Magnificent Doll (1946)

Wow! Such a good movie.

A lot of fun.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Dolly Madison's life as it was would seem to provide plenty of interesting material for a Hollywood Biopic, but the makers of MAGNIFICENT DOLL (script by Irving Stone, direction by Frank Borzage) apparently didn't think so. What we get of her life is dominated by a fictional love triangle between Aaron Burr (David Niven), Dolly (Ginger Rogers) and James Madison (Burgess Meredith). In reality, there's no reason to believe that Burr was any more than an acquaintance of Dolly Madison's. There is also little reason to believe that she was particularly unhappy in her first marriage. Her first husband and young child did, indeed, die of yellow fever, but there was another son who survived and grew up to become an alcoholic, a major embarrassment for Dolly and her second husband, James Madison. And she certainly had nothing to do with Aaron Burr's treason trial, or its aftermath! Indeed, nearly everything dramatized in MAGNIFICENT DOLL is nonsense while those events quickly passed over and accompanied by Dolly's voice-over narratives are generally accurate. One would have thought that there would be much of interest in Dolly's efforts as Thomas Jefferson's de facto First Lady, her accomplishments in whipping the new White House into shape, and her rescuing of the Declaration of Independence and Washington's portrait during the War of 1812, but Hollywood had other ideas.Alas, the drama that they did give us is rather sluggish and not very dramatic at all. Being short himself and giving off an intelligent air, Burgess Meredith was a good choice as James Madison, in real life a brilliant and scholarly fellow lacking much in the way of social graces. Today we would call the 'Father of the Constitution' a nerd. Ginger Rogers may seem unlikely casting for a 'Founding Mother', but in fact she was a first cousin of no less than George Washington himself, and if Dolly Madison was anything she was one 'Vivacious Lady'. Indeed, it would have been better if Ginger had allowed much more of her own natural vivacity to shine through, but she appears to have approached the role of an American Heroine with too much reverence for the movie's good. She also had a tendency to rush through her lines, possibly noticing the inherent dullness of the many long speeches with which she was saddled.MAGNIFICENT DOLL actually belongs to the character of Aaron Burr, played more or less as a Byronic Hero (which wouldn't be anachronistic) by David Niven, a rare descent into villainy for that fine actor. He gets the Satanic charm down pat, but I'm not sure that the character's eventual madness really became this normally droll thespian. Burr is a difficult historical character to pin down, and such an interpretation of him is perfectly defensible.Though these are all marvelous actors and the history is ripe for storytelling, MAGNIFICENT DOLL is mediocre at best. It would be nice to see another shot taken at telling the story of Dolly Madison.

Popular historical novelist and biographer Irving Stone wrote the story and screenplay for The Magnificent Doll the story of Dolly Madison and the three men in her life, first husband John Todd, second husband and 4th president James Madison, and 3rd Vice President Aaron Burr. The roles are played by Ginger Rogers, Burgess Meredith and David Niven without his familiar mustache. The charm however is there.I would rate Magnificent Doll a lot lower but for Niven's portrayal of Burr. It is one of the few villain roles that Niven ever did in his career. But Aaron Burr had a considerable reservoir of charm which enabled him to rise as he did. In real life Burr did stay at the boardinghouse of Dolly Payne and did pay some court to the widow Todd. But there was no romance there and Burr was hardly her lost love. He had a well cultivated reputation as a rake and after the death of his wife many years earlier he was proving on all occasions his sword was mightiest of all.There was a wife for Burr and a daughter Theodosia whom he doted on and who was his official hostess and political partner. She's eliminated and Dolly Madison's son by her marriage to John Todd did not die in the yellow fever epidemic. Her son Payne Todd was spoiled rotten and was the bane of the existence of his stepfather James Madison who exhausted a great deal of his own money with his stepson's gambling debts and buying off all the women he consorted with. Children of two of the three leading characters just eliminated from the story.But that's only part of the problem with what Irving Stone wrote. According to Stone, Burr was early on fascist, not a believer in democracy especially when it went against him. That was a good movie selling point in 1946, but in real life Burr never thought in concrete methods to put his vast plans into action.But Stone could always spin a good yarn in work like The Agony And The Ecstasy and The President's Lady which were historical novels that became pretty good films. Many years ago he wrote a book with short biographies of the men who ran and lost for president called They Also Ran. His conclusions about some of these defeated candidates are laughed at today by serious historians.Ginger Rogers and Burgess Meredith are good in their parts. But acting honors go to David Niven in Magnificent Doll for what he does with the man described as the American Catiline, Aaron Burr.

Recently I moved and as I was doing so, I threw some films into a few boxes I wanted to watch but never got around to watching for one reason or another. A few days ago, while unpacking some items, I found one of the boxes-- a treasure trove is more accurate-- and inside was a copy of MAGNIFICENT DOLL.I have had a copy of this film for several years and I was saving it-- who knows why. And what a treat to save. I love this film and only wish I had seen it ages ago. Just look at the cast of this historical drama.David Niven and Ginger Rogers are top-billed. And altogether, they appeared in three films-- MAGNIFICENT DOLL was the second pairing for them. Their other efforts were BACHELOR MOTHER (for RKO) and OH MEN! OH WOMEN! (for Fox). One of the things I love about this film is that it's the second time Burgess Meredith gets the girl in a Ginger Rogers movie. Previously, he was the lucky guy in TOM, DICK AND HARRY. So though Niven is higher billed, he is essentially playing a supporting role, because Meredith is the one holding Rogers in his arms as the final fade-out occurs. MAGNIFICENT DOLL was a flop, probably because Universal didn't know how to market it and audiences were not ready to see Ginger do anything but musical comedy or tearjerkers. But watching this film convinces me that she was at her best when she was working in other genres, pushing herself as an actress. The set decoration is top-notch in this film; and Ginger gets to wear gowns by Vera West and hats by Lilly Dache.The always exceptional Frank Borzage is the director and rabbi turned Hollywood executive Jack Skirball is the producer.

Twenty years before playing matchmaker Dolly Levi, Ginger Rogers played a real-life Dolly, the famous Washington hostess who eventually became first lady and the name on a donut box. She's a feisty young lady whose father promised her hand in marriage to a man she didn't love, and after a marriage where she doesn't utter "I love you" until its too late, she finds herself involved with two rising politicians, both on opposite sides of the spectrum in government. Aaron Burr (David Niven) is handsome and charming, but his ambitions go far beyond the ideals of early American freedom. James Madison (Burgess Meredith), "the father of the constitution", is quiet and idealistic, even though he quietly manipulates Burr into an introduction to the lovely Dolly. As she learns the truth about each man, her feelings towards both of them change, even though her loyalty towards a traitorous one remains as far as praying that they will see the error of their ways. But evil ambitions rarely change, and Dolly will have to make a drastic decision based upon her own conscience rather than what lies deep in her heart.If you get past the casting of Ginger Rogers as Dolly Madison, you've won half the battle. She's much more attractive than the real Dolly, but that's Hollywood for you. Another issue is the fact that Ms. Rogers didn't play any other period roles than this one, so her acting may make the character seem a lot more modern than the colonial days this was set in. Getting past all that, she's very sincere in her portrayal and makes Dolly a vibrant force to be reckoned with. Meredith's James Madison is played with quiet dignity, while Niven's Aaron Burr is a force of nature, and one to be reckoned with. Probably the only time Niven ever played a villain, it seems like a role more likely for someone like Vincent Price or George Sanders, but it is a nice switch to see someone as dashing as Niven playing somebody totally despicable.As the devoted first husband longing to hear the words "I love you", Stephen McNally is very effective and Rogers believably allows her feelings to change from hatred to admiration and later on an unspoken love. If this doesn't really reflect who the true Dolly Madison was, it at least gives the viewer a chance to see what life may have been like at the time and to see Rogers in a different type of role than they are used to. The real power of the drama is in watching Niven's Burr literally go mad with his desire for power and how he is ultimately destroyed by it. Rogers is powerful in her final scene where she begs a mob out to hang Burr not to do so otherwise make him a martyr. The scene is obvious fiction as is the speculation of a romantic connection between Dolly and Aaron, so on that level, this isn't a historical document but a speculation by the writers. It is still enjoyable on a fictional level utilizing real life historical events to cap its story around legend.