State of the Union | |
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Directed by | Frank Capra |
Produced by | |
Written by |
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Based on |
State of the Union (play) by Russel Crouse and Howard Lindsay |
Starring | |
Music by | Victor Young |
Cinematography | George Folsey |
Edited by | William W. Hornbeck |
Production
company |
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Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date
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Running time
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111 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $2,439,000 |
Box office | $3.5 million (US rentals) |
State of the Union is a 1948 film adaptation written by Myles Connolly and Anthony Veiller of the Russel Crouse, Howard Lindsay play of the same name. Directed by Frank Capra and starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, the film is Capra's first and only project for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The screenplay, about a man's run for president, abandoned the play's more controversial themes.
Republican newspaper magnate Kay Thorndyke (Angela Lansbury) intends to make her lover, aircraft tycoon Grant Matthews (Spencer Tracy), president with her as the power behind the throne. Thorndyke plans to use her newspaper chain's influence to deadlock the 1948 Republican National Convention, so it will choose Matthews as a compromise dark horse candidate instead of Thomas E. Dewey, Robert A. Taft, or another republican.
Matthews is skeptical of the idea of running for president, but Thorndyke, Republican strategist Jim Conover (Adolphe Menjou), and campaign manager Spike McManus (Van Johnson) persuade him to run. Matthews reunites with estranged wife Mary (Katharine Hepburn) for the campaign. Despite knowing about Thorndyke and her husband's affair, Mary agrees to support him in public because of his idealism and honesty, and because she is unaware of Thorndyke's role in the campaign.