The President's Lady (1953)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Henry Levin

Writers:

John Patrick (writer)
Irving Stone (novel)

Release Date:

21 May 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

The story of president Andrew Jackson from his early years, through his meeting with and subsequent marriage to Rachel Donelson Robards...

Plot Keywords:

Andrew Jackson | Politics | Love | U.S. President | Husband Wife Relationship

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Susan Hayward	...	Rachel Donaldson
Charlton Heston	...	President Andrew Jackson
John McIntire	...	John Overton
Fay Bainter	...	Mrs. Donaldson
Whitfield Connor	...	Lewis Robards
Carl Betz	...	Charles Dickinson
Gladys Hurlbut	...	Mrs. Phariss
Ruth Attaway	...	Moll
Charles Dingle	...	Capt. Irwin
Nina Varela	...	Mrs. 'Peachblossom' Stark
Margaret Wycherly	...	Mrs. Robards
Ralph Dumke	...	Col. Stark

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #16198) | Sweden:15

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Quotes:

Rachel Donaldson Robards Jackson: [to Andrew who is planning to dual with Charles Dickinson the following morning] Andrew, if I'm to be the cause of all your quarrels for the rest of your life, then you give me no choice. I must leave you! I will not let you be killed because of me, nor will I let you take another man's life. I must leave!
President Andrew Jackson: You'd leave me now??
Rachel Donaldson Robards Jackson: No! No! Oh Andrew, please, please don't do this! If Mr. Dickinson's bullet kills you, it kills me too! Let him say what he will about me!
President Andrew Jackson: No man can say what he will about my wife!! Rachel, I've failed you a great many times and a great many ways and I hope you'll forgive me. But I couldn't expect you to forgive me if I lived without honor!

Susan Hayward looked so beautiful..

Although Rachel Donelson (Susan Hayward) is married when Andrew Jackson (Charlton Heston) meets her in a log cabin at Nashville in 1791, he knows that she will be his wife some day... And it is he who accompanies her when her mother, Mrs. Donelson (Fay Bainter), sends her to Natchez to get her away from Lewis Robards (Whitfield Connor), her husband, who is making her miserable...

In a riverboat, on their way to Natchez, they are attacked by Creek Indians and the danger brings them close to each other...

When they reach Natchez, Rachel stays at the home of a relative and Andrew tells her that they can get her marriage annulled and be wed... Before they can do anything, however, Andrew receives a letter from his law partner in Nashville, John Overton (John McIntire), saying that Robards has been granted a petition for divorce on the grounds of adultery, naming Jackson as correspondent...

Andrew is humiliated by this injustice, but he feels proud of his love for Rachel and tells her so...

They get married and go back to Nashville where Andrew becomes interested in politics... Soon, however, they find out from John Overton that although Robards had been granted a petition for divorce, it had not been consummated until now; therefore, Rachel and Andrew have been living together for two years without really being married... At Rachel's insistence, they are wed again at her mother's home...

The news spreads, however, and at a party Charles Dickinson (Carl Betz) makes a remark about Andrew – 'stealing another man's wife.'

Andrew challenges him to a duel, and wounded, makes a solemn vow to Rachel that he will lift her so high that no one will ever again dare say a word against her…

It is a pity that this well directed and well acted movie was not filmed in Technicolor as Susan Hayward looked so beautiful...

One scene is particularly stunning... She's deliriously happy at the news that her husband is on his way home... Then she realizes that, having worked in the fields all day, she's messy and dirty... In desperation, she grabs a pitcher of water to wash her face and drops it on the floor... Her husband walks in as she is picking up the pieces and her expression, a mixture of wild elation and acute embarrassment, is truly incredible...

Henry Levin's film got two nominations, one for Art and Set Direction and the other for Costume Design...