After becoming one of the leading Hollywood studio directors in the forties, the Austrian-born Otto Preminger in the later stages of his career mostly made films that dealt with various controversial or taboo subjects. He was one of the loudest critics of the famous Hays Code, i.e. the censoring guidelines for American studio films in the period from 1934 until 1968. He was also bothered by the Hollywood blacklists, on which from the end of the forties onwards all those who had real or imagined connections with communism ended up, and he was the first to dare to hire the persecuted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who had been writing all those years under a pseudonym and even won Oscars.
Of course, from today’s perspective, “Advise & Consent” does not seem particularly controversial and provocative, because there are no longer any guidelines to defend against possible obscenity and treatment of some topics, and this political thriller deals with political cuisine and dirt. The old and sick president of America is nearing the end of his second term and does not trust his deputy, and while he is still alive he tries to push his trusted man, Robert Leffingwell (Henry Fonda), into the position of secretary of state. His decision is quite controversial because Leffingwell is not only a liberal politician who does not hide his ambitions to break with the tradition of American interventionist politics, but he is also followed by rumors that he was a communist in his youth.
His appointment is now being decided by the Senate, and as those who support Leffingwell and those who oppose him try their best to reach a majority, some disturbing facts about the potential secretary of state will begin to emerge. In order to find out what is real and what is just malicious gossip, a senate committee will be organized, the president of which will be the young and justice-loving senator from Utah, Brigham Anderson (Don Murray). However, the main speech will be given by the old and experienced conservative senator from South Carolina, Seab Cooley (Charles Laughton’s last role), who openly dislikes Leffingwell. The young and naive senator from Utah will fall into the trap of more experienced and much more corrupt senators, and when the dying president continues to insist on appointing his man, the dirty laundry of many senators, including Anderson’s, will begin to air.
This is the film with which Preminger shows all the cynicism of politics and the corruption of the political scene, which in these sixty-something years has only further deteriorated and become even worse. We see all the filth of that high politics because there is practically no one there without some skeleton in the closet, and even those who may be acting honestly and justly will have to wallow in that mud themselves until the end. It is interesting that the role of the senator from Georgia was originally offered by Preminger to Martin Luther King, even though there were no African-American senators at the time. Luther King thanked the offer, just like Richard Nixon, the later president of America, and previously the vice president during Eisenhower’s time.