GABRIEL OVER THE WHITE HOUSE (1933) is a movie that really tests the viewers' ideals about government and democracy. Is it meant to be inspirational? Aspirational? Frightening? A cautionary tale? It's certainly a movie that makes viewers think.Walter Huston plays Judd Hammond, newly elected President of the United States. The country is in the midst of an economic Depression, with millions out of work and starving, but President Hammond is happy to enjoy the comforts of his position while serving as a pawn of his political party. He has no intentions of fulfilling campaign promises or reforming the country. One character notes, "The right man in the White House can bring us out of despair, into prosperity again." It is clear that Judd Hammond is not the right man.But after a serious head injury, the President is reborn as a crusader for the greatest good. He takes action to help his suffering people, firing any cabinet members that stand in his way.The President could be suffering from some sort of brain damage, or perhaps Judd Hammond's body is being possessed by the angel Gabriel, God's messenger to the people. But, as Franchot Tone's character points out, is not Gabriel a messenger of Wrath?The new President Hammond starts as an idealistic reformer, but ultimately transforms the United States government into a Machiavellian dictatorship, complete with firing squads. Everything the President does is for the good of the people, but the ends cannot always justify the means. He supports the unemployed masses, promising to stimulate the economy and bring back prosperity. But when he meets opposition on Capitol Hill, he dissolves Congress and takes sole control of the government under martial law.To combat gangsterism, the President repeals Prohibition and establishes government-funded liquor stores. Violent resistance from the gangsters is seen as a declaration of war on the United States and a special police army is created to wipe out the racketeering scum.It's unclear how director Gregory La Cava wants the audience to feel about President Hammond. On the one hand, he is a champion of the people, fighting for the common man and getting results. But he is destroying the American democratic system in the process. Senators are outraged when the President threatens to dissolve Congress, and rightly so. Yet characters speak in great admiration of the President after he bullies the nations of the world into accepting his vision for international peace.Coming at a time when Americans looked to their leaders for help, GABRIEL OVER THE WHITE HOUSE might have been a Depression-era fantasy, giving audiences the strong political leader of their dreams. Or it might have been a caution of the slippery slope of government involvement. The film is fascinating and controversial from a modern vantage point. The economic stimulus idea has gained some relevance in recent years, though the shadows of the fascism and Nazism to come in that decade are unsettling to see (especially portrayed in the United States).

As fictional President Hamilton, the brilliant Walter Huston fights fire with fire as he goes after the concerns of Americans in the depression era U.S.A. Unemployment, government corruption and racketeers are all taken on by this president, spiritually re-awakened after a car accident. Before that, he was simply another power-thirsty bureaucrat under the thumbs of a ruthless cabinet. Made a dictator through an act of congress with complete power to tackle these issues, Huston utilizes racketeer tactics to bring the real racketeers down, eventually declaring war to collect debts from the already poor European countries.Social issues which have only gotten worse are discussed with disgust as writers try to wake up audiences to the lack of true democracy in a democratic society. Elected officials are raked over the coals as are the countless millions of dollars spent on defense (or offense depending how you look at it), while the plight of the unemployed and starving is dealt with sensitively. This holds up because it is a reminded of lessons we should have learned which we seem to ignore as time goes on, still allowing men with millions (or even more) to control the world not even remotely concerned with the prosperity of the 90%. The movie is also prophetic, ironic considering the rise of tyrants in Europe on the horizon.While the screenplay is hokey in spots, for the most part, it is dead on in its idealistic views of a world in trouble that can't be improved in the normal "business as usual" tactics. Huston is ably supported by Franchot Tone, Karen Morley, Arthur Byron, Dickie Moore (as "First Nephew") and C. Henry Gordon as a bootlegging racketeer ironically named Nick Diamond. Films like this are often derided as "Capra Corn" because their creators present an idealism that is sometimes considered unrealistic and hopeless. But as long as men are able to think for themselves and not be manipulated by those who world power unwisely, that hope will always remain that a better world can be given to the people who truly matter-the ones who toil, not dominate.

I'm not always a big fan of movie remakes, but every once in a while a film comes along that is just screaming out to be remade...and it seems to me that this is one of those films. The primary reason I think that is because the historical perspective that allows this film to make sense is missing. Few Americans today know of the Wilson-era march on Washington by WWI soldiers, as well as a number of other events that helped frame this movie when it was made back in 1933.Other reviews here outline some of the tapestry of the time -- FDR, the New Deal, and William Randolf Hearst -- so I won't go into that pertinent history, but I do recommend that you read one of the historical blurbs about this film BEFORE watching it...that will clear up a lot of confusion about exactly what's going on here. The Wikipedia synopsis of the film does this quite well, as one example.Another problem with this film, was that it is like so many Pre-Code films where production values were not very sophisticated. Here you will see too-long silences where today they might be some background music.This is not to say that this film will not interest movie lovers, but a modern audience may find it a bit stodgy. I enjoyed it because I have long felt that Walter Huston is a much-forgotten fine actor. Most who do recognize him today see him more as a character actor, but he was a true star at one time, and his performances are almost always quite stellar (including here). It's never totally clear in the film whether the President is receiving divine guidance from Gabriel (or God), or not...though it is clearly implied...and certainly has a sinister note to it...but then again, you must consider William Randolph Hearst's influence here. Spooky!

This in an interesting parable that is not well understood by those who refuse to read history. There is no such thing as a truly conservative fascist because us small government types do not want control. Rather the dream of ultimate power is the dream of the left. Hey guys, Nazi means National Socialist, not Republican and if ever we have reason to fear the appetite of the left for power it is now. in the world of the left, all is either prohibited or mandatory, the only thing you have a choice over is the flavor of the koolade you get to guzzle. Be afraid of the smiley faced fascists on the left. They are the ones we should fear.