Pluskylang Great Film overall

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Leofwine_draca THE PRESIDENT'S MYSTERY is a 1936 potboiler solely of interest for having a story written by none other than Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only time a film in history can boast being written by a president as such. Whether it's a good story or not is another question, one that only the viewer can decide.The film's protagonist is a millionaire who has made some bad decisions in life, leading him to decide to just disappear and reappear elsewhere with a new, assumed identity. Intrigue proceeds to follow him. There's some mystery and comedy but the film never really succeeds in either genre, instead coming across as bland and instantly forgettable.

kidboots Everybody seemed to have a hand in this story, there was President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who suggested it - S.S. Van Dine (Philo Vance's creator), Rupert Hughes, Nathanial West, but the idea wasn't new. In 1933 Paramount's "The Woman Accused" starring Nancy Carroll had much publicity about the collaboration of ten authors (Vicki Baum, Zane Grey, Irvin S. Cobb etc) on the screenplay. With both films it was a case of two many cooks spoil the broth. "The President's Mystery' wasn't bad and it did have a role for the sultry, under-rated Evelyn Brent. She had such a varied career with stardom in America and also in Britain in the 20s. By the early 30s her days of heady stardom were over, although many fans wondered where she was. Actually she was becoming a character actress in independent productions like "The President's Mystery".Jim Blake (Henry Wilcoxon)is disillusioned with life. He is sent to Washington by the firm he founded - he now thinks George (Sidney Blackmer) is running it like a cheap racket. They want him to kill the Senators bill to reconstruct trade. His wife Ilka (sultry Evelyn Brent) is having an affair with George and is quite pleased Jim will be out of town, as George's wife Patty is going to the boat races. Jim comes home to take a well earned fishing vacation.During his trip he sees "ghost towns" - towns shut up through unemployment. One little town has just had it's cannery closed and it's future is grim. Under a new name Jim "Carter" is persuaded by Charlotte Brown (Betty Furness always brought an intelligence to her roles) to come to Springvale an reopen the cannery.He is reading a magazine and happens to read "The President's Mystery" which poses the question - "can a man liquidate his entire fortune and disappear"?? - Jim does that as well as faking his own death!!! Meanwhile his wife has insisted on a rendezvous with a by now disinterested George, who sends a henchman, who in turn roughs her up and accidentally kills her. When Jack's car and "body" are found in the river, people assume he has killed himself and his wife because of bad investments. As Jack "Carter" he is now head of the Springvale Cannery. When George pays a visit to see if he can buy the cannery out, he recognises Jack and brings in the law to have him charged with murder!!! With Blake out of the way George hires some "roughnecks" to stir up trouble. With the help of a friendly sheriff Blake escapes and is able to calm the angry mob.Recommended.

djpass-1 Mild spoilers. How Republicans must have hated this! It might seem innocuous today, but this is very much a story about the little guys being screwed by big business. Blake lobbies successfully to defeat a bill that would help small businesses stay afloat during the depression. Already disenchanted with his life, he decides to start over when he sees the effect his work has on a small agricultural community. The version I saw ran 94 minutes, much of it exposition. The latter half of the movie seemed rather rushed. The relationship between Blake and Charlotte doesn't develop, it is just presented without explanation. All in all, a pretty good 30's film.

F Gwynplaine MacIntyre "The President's Mystery" isn't really a mystery, but it's a well-made B-picture with an interesting premise. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was fond of reading murder mysteries. On 12 May 1935, at a White House luncheon, FDR offered his lunch guests an idea for a mystery: How could a millionaire disappear and start a new life for himself, under a new identity, yet manage to take his wealth with him? One of the guests at that luncheon was magazine editor Fulton Oursler, who wrote mystery stories under the pseudonym 'Anthony Abbot'. Intrigued by FDR's idea, Oursler contacted five other authors (including S.S. Van Dine, creator of the popular Philo Vance mysteries), and they set out to write a novel that could answer FDR's question. This was published as "The President's Mystery Story", with FDR listed as co-author (although he contributed only the premise). It is not a very good book, due to its patchwork structure: the various chapters are written by different authors of radically different styles and widely varying talent. But largely due to its novelty appeal and FDR's personal popularity, "The President's Mystery Story" became a best-seller.This movie is the film version, with a title card in the opening credits explaining FDR's participation. The screenplay was written by Lester Cole and the grossly overrated Nathanael West, who brings none of his own sardonic viewpoint to this movie.Industrialist James Blake (the underrated actor Henry Wilcoxon, who later submerged his career into C.B. DeMille's) has messed up his personal life and he wants to start over in a new identity ... but he doesn't want to lose the fortune he's already compiled. He hits upon a very clever plan which might actually have worked in the 1930s, but which nowadays (with computer databases and biometric I.D.) couldn't possibly succeed. Blake locates a crooked investment firm run by two con men (one of them is played by Charles Williams, the meek little actor who played Eustace Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life"). Claiming to have enough evidence to put the crooks in prison, Blake bullies them into abandoning their investment firm without dismantling it. Blake then secretly takes over the brokerage without any paperwork to document the transfer. Operating in the open, he then proceeds to invest his own fortune in the crooked brokerage house ... thus neatly robbing himself! (But how does he withdraw the money after he deposits his cheques?)Because Blake is publicly perceived to lose his fortune, nobody is surprised when he vanishes ... an apparent suicide. He establishes a new identity with plausible ease (again, this was before high-tech I.D.) and it looks like he's accomplished his goal. But then something goes wrong...There are several good performances here, most notably Wilcoxon's, Sidney Blackmer's and a comic turn by Barnett Parker in his usual silly-ass Englishman mode, and a performance by the underrated John Wray. Byron Foulger gives his usual inept performance as a milquetoast. Betty Furness is dull and unattractive, as usual for her.I'll rate this movie 5 out of 10. FDR's participation is almost nonexistent, and co-screenwriter Nathanael West's influence on the material is minor. But this modest film has some genuine merits and an unusual story; I recommend it.