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IMDb > The Gorgeous Hussy (1936)

The Gorgeous Hussy (1936) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
5.5/10   299 votes
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Up 12% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Clarence Brown
Writers:
Ainsworth Morgan (screenplay) and
Stephen Morehouse Avery (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Gorgeous Hussy on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
28 August 1936 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | History more
Plot:
President Andrew Jackson's friendship with an innkeeper's daughter spells trouble for them both. | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for 2 Oscars. more
User Comments:
An Assassination that never happened. more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Joan Crawford ... Peggy Eaton

Robert Taylor ... 'Bow' Timberlake

Lionel Barrymore ... Andrew Jackson

Franchot Tone ... John Eaton

Melvyn Douglas ... John Randolph

James Stewart ... 'Rowdy' Dow
Alison Skipworth ... Mrs. Beall
Beulah Bondi ... Rachel Jackson
Louis Calhern ... Sunderland
Melville Cooper ... Cuthbert
Sidney Toler ... Daniel Webster

Gene Lockhart ... Major William O'Neal
Clara Blandick ... Louisa Abbott
Frank Conroy ... John C. Calhoun
Nydia Westman ... Maybelle
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Additional Details

Runtime:
103 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Certification:
Australia:G | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #2439)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Many people who are in studio records/casting call lists as cast members did not appear or were not identifiable in the movie. These were (with their character names): Louise Beavers (Aunt Sukey), Bert Roach (Major Domo), Oscar Apfel (Tompkins), Richard Powell (Doorman), Syd Saylor and Hooper Atchley (Agitators), Morgan Wallace (Slave Buyer), William Stack (W.R. Earle), Ward Bond (Officer) and Samuel S. Hinds (Commander). A modern source also lists Harry Holman (Auctioneer) and Harry Strang (Navigator) as cast members, but they were not seen either. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in James Stewart: A Wonderful Life (1987) (TV) more
Soundtrack:
Yankee Doodle more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
17 out of 18 people found the following comment useful:-
An Assassination that never happened., 24 April 2004
6/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

MGM in trying to expand Joan Crawford's repertoire into period costume pieces spared no expense and gave her one all star cast in this drama about the Peggy O'Neal Eaton affair. The basic facts are true, Peggy O'Neal, daughter of a Washington, DC tavern-keeper and widow of a young Navy Lieutenant, marries the Senator from Tennessee who then is chosen Secretary of War in President Andrew Jackson's original cabinet. The Cabinet wives however refuse to receive Peggy socially as does the wife of the Vice President John C. Calhoun. Jackson blows his cabinet up, requests resignations from all involved and Eaton and Peg are sent in exile so to speak as he is made Minister to Spain.

The real story is far more complex than that. Jackson did regard Peggy as a slandered woman, much like his late wife Rachel was. Rachel Donelson Robards Jackson dies between the election and inauguration of Jackson. Beulah Bondi plays her in the movie and it's the best performance in the film. In real life this whole affair was being maneuvered behind the scenes by John Calhoun and Secretary of State Martin Van Buren taking anti and pro Peggy positions respectively. Van Buren's character is barely mentioned here. Played by Charles Trowbridge, he's given one or two lines in the film.

Robert Taylor strikes the right note as the young Naval Lieutenant Bow Timberlake. After Timberlake and Peggy are married, he is ordered to sea and dies there. The manner of his death has never been satisfactorily explained. It's also not explained here and that leaves the audiences up in the air.

Franchot Tone plays John Eaton and I think a lot of his performance is left on the cutting room floor. In real life there is some question as to whether Eaton and Peggy were involved while she was married to Timberlake.

But the most fantastic error in this plot is John Randolph's interest in Peggy. The real John Randolph was impotent, his testicles never descended, he never reached puberty. He never had any romantic attachments with anyone, he wasn't capable of it. In real life John Randolph because he never reached puberty had this girlishly high-pitched voice when he spoke on the floor of Congress. No one ever dared make fun of him though as he was a crack shot with a dueling pistol. Melvyn Douglas played a character with no basis in reality.

One of the other things I found a bit much was Douglas's constant prattle about state's rights. To him this a nice philosophy to be debated on the floor of Congress. Louis Calhern's character who is admittedly like a previous reviewer describes him as a Snidely Whiplash villain, is ready for secession. He goes to Randolph and says that he's organized a movement and he wants Randolph to lead it. The real Randolph would have been hot to trot for that. Melvyn Douglas reacts in horror however, he threatens to expose Calhern's villainy. Calhern has to shoot him. But if you think about it, the only thing Calhern did was take that state's right talk of Douglas to its logical conclusion and translate it into action.

The real John Randolph was never assassinated, he died of natural causes and had no major role in the Peggy O'Neal affair at all.

Maybe some day someone will make a better film of this incident.

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