Review of Advise & Consent (1962) by Stephen C — 08 May 2012

After the sucess of Anatomy of a Murder ,director Otto Preminger cast his scornful eye over the world of Washington politics and came up with an outstanding political thriller .

The US president is a dying man who wants to elect Robert Leffingwell (Henry Fonda) as his new secretary of state.

Trouble is powerful forces are at work on both sides which will shake up this system and ultimately lead to tragedy.

Premingers cast serves him well with Peter Lawford as a playboy senator and Walter Pidgeon as Senator Munson who is staging a frantic race to get Leffingwell elected.

We also get a daring subtext for its time in the shape of a gay blackmail case ,the film was the first to show a gay bar and while it may be cliched to our eyes Preminger must have had some guts to run this past the studio.

But above all this is CharlesLaughton as Southern Senator Seab Cooley a man out of time who knows how to play the Washington game with the best of them.

One look from Laughtons face conveys a thousand words and its a fitting tribute to him as this was his last film .

The other good part about the film ,is the fact Preminger uses actual Washington loactions as opossed to obvious studio sets ,we really get a feel for the hub of American power and for that alone this film should be commended.