The Gorgeous Hussy | |
---|---|
![]() Original film poster | |
Directed by | Clarence Brown |
Written by | Stephen Morehouse Avery Ainsworth Morgan |
Based on | The Gorgeous Hussy 1934 novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams |
Produced by | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
Starring | Joan Crawford Robert Taylor Lionel Barrymore Franchot Tone |
Cinematography | George J. Folsey |
Edited by | Blanche Sewell |
Music by | Herbert Stothart |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 103 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,119,000 [1] |
Box office | $2,019,000 [1] |
The Gorgeous Hussy is a 1936 American period film directed by Clarence Brown, and starring Joan Crawford and Robert Taylor. The screenplay was written by Stephen Morehouse Avery and Ainsworth Morgan, which was based on a 1934 novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams. The supporting cast includes Lionel Barrymore and James Stewart.
The film's plot tells a fictionalized account of President of the United States Andrew Jackson and an innkeeper's daughter, Peggy O'Neal. Peggy O'Neill had a central role in the Petticoat affair that disrupted the cabinet of Andrew Jackson. [2]
In 1823 Washington D.C., Major O'Neal and his daughter Margaret "Peggy" O'Neal run an inn that is frequented by politicians. Peggy is outspoken for a woman of her time, and when Tennessee senator Andrew Jackson visits, she affectionately refers to him as "Uncle Andy."
Peggy is secretly in love with the well-known Virginia senator John Randolph, but her feelings are seemingly unrequited. When new inn resident "Beau" Timberlake refers to Peggy as a "tavern girl" while drinking, John slaps him in defense of Peggy. Beau soon falls in love with Peggy himself and proposes, but she refuses, because her affections are reserved for John. John spurns her advances, thinking that she is too young and does not really mean it, but begins to have a change of heart. When he finally realizes that they are both in love, however, he learns from Beau that Peggy has finally consented to marry him. Peggy again talks to John about their future, but John again rejects her, thinking that the younger Beau would be a more suitable husband.
On the night of their marriage, "Uncle Andy" hears a commotion in their room, and can't believe that Beau and Peggy are married. Instead of reading their marriage license, Beau shows Peggy his orders. He must leave for a three-month tour of duty aboard the USS Constitution the next day. However, when Constitution returns to Washington, Peggy learns that Beau has died when his men lost track of him.
In 1828, John returns from being the minister to Russia. Peggy is excited to see him, and he tells her how unhappy he was so far from Washington. At the same time, Jackson is elected U.S. president amid a campaign of verbal attacks aimed at his wife Rachel, whom he inadvertently married before her divorce from her first husband was final. Soon after the election, Rachel dies after asking Peggy to look after Jackson. Having been close to Jackson since the beginning, Peggy becomes his official hostess and confidante. Fulfilling Rachel's premonition, this causes many of the Washington political wives to gossip and snub her. At the same time, Jackson comes under political fire from Southerners, such as John Randolph, who feels he has turned against them by his stand on state rights.
At a ball, Peggy's childhood friend, "Rowdy" Dow, wants to fight Southern senator John C. Calhoun because of an insulting remark about Peggy, however, she interrupts and asks him to dance instead. Seeing Rowdy and Peggy dancing, John returns home, but is followed by Peggy, who once again professes her love. This time, John admits his own love and they plan to marry. Soon after telling Jackson what has happened, however, Peggy realizes that differing political views will never allow her and John to be happy, and they part.
A short time later, Secretary of War John Eaton, who has loved Peggy for years, proposes. She is fond of him, and believes, like Jackson, that marriage will bring her respectability. A year later, Rowdy comes to visit and tells Peggy that John Randolph has been shot and is near death. She asks Rowdy to take her to see her John, who was shot by Sunderland, a Southerner trying to prevent him from revealing to Jackson a proposed violent rebellion. John dies contentedly after Peggy's visit. On the way back to Washington, Peggy and Rowdy's coach is accosted by Sunderland, who demands safe passage to Washington in exchange for not revealing that he has seen them. Rowdy throws him out, but soon Jackson's cabinet members and their wives come to him to demand that Peggy be sent away from Washington. When Peggy arrives at the meeting, Jackson lies by saying she was sent to see John Randolph by him and that Rowdy was asked by John Eaton to accompany her. Jackson then demands the resignation of his entire cabinet, except for Eaton.
Finally, Peggy, who knows that even Jackson's kind lie will not lead to her acceptance in Washington, asks him to send John Eaton as the special envoy to Spain where she knows that they will find contentment.
|
|
Howard Barnes in the New York Herald Tribune noted "In the title role Joan Crawford is handsome, although century-old costumes do not go well with the pronounced modernity of her personality. She makes of Peggy Eaton a straightforward and zealous figure....[A] show that is rich with trappings and accented by moments of moving intensity."
However, writing in The New York Times, film critic Frank Nugent thought there was "not enough hussy" in the performance, and wrote "Miss Crawford's Peggy is a maligned Anne of Green Gables, a persecuted Pollyanna, a dismayed Dolly Dimple." [3]
Beulah Bondi was nominated for an Oscar in the best supporting category and George Folsey received a nomination for cinematography.
The Gorgeous Hussy was one of Crawford's higher grossing pictures during her years at MGM. At a cost of $1,119,000, it was the highest budgeted film she had made up to that time. The film grossed a total $2,019,000: $1,458,000 from the U.S. and Canada and $561,000 in other markets. It made a profit of $116,000. [1]
The 1828 United States presidential election was the 11th quadrennial presidential election. It was held from Friday, October 31 to Tuesday, December 2, 1828. It featured a repetition of the 1824 election, as President John Quincy Adams of the National Republican Party faced Andrew Jackson of the Democratic Party. Both parties were new organizations, and this was the first presidential election their nominees contested. This election saw the second rematch in presidential history, something that would not occur again until 1840.
Henry Clay Sr. was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He was the seventh House speaker as well as the ninth secretary of state. He unsuccessfully ran for president in the 1824, 1832, and 1844 elections. He helped found both the National Republican Party and the Whig Party. For his role in defusing sectional crises, he earned the appellation of the "Great Compromiser" and was part of the "Great Triumvirate" of Congressmen alongside fellow Whigs Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun.
Stanislaus Pascal Franchot Tone was an American actor, producer, and director of stage, film and television. He was a leading man in the 1930s and early 1940s, and at the height of his career was known for his gentlemanly sophisticate roles, with supporting roles by the 1950s. His acting crossed many genres including pre-Code romantic leads to noir layered roles and World War I films. He appeared as a guest star in episodes of several golden age television series, including The Twilight Zone and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour while continuing to act and produce in the theater and movies throughout the 1960s.
Abe Lincoln in Illinois is a 1940 biographical-drama film that depicts the life of Abraham Lincoln from his departure from Kentucky until his election as president of the United States. In the UK, the film is known by the alternate title Spirit of the People. The film was adapted by Grover Jones and Robert E. Sherwood from Sherwood's 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. It was directed by John Cromwell.
John Henry Eaton was an American politician and ambassador from Tennessee who served as U.S. Senator and as U.S. Secretary of War in the administration of Andrew Jackson. He was 28 years, 4 months, and 29 days old when he entered the Senate, making him the youngest U.S. Senator in history.
Rachel Jackson was the mistress and later the wife of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States. She lived with him at their home at the Hermitage, where she died just days after his election and before his inauguration in 1829—therefore she never served as first lady, a role assumed by her niece, Emily Donelson.
The Petticoat affair was a political scandal involving members of President Andrew Jackson's Cabinet and their wives, from 1829 to 1831. Led by Floride Calhoun, wife of Vice President John C. Calhoun, these women, dubbed the "Petticoats", socially ostracized Secretary of War John Eaton and his wife, Peggy Eaton, over disapproval of the circumstances surrounding the Eatons' marriage and what they deemed her failure to meet the "moral standards of a Cabinet Wife".
Margaret Eaton, was the wife of John Henry Eaton, a United States senator from Tennessee and United States Secretary of War, and a confidant of Andrew Jackson. Their marriage was the cause of a national controversy known as the Petticoat affair. While better known in history as Peggy, Margaret stated in her autobiography, "I never was called Peggy in all my life...I was ordinarily called by my proper name of Margaret."
Emily Tennessee Donelson was the acting first lady of the United States from 1829 to 1834 during the presidency of her uncle Andrew Jackson. She was the daughter of the brother of Jackson’s wife. Jackson’s wife, Rachel Donelson Jackson, died weeks before her husband's presidential inauguration.
Floride Bonneau Calhoun was the wife of U.S. politician John C. Calhoun. She was known for her leading role in the Petticoat affair, which occurred during her husband's service as vice president of the United States. In that role, Mrs. Calhoun led the wives of other Cabinet members in ostracizing Peggy Eaton, the wife of Secretary of War John Eaton, whom they considered a woman of low morals. The affair helped damage relations between John C. Calhoun and President Andrew Jackson, and effectively ended any legitimate chance of John Calhoun becoming president of the United States.
Susan and God is a 1940 American comedy-drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer directed by George Cukor and starring Joan Crawford and Fredric March. The screenplay was written by Anita Loos and was based upon a 1937 play by Rachel Crothers. The supporting cast features Rita Hayworth and Nigel Bruce.
The President's Lady is a 1951 novel of the life of American president Andrew Jackson and his marriage to Rachel Donelson Robards, written by Irving Stone. A biographical film was made in 1953 by 20th Century Fox, directed by Henry Levin and produced by Sol C. Siegel with Levin as associate producer. The screenplay was by John Patrick, based on the 1951 novel by Irving Stone, the music score by Alfred Newman, and the cinematography by Leo Tover.
Chained is a 1934 American drama film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable with supporting performances by Otto Kruger, Stuart Erwin, Una O'Connor and Akim Tamiroff. The screenplay was written by John Lee Mahin, Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich based upon a story by Edgar Selwyn. Ward Bond and Mickey Rooney appear briefly in uncredited roles.
No More Ladies is a 1935 American romantic comedy film directed by Edward H. Griffith. The film stars Joan Crawford and Robert Montgomery, and co-stars Charlie Ruggles, Franchot Tone, and Edna May Oliver. The screenplay credited to Donald Ogden Stewart and Horace Jackson is based on a stage comedy of the same name by A.E. Thomas.
Mannequin is a 1937 American drama film directed by Frank Borzage and starring Joan Crawford, Spencer Tracy, and Alan Curtis. Crawford plays Jessie, a young working class woman who seeks to improve her life by marrying her boyfriend, only to find out that he is no better than what she left behind. She meets a self-made millionaire with whom she falls in love despite his financial problems.
Parnell is a 1937 American biographical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starring Clark Gable as Charles Stewart Parnell, the famous Irish politician. It was Gable's least successful film and is generally considered his worst, and it is listed in The Fifty Worst Films of All Time. The movie addresses the sex scandal that destroyed Parnell's political career, but its treatment of the subject is highly sanitized in keeping with Hollywood content restrictions at the time.
Sailor Beware! is a 1956 British comedy film directed by Gordon Parry and starring Peggy Mount, Shirley Eaton and Ronald Lewis. It was released in the United States by Distributors Corporation of America in 1957 as Panic in the Parlor.
The One and Only is a 1978 comedy film starring Henry Winkler, directed by Carl Reiner and written by Steve Gordon.
For Colored Girls is a 2010 American drama film adapted from Ntozake Shange's 1975 original choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf. Written, directed and produced by Tyler Perry, the film features an ensemble cast which includes Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, Thandiwe Newton, Loretta Devine, Anika Noni Rose, Tessa Thompson, Kimberly Elise, Kerry Washington, and Macy Gray.