NOTES: Beulah Bondi was nominated for an AMPAS Award for Best Supporting Actress, losing to Gale Sondergaard in Anthony Adverse.George Folsey was one of three nominees for Best Black-and-White Cinematography, yielding to Tony Gaudio's Anthony Adverse.Shooting commenced: 27 April 1936. When initial shooting shut down is not known. Certainly, the studio was still dickering with the film on 15 August 1936.COMMENT: Joan Crawford's rare period picture wasn't received well by the fans. Yet Joan looks very attractive in her Adrian costumes and curls, and is beautifully photographed throughout by Folsey. Maybe what the fans were objecting to is that this is a very long film with very little action. Instead we have lots of political speeches in which Lionel Barrymore hogs the camera in his usual superficially bombastic style, fulminating at tiresome length about preserving the union, egged on by other cardboard caricatures of well-known political figures. Beulah Bondi is the worst offender, James Stewart is not far behind. At least Franchot Tone manages to invest Eaton with a degree of charm, while Melvyn Douglas gives Randolph a similar degree of conviction. Taylor is not out of his depth as the superficial fun-loving Bow Timberlake and there is a happy selection of character players to help things along. The film is superlatively well produced.

Senator Andrew Jackson, about to become president, and his wife Rachel arrive in Washington and meet many famous people -- Daniel Webster, John Randolph, John C. Cahoun, and, well, just about anybody who's anybody. One of the less famous people the Jacksons meet -- less famous because mostly fictional -- is Joan Crawford, dressed in hoop skirts and dozens of ringlets. Crawford is being courted by three or four young men at the same time. I lost count, but among them are Jimmy Stewart, playing a comic suitor named "Rowdy", and handsome, dashing Robert Taylor as "Bow" Timberlake, a naval officer in a tight, fancy uniform. Suave, aristocratic John Randolph of Virginia is her secret love but he turns her away. Still, he may come around. Everybody is happy. Little do they know tragedy lies just around the corner.I couldn't stand it. I was hoping for one of Hollywood's semi-educational historical epics with a rip-roaring Andrew Jackson who plunks his muddy boots on his desk and hangs around with low society. Instead I got a soap opera starring Joan Crawford.Oh, there ARE some historical incidents, but then there HAS to be because the movie must be about something other than men worshiping Joan Crawford. I'll give you an example of how historical events are related to romance.We see President Andrew Jackson, Lionel Barrymore, looking less like Andrew Jackson than anyone possibly could. He is pacing slowly in his presidential office, dictating to a scribe. "And so, Gentleman, I must insist that the Union remain united and --" The door bursts open and Crawford rushes in, gushing, demanding to speak to "Uncle Andy." Jackson turns to his scribe and orders sternly, "Now write that up in your best handwriting and we'll finish it later." He turns to Crawford, "Now, what is it, my dear?" "Oh, Uncle Andy -- he wants to MARRY me!" The historical stuff can be found folded into the soap opera like raisins buried in a muffin. Each little incident comes as a delightful surprise.Is the climax, at least, of some political significance? I guess so. The gossip about Joan Crawford comes to a head and Uncle Andy saves her from being shunned by the stuffy old ladies of Washington. Maybe, in a sense, gossip IS politics. Sometimes, today, it certainly seems so.I can't go on with this. I'm told that too many deep sobs induces strokes.

When girlish innkeeper's daughter Joan Crawford (as Margaret "Peggy" O'Neal) develops into a beautiful young woman, many men in 1823 Washington, DC desire her. Ms. Crawford finds sailor Robert Taylor (as "Bow" Timberlake) attractive, but Crawford is saving herself for Virginia Senator Melvyn Douglas (as John Randolph). Meanwhile, boyish Jimmy Stewart (as "Rowdy" Dow) pastes fake sideburns on his cheeks, and pines for Crawford. She brushes off Mr. Stewart, and gets kissed by Mr. Taylor. Though she still loves Mr. Douglas, Crawford marries Taylor after a fight with Douglas, who thinks Crawford is too young for marriage.Shortly after the wedding, Lieutenant Taylor is called away for three months, to the West Indies.Crawford waits in Washington with an older couple who consider her a companion and ward, politically savvy Lionel Barrymore (as Andrew "Andy" Jackson) and his pipe-smoking wife Beulah Bondi (as Rachel). After five years, Mr. Barrymore becomes the seventh President of the United States. Though a woman, Crawford is a political adviser of sorts, which encumbers gossip. Crawford's real-life husband, Franchot Tone (as John H. Eaton), also enters the picture. With strong direction by Clarence Brown and photography by George Folsey, MGM production values manage to sustain the years. Otherwise, this historical fiction succeeds as neither.***** The Gorgeous Hussy (8/28/36) Clarence Brown ~ Joan Crawford, Lionel Barrymore, Melvyn Douglas, Robert Taylor

Joan isn't all that gorgeous, only a halfhearted hussy, and not much of an actress, either--at least not here. Rather, she's a nice but confused innkeeper's daughter in 1820s Washington with love and politics on the brain. Mostly she lifts her considerable eyebrows up and down, up and down, to indicate joy, worry, bafflement, empathy, ecstasy... All the while she's pursued by most of the leading men of MGM circa 1936, for reasons best known to them, since there's nothing particularly fascinating about her character. This lengthy melodrama does have first-rate production values and intermittent good acting, especially from the quieter performers, Melvyn Douglas and (most of all) Beulah Bondi, as a gentle, pipe-smoking Mrs. Andrew Jackson. But as a historical romance it's rather listless, with a rote Snidely-Whiplash villain (Louis Calhern) and much nattering about states' rights. The conflicts feel painted-on. The ending feels hurried and contrived. And Joan always seems to be looking for her key light.