Americas 250th Birthday Cinemathon #12: The President's Lady (1953)

 

After suffering a series of inserted love interests and love triangles, it’s time for a real historical romance. The President’s Lady, adapted from Irving Stone’s 1951 novel, tells the story of Rachel Donelson Robards, who would become the wife of President Andrew Jackson. She would not make it into the White House, but is considered a First Lady because her husband never remarried.

Of the presidential marriages, this one certainly earns dramatic attention. Rachel was in an unhappy marriage with Lewis Robard when she met Andrew Jackson. Thanks to a misunderstanding, cause by spotty late 18^th Century communications, they thought her husband had granted a divorce when they married. Now they were dogged by accusations of adultery, which fell more heavily on Rachel because she had been married.  The President’s Lady focuses not only on this, but the challenges of being married to a man who often has to be gone for long periods of time in service of his country.

I’ve formed something of a trilogy on my watchlist. I somehow ended up with three 1950s films with Charlton Heston in them. Thankfully his portrayal of Andrew Jackson is much better than his turn as William Clark in Far Horizons. I never imagined anything close to Heston’s voice for the tough military and political figure, but he manages to look the part and balances Jackson’s toughness and quick-tempered moments with his absolute loving behavior towards his wife. Heston did such a good job that he would reprise the role in old man makeup for the next entry on my list: The Buccaneer. Of course, many people today despise Jackson, so they may not like his more positive portrayal. But then again, this movie doesn’t delve deeply into his political career and more into his very close relationship with his wife.

Andrew Jackson (Charlton Heston) write home to Rachel from one of his military campaigns

The actual main character is Rachel Donelson (Susan Hayward). Susan Hayward was known for her real-life dramas, so this movie is right up her alley. She was also in her 30s, which meant she could pull off playing the character from her youth in the 18^th century to her death in 1828. She provides narration which both helps us get into her mind and also understand the flow of history. After all, this is an hour-and-a-half film covering four decades.

Rachel (Susan Hayward) as she
appears at the start of the movie

We don’t get many historical figures outside the main couple, and while it would be nice to see all the political machinations and struggles, that isn’t the point of this story. The first act of the film has Rachel’s first husband cheat on her with the slave women (the only real life information we have is that the marriage was unhappy). Thus she more easily fall in love with frontier lawyer Andrew Jackson. She keeps up with him both verbally and in escapes from hostile Indians, proving that she’s the best match for him.

When it’s revealed that she unwittingly committed adultery and bigamy, the real drama starts. They manage to get a proper divorce and marriage, but Jackson’s critics and rivals keep bringing up her past mistakes to get at her husband. As Andrew rises further in political life, other prominent wives refuse to socialize with her, forcing Rachel to live a somewhat lonely life in their big Tennessee home The Hermitage. This is made worse as Andrew Jackson literally has to leave for months to years at a time as he fights in wars and serves in Congress. Things come to a head at the climax during the 1828 election. People in the John Quincy Adams campaign start attacking Rachel to undermine Jackson’s chances for the presidency. Andrew wins anyways, but Rachel dies. In both the movie and real life, Andrew Jackson, already a fiery man who would get into duels, blamed it on the stress caused by his opponents, even claiming that his wife was murdered.

The President’s Lady is not the type of movie I would go out of my way to rewatch, but I have to say it’s not bad. Because the narrative sticks close to history, the romance is more believable and interesting than what I’ve been getting with a lot of these older films. I really cared about Rachel to the point that I forgot about some of Andrew Jackson’s more heinous moments like the forced removal of the Cherokee. This is a nice, old film that’s not over-long.

Rating: 7/10

Here's a very simple old trailer with some of Alfred Newman's music.