Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932) User Reviews (8)

ANOTHER LEE TRACY WINNER

[bensonj · 8/10 · 22 September 2001]

Though it's small in scale and unpretentious, this is really an excellent film, able to hold its own with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and other later, more ambitious films. It's fast paced, and intelligently integrates comedy, drama, public-spirited ideas, good performances, and an excellent script.

Don't believe Halliwell on this one ("naive comedy-drama with a miscast star"). Lee Tracy plays Button Gwinnet Brown (descended from a Declaration of Independence signer), elected by the crooked machine but determined to bite the hand that fed him. He's perfectly cast as the no-bull guy who (though he may be cynical at times) always tells the unpalatable truth. His several great "soap-box" speeches might have been unbearable from anyone else. His speech about how everyone has their hand out, delivered to bonus marchers who have their hands out, his complaint about pork-barrel bills, and his comments on voter apathy are all still timely. (The touch of vigilantism, though admirably held in check, and the suggestion of the danger of dictatorship, are mere whispers of thirties sensibilities.) This portrait of Washington's corrupt lobbyists and influence peddling seems, if anything, more relevant to today's scene than Capra's better-known tracts.

On the train to Washington he meets Constance Cummings, a Washington insider, who wants to put him on the inside track in spite of himself. She's not Capra's brassy tool of cynicism whose latent heart of gold is set beating by the hero's purity. Her attitude is more ambiguous; she seems to think Tracy's crusade against corruption can be waged without danger to the status quo. (One advantage of the brevity of the film is that it all takes place over a few days, so it's logical for her not to completely grasp his intent.) Cummings is one of the forgotten great female leads of the early thirties, largely because many of her films are unavailable Columbia films like this one. Her performance here and her character as written are exceptional.

Walter Connolly, as an honest but complaisant Senator, is excellent, as always. Alan Dinehart is a Washington wheel and all-around bad guy, quite believable.

Very enjoyable and well worth seeing; too bad this seems to be unavailable on TV and video.

A little movie with a big punch

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 16 May 2013]

I think I like this one better than its remake, the famous "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington". Now don't think I just spoiled this one for you, because really, other than the theme, Mr. Smith has a very different script when you dig into the details. Such a film as this could not have been made after the precode era.

Buttons Gwinett Brown (Lee Tracy) has just been elected to a house seat. He's the descendant of a hero of the American revolution, but unlike James Stewart's Mr. Smith, he is no babe in the woods. He knows he was elected by bought votes and via corruption, but he plans to double-cross the double-crossers and help stamp out corruption in Congress, and doesn't care if he's a one-termer. He says all of this when he visits the Bonus Army that is encamped outside of Washington - the WWI vets that are in a sit down strike demanding the bonus they were promised years ago.

Buttons may know what he wants to accomplish when he arrives in D.C., but he doesn't know how to accomplish it. I had my doubts about Lee Tracy playing a Washington reformer, but he was absolutely perfect in a role that requires absolute cynicism intertwined with patriotism. This thing is precode and frighteningly relevant to today's Washington with Tracy's Buttons Gwinett talking about all of the lobbyists attached to Congress and voter apathy allowing the system to go on. There are suicides, murder, bold faced bribes, a man who would be king -literally, and the only boy scouts in this film involve a troop briefly marching through a train station past a group of very self-satisfied women wearing banners saying "No Saloons" the year before Prohibition ends.

Constance Cummings is the closest thing to Jean Arthur's counterpart in Mr. Smith, but here she is a Mary Antoinette like granddaughter of a senior senator, all caught up in Washington society and appearances - at first, that is. Strangely enough Walter Connally is playing a very old man here, at only age 45.

I'd highly recommend this one. The end kind of leaves you hanging, but remember this was released when unemployment was 25% and before FDR. The nation was kind of hanging at that point too, not knowing what was going to happen next.

Mr. Brown Goes to Washington.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 21 January 2019]

In many ways, this film is like the later Frank Capra classic, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". Both films are from Columbia Pictures and both take a very cynical look at the government in Washington...and an innocent newbie's attempts to reform it.

Button Gwinnett Brown (Lee Tracy) is on his way to Washington, as he's just been elected to Congress. However, his efforts to reform and be a good congreessman set him on a collision course with Senator Norton...and he's a very powerful enemy. Unfortunately for Brown, he's blunt...way too blunt for his own good and soon he's battling everyone around him. Is there any hope for this freshman Congressman?

Apart from some bad rear projection (such as of the Bonus Army and of the Capital), this is a pretty nifty film. While the ending just doesn't ring true, it's exciting and well-intentioned...and Tracy is excellent as usual. Well worth seeing.







By the way, Button Gwinnett really was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was killed in a duel a year after signing this historic document. Because of that, his autograph is among the rarest of any of the signers....and is worth a fortune...hence the character's reaction when an original Button Gwinnett letter is torn to pieces!

Also, the Bonus Army WAS a real thing. In 1932, a huge group of WWI vets and their families camped out in Washington...demanding they get their approved bonuses now instead of waiting until the promised date of 1945. Unlike in the film, this effort did not turn out well and was disbursed by force later that summer.

Prohibition and political satire

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 31 December 2002]

Lee Tracy exemplified the 1930s American. After an impressive performance on Broadway in the original cast of 'The Front Page' (he created the role of the wisecracking reporter Hildy Johnson), Tracy went on to an even more impressive screen career ... usually playing hardboiled cynical reporters or newspaper columnists. (It helped that Tracy bore a strong resemblance to Walter Winchell.) Tracy's career faltered after the 1934 film 'Viva Villa!', in which he was cast (again!) as a hardboiled cynical reporter. During location filming in Mexico, Tracy got drunk and urinated off a hotel balcony onto a Mexican flag. When this leaked out (no pun intended) to the Mexican press, the outcry forced MGM to recall Tracy and reshoot his scenes with Stu Erwin.

'Washington Merry-Go-Round' was the title of a long-running newspaper feature by political columnist Drew Pearson (the mentor of Watergate era's Jack Anderson), and it's also the title of this film by underrated director James Cruze. Lee Tracy gives a fine performance in an atypical role: he's an honest, uncynical and naive man who has just been elected to the House of Representatives. He's immediately offered bribes by various political factions, but he turns them all down. Tracy's character is named Button Gwinnett Brown, and he's identified as a descendant of the (real-life) patriot Button Gwinnett. (Gwinnett was a member of the Continental Congress who signed the Declaration of Independence and then got killed in a duel less than a year later. His autograph is extremely valuable, being much rarer than George Washington's or Ben Franklin's. In this movie, the fictional Gwinnett owns a letter written by his ancestor; it's worth $50,000, but he carries it folded up in his wallet!)

The excellent actor Alan Dinehart is quite good as Ed Norton, a crooked lobbyist who wants Brown to vote for legislation which will help the Prohibition bootlegging trade. Dinehart has impressed me in nearly every role in which I've ever seen him, and he's at the top of his form here. Walter Connolly (an actor who never impressed me) plays a senator who is honest but stupid (come, now: how many of THOSE have we ever had?), unfortunately named Wylie. He's Wylie by name but not wily by nature. Wylie won't accept Norton's bribes, but the two men frequently play high-stakes poker. Norton deliberately loses one hand after another to Wylie, giving Wylie the money which would have been his bribe anyway. The stupidity of Wylie's character is rather far-fetched. (Connolly was never a very plausible actor.)

The power-hungry Norton praises Mussolini and Stalin, yet makes no mention of current (1932) events in Germany. Is it coincidence that Norton's poker chips have swastikas? Elsewhere, this Columbia film uses the same taxicab (Yellow Cab #79) that showed up in Universal's drama "Okay, America!".

The talented black actor Clarence Muse is saddled with another of the many 'yassuh!' roles that unfortunately constituted the bulk of his career. The photography by Ted Tetzlaff is blighted by poor shot-matching and some rear-projection that's more obvious than it needs to be. And a major plot point is never explained: how did so many Bonus Marchers manage to get jobs (in the Depression!) which enable them to spy on Norton? I'll rate 'Washington Merry-Go-Round' 6 points out of 10.

It took the US Government ten years to get Al Capone were not gonna wait that long for you

[sol-kay · 9/10 · 15 May 2013]

****SPOILER**** Political corruption and under the table payoffs at their worst is depicted in the film "Washington Merry-go-Round" with crusading first term Congressman Button Gwinett Brown, Lee Tracy,taking on the big boys in and out of the US Congress in order to bring the US back to it's original ideals that the Founding Fathers risked and in many case gave their lives for. Based on a book by political reporter Drew Pearson the film was not only released at the height of the Great 1930's Depression but just a day before, on Novermber 7th, the 1932 elections that put FDR, Franklin Deleno Roosevelt, into the White House.

It doesn't take long from Button Brown to get to work in first double crossing the political powers who put him, with election fraud, into office and start giving hell to those in the Congress and their big money and behind the scenes supporters. One of them is king-maker Ed Norton, no not the sewer guy in the TV "Honeymooners" series, played by Alan Dinehart who has more power then even the President or house speaker. Norton is determined to have a shipment of 20 million dollars worth of booze, this during probation, smuggled into the country with him getting a 15% to 25% cut of the profits.

It was the hand picked by Norton man in charge of the Probation Agency Carl Tilden, Willis Clark, who refused to go along with his scam which ended up costing him his life. After being blackmailed by Norton in how he got the job through a series of payoffs that he had no idea about Tilden blew his brains out to avoid any suspicion of scandal on his part. Before Tilden did himself in he wrote a suicide note explaining why he killed himself addressed to his good friend the now US Congressman Button Brown that in the end turned out to be Ed Norton's death sentence.

Ahead of its time political movie much like the later "Mister Smith goes to Washington" but far more realistic and on target in how things are for the most part run in the nation's capital. We get to see what was going on at the time that the film was made in the suffering of the WWI veterans who's promised bonuses were withheld from them because of the financial mess that the US politicians got their country into. The film also, and in the audiences face, brings out the corrupt US foreign policy that had it send US Marines to fight and die mostly in the Caribbean for big business interests! Just like what's going on now,in 2013, in the Middle and Near East; Times never changes do they!

There's also a number of quotes inserted into the movie by US Marine Let. General Smedley Butler from his book "War is a Racket" comparing the US Governments actions overseas to those of Chicgo hoodlum Al Capone in only that Capone's actions were small potatoes compared to those of the US Government. A quote that was practically taken out, almost word for word, from Gen. Smedley's classic previously mentioned anti war book "War is a Racket".

***SPOILERS*** With the help of the army of bonus marchers who infiltrated Norton's office where he conducted business Button Brown finally got the goods on him. Not only in his responsibility for Carl Tilden's suicide but also Senator Wylie also one of Norton's blackmail victims, played by what looked like a pushing 90 but 45 years old Walter Connolly, murder. Facing total ruin and a long stretch behind bars if not worse Norton did the only good thing he ever did in his life. Something he should have done years earlier before made his mark in the Washington D.C political arena.

Disappointing Lee Tracy Film

[mysterv · 3/10 · 8 July 2014]

I have enjoyed exploring older films and came across Lee Tracy who was a bit of a star in the thirties. He was fast talking and had a huge presence on the screen. Personal problems with alcohol derailed his career later on. I had found this film, Washington-Merry-Go-Round, and was looking forward to watching it. It was an early thirties film with some politically incorrect portrayals of black characters. It reflected the times of the making of this movie so I accepted it with a slight jolt. My main problem was that this movie was so heavy handed making it's statement about corrupt people with money controlling politicians. The monologues were overly long and simplistic. The movie did have a few good moments but it is not a movie that I would recommend spending my time watching. There are too many better movies to watch.

Two of My Favourite People!!

[kidboots · 10/10 · 1 June 2013]

In the early 1930s the only Tracy talked about was Lee. He had shot to Broadway fame in "The Front Page" and Hollywood, always on the lookout for new and different personalities, beckoned. From the start, no matter how small the role, he always stole the film until he was finally given the lead (after James Cagney walked out) in the hilarious "Blessed Event". Constance Cummings was also better than the parts she received and after the role of a loyal secretary to Edmund Lowe in "Attorney for the Defense", a role any ingénue could have played, she was given a more meaty part in "Washington Merry Go Round".

In this snappy expose of the real deal in Washington (I also liked this tons better than the remake "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" - why not, anything with Lee Tracy in it is just terrific), Tracy plays green horn Senator Button Brown who can trace his pedigree back to the signing of the Declaration of Independence but has also won his seat by the double dealing of Kellaher who expects him to perform as a puppet while the rest of them keep on robbing the coffers.

Tracy is allowed to give full vent to his fast talking and mesmerizing delivery - his Button is nobody's puppet but wants to make the country free and decent once again. As soon as he arrives he meets up with an old army buddy who shows him the real Washington - bread lines, a tent city filled with ex- servicemen holding out for a promised bonus that is not forth coming. He gives them a rousing speech telling them they have to get out and vote to rid the country of the corruption and vermin who gave him his free ticket to the Capital in the first place - the movie is worth it for that speech alone. But wait, there's more!!

Carl Tilden was a mentor of Button's who, having been an unwilling party to the graft and corruption around him, finally threatens to expose key lobbyist Norton (surprise, surprise it's Alan Dinehart!!) and his position as head of a big boot legging business. He commits suicide but not before he sends Button all the ammunition he needs to clean up Washington.

Constance Cummings is the "girl" but what a girl - she is Alice Wylie, grand-daughter of an elderly senator (Walter Connelley) whose eyes are finally opened when Button asks the insinuating question "why do you think you have always won at cards against Norton all these years when he holds all the aces!!". Cummings is the real surprise packet - after a cute meeting on a train, she takes Button in hand, becoming his secretary and is there when he gives his maiden speech - another Tracy kapow!! as he scathingly attacks one of the minor bills he is supposed to support. He makes a few big time enemies but the "little" senators give him a ringing endorsement. Alice is very sneering of the way he operates, telling him he will never get to the big time if he is going to make enemies of people like Norton - she doesn't realise what he is really like until a highly dramatic episode makes her see the light!!

If only people like Button/Tracy were around today I would vote for them in a flash!!

Mr. Smith went to Washington in 1932

[westerfieldalfred · 9/10 · 18 May 2013]

I'm amazed that this film isn't held in the same regard as Mr. Smith. I'm amazed that this is only the fifth review in IMDb. And I'm most amazed the Capra never credited this film as an influence. After all, it was made at the same studio, Columbia. In fact, the only mention I could find of this film was in a footnote in McBride's biography of Capra saying the films had similar themes. Of course, there's just so many variations that can be imagined in such a film. But really, visiting the Lincoln Memorial at night when things look darkest, a (grand)daughter trying to influence the new congressman, a wise girl teaching him the works - combined here, separate in Mr. Smith - all screams poaching.

I did find it a breath of fresh air that the hero takes on both the big and small moochers, something that disappeared the next year as the studios fawned over Roosevelt.

About Lee Tracy. At first I thought him totally wrong for the part; simply playing his brash reporter. But he opened my eyes with his speech to the veterans and cemented my regard with his speech in front of the Declaration of Independence. He gives some inkling to the depth he brought to The Best Man. I liked all the players. They were mostly black and white of course, but not nearly as blatantly obvious as in Mr. Smith.

A word about a personal favorite, Clarence Muse. One reviewer complained about his Uncle Toming. In reality Muse was one of the very few black actors of the period allowed to have some dignity. Compare him to the Pullman conductor in the opening scene. He may have played a servant often but he never was subservient.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a favorite of mine. Now that I've seen Washington Merry-Go-Round I understand it was "built on the shoulders of giants." I rate them equally good.