The Power and the Glory
The major,
complete and sufficient analysis is by Welles in Citizen Kane. This gives the man who has greatness thrust upon him
until he reaches the apex of self-contradiction and abruptly falls.
The Eve theme is
fully explored by Sturges in The Lady Eve.
Cukor takes up
the matter in Keeper of the Flame, again
with Spencer Tracy (also Capra in State
of the Union).
“No little
praise is due to William K. Howard and to Preston Sturges,” said Mordaunt
Hall of the New York Times. “Howard’s
direction is truly unique and distinguished,” said Variety.
Time Out Film Guide says, “more significant for its place in the
history books than as a living, breathing, viewing experience.”
Halliwell has “disappointing...
very thin... aimlessness.”
Evidently the inspiration for Henry V,
and even Richard III
remotely.
Samuel Beckett,
who was an admirer of Charles Chaplin (Watt’s walk is something of a
reflection) and Laurel & Hardy (to the extent of writing a whole novel, Mercier and Camier, inspired by them),
appears to have composed a poem (in French) after seeing this film, “ainsi a-t-on beau”.
Johnny Come Lately
As much as you
could ask of anyone for a clear exposition of a recurrent problem, idle youth,
a corrupt town, and the “gray lady” (as the Los Angeles Times,
for instance, has been called in similar circumstances) caught between.