The famous Broadway song and dance man, George M. Cohan, only made a couple films. So, seeing "The Phantom President" is one of the only ways you can see him acting.
George plays two different people in this story. Theodore K. Blair is a rich guy who's in line to possibly be the next President. However, he's not very good at public speaking. But, when his campaign folks find a very charismatic medicine show man who looks EXACTLY like Blair, they get Peeter Varney to impersonate Blair on the campaign trail. Naturally, they want to keep this sort of thing out of the papers and don't even tell Varney's buddy (Jimmy Durante) nor Blair's girlfriend (Claudette Colbert)...which leads to all sorts of mix-ups.
While Varney's help should be much appreciated, through the course of the film you start to see what sort of a skunk Blair is. In fact, instead of rewarding Varney for helping him become President, Blair plans on sending him off to a hellish reward near the North Pole! What's to become of this evil plan? See the film.
While the music seemed a bit corny to me, I did enjoy the script and the film ended on a marvelous note. It's surprising, then, that this movie was a huge money-loser back in the day. I can't see why except, perhaps, by the 1930s, Cohan was a bit of a has-been...a relic of the past who was popular about twenty years earlier. Regardless, it's well worth your time and quite clever.
George plays two different people in this story. Theodore K. Blair is a rich guy who's in line to possibly be the next President. However, he's not very good at public speaking. But, when his campaign folks find a very charismatic medicine show man who looks EXACTLY like Blair, they get Peeter Varney to impersonate Blair on the campaign trail. Naturally, they want to keep this sort of thing out of the papers and don't even tell Varney's buddy (Jimmy Durante) nor Blair's girlfriend (Claudette Colbert)...which leads to all sorts of mix-ups.
While Varney's help should be much appreciated, through the course of the film you start to see what sort of a skunk Blair is. In fact, instead of rewarding Varney for helping him become President, Blair plans on sending him off to a hellish reward near the North Pole! What's to become of this evil plan? See the film.
While the music seemed a bit corny to me, I did enjoy the script and the film ended on a marvelous note. It's surprising, then, that this movie was a huge money-loser back in the day. I can't see why except, perhaps, by the 1930s, Cohan was a bit of a has-been...a relic of the past who was popular about twenty years earlier. Regardless, it's well worth your time and quite clever.