Advise and Consent

"This is a Washington DC kinda lie - that's when the other person knows you're lying and also knows you know he knows"

Advise and Consent is like the darkly honest undercurrent to Mr Smith Goes to Washington, shedding more light on the subtext of corruption by bringing it even further to the front and dissecting it in a colder, harsher light. The 1960s were an era when Western society was beginning to question authority and its associated institutions, and director Otto Preminger was pushing the boundaries as far he could push them. The opening credits of this film depict the dome of the Capitol building tilted open while the names of actors flash by, as if the film is literally lifting the lid on Washington D.C.

Advise and Consent ushers us into the complicated world of Washington politics with a large and diverse cast. At the centre of the film's narrative is Robert Leffingwell (Henry Fonda), a liberal senator nominated as new Secretary of the State and facing off against his conservative counterparts (chiefly represented by Charles Laughton as Senator Seab Cooley) in an increasingly volatile atmosphere of war (the Cold War, Cuba and Vietnam) and questionable foreign policy. It's also a war of idealogies between the Right and the Left. Cooley is of the conservative old guard - full of pride, war-hungry, and Southern in that "Don't tread on me" mentality. Leffingwell is liberal, wanting to avoid war, and representative of a new 20th century order, and so he finds himself targeted by his battle-eager peers... his pacifism interepreted as un-American, and his reputation smeared by accusations of communism.

This is a fiercely intelligent and down-and-dirty film about what really goes on in politics, and I can't imagine it was treated too gently by the American Right in 1962 - especially with the Vietnam War just beginning. Advise and Consent shows us the makers and shakers, and the powerful struggle to get things done. Different factions make dodgy deals with shady motivations, resorting to blackmail or riding personal vendettas... these are people trying to force each other's hands just to keep themselves clean, playing with people's lives. It's quite sordid actually, but completely plausible - it reminded me a bit of later seasons from The Wire.

Thankfully we get moments where the political biology of the American government gets explained in detail for laymen members of the audience (this comes via a french spectator at the Capitol building). Preminger uses devices like this to ensure that it never feels too dense or complicated. A lot of the entertainment factor is provided by Charles Laughton (in his last role) as the colourful Seabright Cooley, a belligerent old fire-and-brimstone senator from America's deep south who rides a grudge against Leffingwall throughout the entire film. Fonda's reputation for playing characters that represent America's conscience makes him a good candidate for the martyr-like role of Leffingwell, and both he and Laughton are ably supporting by a fine cast of underrated character actors (Burgess Meredith, Don Murray) and mature leading men (Franchot Tone, Walter Pidgeon).


As mentioned earlier, Preminger pushes the established appropriate parameters for dialogue and themes in a mainstream Hollywood film. This means a more risque approach to what words were deemed acceptable to use in a film (something he had previously stretched in Anatomy of a Murder) and directly tackling taboo subjects like communism and homsexuality. Not only does Preminger dare to address the subject of homosexuality, he also does it in a mature fashion that doesn't lean on a black and white morality. The character in question is being blackmailed for homosexual experimentation during his youth, the usual treatement of this subject is to characterise such a person as 'being in the closet', yet here - in 1962, no less - the film doesn't demonise him for his deception. He clearly loves his wife and kids, and despite having homosexual (or bisexual) leanings the film tacitly accepts that it's possible for such a man to love his family as much as a strictly heterosexual man. 'Gay' characters are frequently depicted today in a binary fashion that says they either are or they aren't. There doesn't seem to be any inbetween or shades of grey when it comes to sexuality in mainstream fiction. Anyway, I digress. In this case the character is also an ironic one - covering up his own past whilst he dogmatically persecutes Leffingwell for his. The undercurrent to this subplot is that old adage, "two wrongs don't make a right".

Preminger also makes good use of production design and his background in film noir to control the push and pull o fthe story via camera work. Washington D.C. is all narrow corridors, high hallways and grand desks, and incredibly alive too - it's like all the people are the blood and the corridors are the veins, and the Senate Chamber is the heart. It looks deceptively natural, but it must've been a headache to stage and film the scenes around the Senate where the camera follows characters in and out while action continues uninterrupted in the main chamber. I also love the way the camera pulls out to reveal Cooley's enraptured audience as he camps it up for his oratory.

Anyway, this is a fascinating film. The highlight is easily the groundbreaking homosexuality-subplot, but watch it also for Laughtons' great performance and some genuinely intelligent and realistic political drama. Preminger is to be admired to for being the first to break the infamous Hollywood Blacklist by casting Burgess Meredith and Will Geer.

DIRECTOR: Otto Preminger
WRITER/SOURCE: Script by Wendell Mayes, based on a novel by Allen Drury.
KEY ACTORS: Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Don Murray, Walter Pidgeon, Peter Lawford, Gene Tierney, Franchot Tone, Lew Ayres, Burgess Meredith, Will Geer, Betty White

RELATED TEXTS:
- The novel Advise and Consent by Allen Drury, which won the Pullitzer Prize in 1959.
- Drury wrote five more quasi-fictional novels exploring the American political system, A Shade of Difference, Capable of Honour, Preserve and Protect, Come Ninevah Come Tyre and The Promise of Joy.
- Preminger's last golden period as a director saw him explore several groundbreaking topics and controversial subjects... these films include The Man With the Golden Arm, Anatomy of a Murder, Exodus, Advise and Consent and The Cardinal.
- For more films on American governance and related topics, see All the King's Men, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Candidate, The Contender, The Ides of March, Good Night and Good Luck, Wag the Dog, and Primary Colours.

AWARDS
BAFTAs - nominated Best Foreign Actor (Charles Laughton).
Cannes Film Festival - nominated for the Palme d'Or.