State of the Union (1948)

My Review

“State of the Union” is a political drama about a candidate for U. S. President and all of the maneuvering behind the scenes to get him to the Oval Office. Director Frank Capra (“It’s a Wonderful Life” 1946) put together one of his typical political satires with good production values, memorable performances, and great writing. The screenplay by Myles Connolly and Anthony Veiller were based on the 1945 play of the same name by Russell Crouse and Howard Lindsay.

The stars of the show are Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn in their fifth (out of nine) movies together. They always seemed to choose high quality projects from diverse directors. Co-stars include Angela Lansbury, Van Johnson, Adolphe Menjou, Lewis Stone, Margaret Hamilton, Charles Lane, Carl Switzer, Howard Smith, Charles Dingle, and Raymond Walburn as the judge. “State of the Union” was a modest box office hit for producer Frank Capra and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was primarily filmed at the MGM studios in Culver City.