Alexander Hamilton (1931) is a competent biopic of the Founding Father which tries balancing his political achievements with personal scandal. George Arliss does his best work humanizing Hamilton, making him a flawed but accomplished patriot.Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton (George Arliss) fights for a centralized Federal government to assume state debts, to the chagrin of Thomas Jefferson (Montagu Love) and his allies. Unscrupulous Senator Roberts (Dudley Digges) joins with disgruntled Frank Reynolds (Ralf Harolde) to blackmail Hamilton into an affair with Reynolds' wife Maria (June Collyer). Confronted with the truth, Hamilton decides to sacrifice himself over the country.
Director John G. Adolfi opens Alexander Hamilton with Spirit of '76 fife and drummer imagery, followed by George Washington's (Alexander Mowbray) Farewell to his troops. Textbook iconography gives way to political drama, as Hamilton argues for federalism and spars with Jefferson. Hamilton simplifies the Reynolds Affair into a one-time fling rather than a lengthy liaison; where Jefferson fanned the scandal's flames in reality, it's a fictional Senator who does so.
Writers Julien Josephson and Maude T. Howell show Hamilton as a likeable wit and farsighted patriot. His rough edges (arrogant, hot-temper and imperialism) vanish in a brew of bathos: his bumptious father-in-law (Lionel Belmore) and "sho'nuff" servant (John Larkin) provide low humor. Hamilton's confirmed as a loving husband, adoring Betsy (Doris Kenyon) even as he's unfaithful. He's a hero with simplified but relatable flaws, admirable but human.
George Arliss had co-wrote and starred in the original play. His urbane stiffness serves Hamilton well, Arliss granting him enough humor and vulnerability to soften the portrait. The supporting cast are one-note types: Dudley Digges and Ralf Harolde are despicable villains, Doris Kenyon an adoring wife. June Collyer's lengthy bit is among the most memorable, along with Montagu Love's courtly Jefferson.
If Alexander Hamilton lacks the nuance a modern biopic would provide, neither does it reduce him to a waxworks hero. That's a small achievement for a Hollywood still afraid to tackle American history.
