The Senator Was Indiscreet

On seeing "The Senator Was Indiscreet," it is almost impossible to avoid making a comparison with another political satire that appeared in another election year, "Of Thee I Sing." Some of the same people are involved, too, but neither scriptwriter Charles MacArthur nor director George S. Kaufman has been able to inject spontaneity or hearty comedy into the new movie, which is a meager effort in a field loaded with opportunities for spoofing.

But there is no need to compare the picture with Gershwin's juicy musical; it will fall on its own feet. The most that can be said for "The Senator" is that it has its moments, but its moments are always isolated gags, such as one of the senator's posters announcing that he is "against inflation, against deflation, for flatiron." There is a fair number of gags, and almost all are funny, but there lies between them a dull story with dull people doing dull things. The greater part of the whole story unwinds in a single hotel room, where a bunch of unfunny, characterless politicians smoke cigars and harass the Senator. William Powell plays the title role, a sketchy part that is never developed into a sympathetic character, and one always feels the presence of the clever scriptwriter just behind Powell in the smoky hotel room.

The story surrounds the Senator's intimate diary, which has been stolen and is likely to involve the politicians in a mess of trouble if the wrong people get hold of it. There is much too much standard B-picture intrigue about the diary, and it is hard to work up a healthy interest in either the story or the Senator. You just sit around and wait for another irrelevant gag, and this soon becomes a tiresome business in spite of the charming pretences of Ella Raines and Arleen Whelan. There is no doubt that election politics is a fine field for satire, but here the satire is neither gay nor is it contained within the plot.

The co-feature, "The Private Affairs of Bel Ami," stars George Sanders, Angela Lansbury, and Ann Dvorak, and is just about the most detestable bilge that has been flung at a screen since the nickelodeon went out. It's dull too.