Alexander Hamilton (1931)

Director:

John G. Adolfi

Writers:

Julien Josephson (adaptation) &
Maude T. Howell (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

12 September 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

With the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, General George Washington took Colonel Hamilton with him into the newly formed government...

Plot Keywords:

Revolutionary War | Blackmail | Reception | Independence Hall | Dancing

Cast

George Arliss	...	Alexander Hamilton
Doris Kenyon	...	Mrs. Betsy Hamilton
Dudley Digges	...	Senator Timothy Roberts
June Collyer	...	Mrs. Mariah Reynolds
Montagu Love	...	Thomas Jefferson
Ralf Harolde	...	James Reynolds
Lionel Belmore	...	General Philip Schuyler
Alan Mowbray	...	George Washington
John T. Murray	...	Count Talleyrand
Morgan Wallace	...	James Monroe
John Larkin	...	Zekial

Runtime:

70 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:TV-G | USA:Approved

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Charles Middleton is in studio records/casting call lists for the role of "Chief Justice John Jay," but he did not appear or was not identifiable in the movie.

Soundtrack:

Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes

weird and wonderful--a must for history buffs

This movie features an Alexander Hamilton who looks like (and is as lovable as) game show host Gene Rayburn, of the Match Game. Even though we now know that Hamilton was a knowing and frequent philanderer, this movie sets him up as a victim, who would never have strayed had he not been the victim of a plot by his enemies. The conceit of making up a "Senator Roberts" who sets up the plot to bring Hamilton and the Assumption Bill down, is such an outlandish whitewash.

But there is a good bit of real history in the movie that you simply don't expect. Making the Assumption Bill into something dramatic (this bill would have the federal government assume the debts of the states, especially those owed to vets of the Revolution) is a masterstroke. Who would believe that you could make drama out of the deal to trade Hamilton's desire to create a national bank, with southerners' desire to have a capital on the Potomac.

It's an intellectual drama, with a focus on Hamilton as an honorable man, and a great treasury secretary. Probably the only treasury secretary to have a movie made about him. It's so stilted, but very dramatic, and somewhat true. For comic relief, they threw in a shufflin' and jivin' black servant, so it's also funny and somewhat offensive. But it moves along, and you won't get bored. A must for history buffs.