of handling the atomic control, world disarmament, world employment, world peace, and that’s a world government. The people of 13 states started the United States of America. Well, I think the people of that many nations are now ready to start a United States of the World, and I mean a UNITED states of the World, with one bill of rights, one international law, one international currency, one international citizenship, and I’m going to tell them that the brotherhood of man is not just an idealistic dream, but a practical necessity if man is going to survive.”

I miss my parents more than I can say, but am thankful they didn’t live to see what has happened to us.