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This great Region Free (will play in all countries) DVD is BRAND NEW!
This RARE and entertaining 1932 musical-comedy B&W movie dvd release is titled... THE PHANTOM PRESIDENT
Legendary songwriter and vaudevillian George M. Cohan made his first appearance in a sound film with this Pre-Code, satiric musical comedy.
Theodore Blair (Cohan) is a politician running for president; while he has talent and intelligence, he's unfortunately as exciting as warm milk, and he is not doing well on the campaign trail. Blair's staff discovers Doc Peter Varney (also played by Cohan), a ball-of-fire carnival pitchman who looks and sounds exactly like the candidate. Varney is hired to stump for Blair in his place; the prospective voters are fooled, as is Felicia Hammond (Claudette Colbert), Blair's girlfriend who is pleasantly surprised to see that her man has suddenly developed a personality. Blair's minders soon think that Varney has grown too big for his britches, and they want him out of the way before election day, but it's Blair rather than Varney who ends up getting shanghaied. Jimmy Durante appears as Varney's sidekick Curly.
Cohan clashed with producers and studio heads during the production of The Phantom President, and it proved out to be his next-to-last screen appearance.
CAST:
George M. Cohan - Theodore Blair/ Doc Peter
Claudette Colbert - Felicia Hammond
Jimmy Durante - Curly Cooney
George Barbier - Jim Ronkton
Sidney Toler - Prof. Aikenhead
Louise Mackintosh - Sen. Sarah Scranton
Jameson Thomas - Jerrido
Alan Mowbray - Washington
Directed by Norman Taurog
A winning political satire even in its day, the big news in this well reviewed Rodgers and Hart not-quite-musical (there are just four main musical sequences - the best known song is "Give Her A Kiss") was George M. Cohan's first appearance in a talkie - he would make but one more in 1934 (GAMBLING), three years before Cohan returned to Broadway with Rodgers & Hart in their 1937 hit I'D RATHER BE RIGHT, playing a real president - FDR.
Playing the dual role here of a candidate and his more likable double, Cohan more than justified the hype, and ably assisted by the always wonderful Claudette Colbert as the candidate's girlfriend and Jimmy Durante who almost steals the film as the nice Cohan's manager, Cohan makes this a must-see in any year. In an election year like this one, we can only wish the finale were reality rather than a gentle satire of pandering to public perceptions.
The pleasant surprises don't stop with the leads however. Watch the singing portraits of past presidents in the opening for Alan Mowbray as George Washington and later, Sidney (Charlie Chan) Toler's appearance as a political boss - all smiles but as rooted in what "works" as any current campaign manager - is a joy to behold.
If you've seen Jimmy Cagney dancing to an Oscar as Cohan in the World War II YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (a decade after this effort), take a look at Cohan doing the original steps (in black-face, yet in an "on stage" number) and you'll wonder if Cagney didn't study this film specifically.
This high quality DVD is "All Region" so it will play Anywhere in the USA and the World! |
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| Seller Info |
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| Listing Info |
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| Asking Price: |
$9.00 (Fixed) US Dollars |
| Quantity: |
Always in stock. (New condition) |
| Location: |
 Encino, CA [United States] |
| Shipping: |
Shipping within United States:
2-3 Day Service: $1.00
No shipping outside of United States |
| Refund Policy: |
No refunds. |
| Date Posted: |
this week |
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