The Phantom President (1932)

Too bad for presidential hopes of banker T.K. Blair; his party feels he has too little flair for savoir faire. But at a medicine show, the party bosses find Blair's double: huckster Doc ... See full summary »

Director:

Norman Taurog

Writers:

Walter DeLeon, Harlan Thompson,

Stars:

George M. Cohan, Claudette Colbert, Jimmy Durante

Cast

Complete credited cast:
George M. Cohan	...	Theodore K. Blair / Peeter J. 'Doc' Varney
Claudette Colbert	...	Felicia Hammond
Jimmy Durante	...	Curly Cooney
George Barbier	...	Boss Jim Ronkton
Sidney Toler	...	Prof. Aikenhead
Louise Mackintosh	...	Sen. Sarah Scranton
Jameson Thomas	...	Jerrido
Julius McVicker	...	Sen. Melrose

Storyline

Too bad for presidential hopes of banker T.K. Blair; his party feels he has too little flair for savoir faire. But at a medicine show, the party bosses find Blair's double: huckster Doc Varney. Of course, they scheme to make Varney T.K.'s public spokesman; at first, he even fools Blair's girlfriend Felicia, providing a romantic complication. As election eve approaches, the conspirators face the problem of what to do with Varney...who has difficult decisions of his own to make.

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Plot Keywords:

election | u.s. president | political satire | based on novel

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Taglines:

It's nonsense and - I love it!

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 September 1932 (USA)

Also Known As:

Falso Presidente

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of over 700 Paramount productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

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Quotes

Prof. Aikenhead: Blair lacks political charm. Blair has no flair for savoir faire.

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Soundtracks

"WE NEED A MEDICINE MAN"
Written and Performed by George M. Cohan

User Reviews

Patently Paramount, a very entertaining movie!

All the actors sparkle here, even Durante (who killed more than one MGM feature in his day) is a riot. Colbert is dazzling in every scene, even while bathing a dog. Cohan is fresh and fun, too bad he didn't make any other talkies. This production wreaks of Paramount, right down to the Lubitch touches of rhyming dialogue and animals delivering a musical number laced with sexual innuendo. In one instance the camera dissolves from the back side of a jackass to the keynote speaker of the Presidential convention; some things never change and it's still fresh!

Will Hays would have had a lot to say about this production if he could have gotten his hands on it.... :)