''The Washington Masquerade'' is a 1932 American
Pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Charles Brabin
Charles Brabin (April 17, 1882 – November 3, 1957) was a British-American film director.
Biography
Born in Liverpool, England, he was educated at St. Francis Xavier College. Brabin sailed to New York City in the early 1900s and, while hold ...
and written by
John Meehan and Samuel Blythe. The film stars
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931) ...
,
Karen Morley
Karen Morley (born Mildred Linton; December 12, 1909 – March 8, 2003) was an American film actress.
Life and career
Born Mildred Linton in Ottumwa, Iowa, Morley lived there until she was 13 years old. When she moved to Hollywood, she atten ...
,
Diane Sinclair,
Nils Asther
Nils Anton Alfhild Asther (17 January 1897 – 19 October 1981)[Swedi ...](_blank)
and
Reginald Barlow
Reginald Harry Barlow (June 17, 1866 – July 6, 1943) was an American stage and screen character actor, author, and film director. He was a busy performer in Hollywood films of the 1930s.
Early life
A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, ...
. The film was released on July 9, 1932, by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
.
Plot
After successfully freeing a wrongfully convicted boy from prison, attorney Jeff Keane is nominated and elected to the United States Senate. Although Keane had been aloof from politics, his crusade against
big business
Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly kn ...
becomes popular yet controversial. At a
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
gala, Keane meets Consuela Fairbanks, a socialite whom he eventually marries despite his daughter Ruth's protestations.
After the marriage, Consuela confesses that she is heavily in debt and urges Jeff to resign and join lobbyist Alan Hinsdale's law firm. After discovering that Hinsdale is corrupt and that Consuela is having an affair with her former lover Henri Brenner, Jeff and Ruth open a Senate investigation of Hinsdale and his colleague Senator Bitler.
At an emotional testimony, an exhausted Jeff confesses to bribery during his dealings with Hinsdale but exposes the scandal for prosecution by the United States Attorney General. The stress causes Jeff to die of a heart attack at the end of his speech, and Stapleton later notes that "he loved his country enough to die for it."
Cast
*
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931) ...
as Jeff Keane
*
Karen Morley
Karen Morley (born Mildred Linton; December 12, 1909 – March 8, 2003) was an American film actress.
Life and career
Born Mildred Linton in Ottumwa, Iowa, Morley lived there until she was 13 years old. When she moved to Hollywood, she atten ...
as Consuela Fairbanks
*
Diane Sinclair as Ruth Keane
*
Nils Asther
Nils Anton Alfhild Asther (17 January 1897 – 19 October 1981)[Swedi ...](_blank)
as Brenner
*
Reginald Barlow
Reginald Harry Barlow (June 17, 1866 – July 6, 1943) was an American stage and screen character actor, author, and film director. He was a busy performer in Hollywood films of the 1930s.
Early life
A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, ...
as Senator Withers
*
William Collier, Sr.
William Collier Sr. (November 12, 1864 – January 13, 1944), born William Morenus, was an American writer, director and actor.
Collier ran away from home when only 11 years old to join a touring company run by Eddie Foy and in 1879 he appeared ...
as Babcock
*
William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
as Senator Hodge
*
Rafaela Ottiano
Rafaela Ottiano (4 March 1888 – 15 August 1942) was an Italian-American stage and film actress.
Early life
Rafaela Ottiano was born in Venice, Italy. She immigrated to the United States with her parents and was processed at Ellis Island in 1 ...
as Mona
*
C. Henry Gordon as Hinsdale
*
Berton Churchill
Berton Churchill (December 9, 1876 – October 10, 1940) was a Canadian stage and film actor.
Early years
Churchill was born in Toronto, Ontario. After his family moved to New York City, he graduated from high school there, studied law a ...
as Senator Bitler
*
Henry Kolker
Joseph Henry Kolker (November 13, 1874 ome sources 1870– July 15, 1947) was an American stage and film actor and director.
Early years
Kolker was born in Quincy, Illinois.
Career
Kolker, like fellow actors Richard Bennett and Robert Wa ...
as Stapleton
References
External links
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1932 films
American drama films
1932 drama films
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Films directed by Charles Brabin
American black-and-white films
American films based on plays
Films set in Washington, D.C.
Films set in the White House
Films about corruption in the United States
1930s English-language films
1930s American films
{{1930s-drama-film-stub