Linkshoch
Wonderful Movie
KnotMissPriceless
Why so much hype?
ChicDragon
It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.
Plustown
A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
tavm
After so many years of only knowing about this film bio of the 28th President of the United States, I finally got to see this on YouTube just now in honor of Presidents Day. It begins in 1909 when Woodrow Wilson was just president of Princeton as he's watching the college football game in which Yale is defeating his team in Princeton's home turf. From there, some men arrive to offer him a chance to run for governor of New Jersey which he wins. It then covers both of his terms of being president during which his first wife dies before courting and marrying another, he reluctantly enters his country in World War I, and then tries to form a lasting peace with other countries by forming the League of Nations. Despite the 2 and a half hour running time, I was enthralled by the whole thing while also being aware of it glossing over some of the not-so-good-things about Wilson like his attitude about blacks not unlike those of others raised in the South like him. Alexander Knox seemed really authoritative in taking on the role. So on that note, I recommend Wilson. P.S. Since I always like to cite when players from my favorite movie-It's a Wonderful Life-are in other films, here it's Thomas Mitchell-Uncle Billy there-and Charles Halton-Mr. Carter there-who appear as Joseph Tumulty and Colonel House, respectively. By the way, they have contact in this movie unlike in IAWL!
disinterested_spectator
Having finished watching "Wilson," I decided to compare it with other biopics of American presidents. I was surprised how few presidents have had movies made based on their lives. Abraham Lincoln gets the award for having the most, and he is the only president so featured prior to "Wilson" save Andrew Johnson. After "Wilson," there is a movie about Andrew Jackson in the early 1950s, and that is just about it until we get to the 1960s when American culture underwent radical change with the movies following suit. And needless to say, movies about presidents after Nixon and the Watergate scandal would never be the same.Regarding the pre-1960s biopics of American presidents, it is clear why they are so few in number. They are insufferable, being both boring and cloying. Notwithstanding all the money that was spent on the elaborate sets in making the movie about Woodrow Wilson, it is completely lacking in entertainment value. Nothing bad about Wilson is depicted. For example, we don't find out anything about what a racist he was. But those who produced this movie were not content simply to omit anything even slightly negative in his character. Like those who made movies about Lincoln during this period, they felt compelled to go way beyond mere omission and make the case that Wilson was no mere ordinary mortal, but rather was too good for this world, on a moral and spiritual plane high above his contemporaries, all but canonizing him for sainthood.
calvinnme
As was mentioned elsewhere, this was perhaps one of the first "big films" to win and compete for so many Academy Awards and be a flop at the box office. Now the divide between box office and critical acclaim is largely a predictable abyss, but it was still novelty in 1944.This was Darryl F. Zanuck's personal project, created after he returned from his service in WWII. Zanuck supervised every phase of production, and wanted to give Americans a film about an American that personified the ideals they were fighting for in Europe and in the Pacific - those of the equality of all men, and that Americans value peace but will fight if confronted and when they do fight, they pull out all the stops. In 1944, if one was to make a biopic about such a man, the obvious choice would be Woodrow Wilson. FDR might be a more obvious choice today, and his legacy has largely eclipsed that of Wilson, but at the time FDR was still alive and the sitting President, so portraying him in a biopic would be inappropriate.Alexander Knox was a perfect choice to play Wilson, looking, moving, and even talking just like him. Most might find this rather long at two and a half hours, and the Technicolor will not impress in the year 2013, and Wilson's views on race have been conveniently omitted, but I think it's time well spent to remember a President, a film, and an actor not often remembered today. As a special treat, you even get to hear Charles Coburn sing!
rhonda-stump
It's funny how they left out the fact that he segregated the military and segregated all government facilities in Washington DC such as, restrooms, drinking fountains etc. He belonged to the Progressive Party which highly admired the Russian Socialists and wished to implement the same government in the US. He began the Secret Service which was used to spy on Americans which opposed this particular view and had thousands of ordinary Americans imprisoned for opposing the Progressive/Socialist ideology. This was one of the most racist presidents our country has had. Why is this information kept out of history books? He premiered the racist silent film, "Birth of a Nation" in the White House in 1919 which was produced by the KKK to depict blacks as criminals and whites as victims. Why are there grade schools named after him, why is there a school at Harvard named after him? Progressives have always been a political party which has a negative ideology.
