''The President Vanishes'' (released in the United Kingdom as ''Strange Conspiracy'') is a 1934 American political drama film directed by

William A. Wellman William Augustus Wellman (February 29, 1896 – December 9, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and military pilot. He was known for his work in crime, adventure, and action genre films, often focusing on avi ...

and produced by

Walter Wanger Walter Wanger (born Walter Feuchtwanger; July 11, 1894 – November 18, 1968) was an American film producer active from the 1910s, his career concluding with the turbulent production of '' Cleopatra,'' his last film, in 1963. He began at Para ...

. Starring Edward Arnold and

Arthur Byron Arthur William Byron (April 3, 1872 – July 16, 1943) was an American actor. who played a mixture of British and American roles in films. Early years Byron was the son of actors Kate Crehan and Oliver Doud Byron. He was a nephew of the stage ...

, the film is an adaptation of

Rex Stout Rex Todhunter Stout (; December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975) was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and ...

's political novel of the same name. Upon its release, the film was praised for its ensemble castEames, John Douglas, ''The Paramount Story''; 1985, Crown Publishers, Inc.; Hardcover p. 100 but author John Douglas Eames, in his 1985 book ''The Paramount Story'', stated that, even with "an accomplished cast and an out-of-the-rut story, '' The President Vanishes'' couldn't buck moviegoers' apathy towards political subjects".

Premise

The film follows the story of ''

The President Vanishes ''The President Vanishes'' is a political novel by Rex Stout that was published in 1934. It was written after, but published before, '' Fer-de-Lance'', the first Nero Wolfe novel. "''The President Vanishes'' was published anonymously," wrote Stou ...

''.

Cast

* Edward Arnold — Secretary of War Wardell *

— President Craig Stanley * Paul Kelly — Chick Moffat * Peggy Conklin — Alma Cronin *

Andy Devine Andrew Vabre Devine (October 7, 1905 – February 18, 1977) was an American character actor known for his distinctive raspy, crackly voice and roles in Western films, including his role as Cookie, the sidekick of Roy Rogers in 10 feature fil ...

— Val Orcott *

Janet Beecher Janet Beecher (born Janet Meysenberg; October 21, 1884 – August 6, 1955) was an American stage and screen actress. Early years The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Von Meysenburg, Beecher was born in Jefferson City, Missouri. Her sister was ...

— Mrs. Stanley *

Osgood Perkins James Ridley Osgood Perkins (May 16, 1892 – September 21, 1937) was an American actor. Life and career Perkins was born in West Newton, Massachusetts, son of Henry Phelps Perkins Jr., and his wife, Helen Virginia (née Anthony). His maternal g ...

— Harris Brownell * Sidney Blackmer — D.L. Voorman * Edward Ellis — Lincoln Lee *

Irene Franklin Irene Franklin (June 13, 1885 - June 16, 1941) was an American actress on stage and screen, vaudeville comedian, and singer. Biography Irene Franklin was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, in 1885. While many sources have suggested her birth year as ...

— Mrs. Orcott

Hays Code

Upon its release in 1934, ''The President Vanishes'' was named by the

National Legion of Decency The National Legion of Decency, also known as the Catholic Legion of Decency, was a Catholic group founded in 1934 by Archbishop of Cincinnati, John T. McNicholas, as an organization dedicated to identifying objectionable content in motion pictur ...

— an organization of the United States Catholic Church — as one of Hollywood's problematic and "immoral" films. The Catholic Church demanded an implementation and enforcement of a set of industry censorship guidelines to control and remove content that the church saw as immoral. Threatened by a large scale boycott of all Hollywood films,

Will H. Hays William Harrison Hays Sr. (; November 5, 1879 – March 7, 1954) was an American Republican politician. As chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1918–1921, Hays managed the successful 1920 presidential campaign of Warren G. Ha ...

, then president of

Motion Picture Association of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distrib ...

, came to an agreement with the church that saw the establishment of Production Code Administration and passage of the

Motion Picture Production Code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...

, also known as Hays Code.Black, Gregory D
Hollywood Censored
Indiana University Press, 1989. Accessed January 29/2010. The Hays Code was in use from 1934 until 1968 when it was abandoned in favor of the

MPAA film rating system The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures ...

Reception

The film recorded a loss of $145,948.

References

External links