Teddy the Rough Rider (1940)
Overview
This short follows the political career of Theodore Roosevelt, beginning in 1895, when he was appointed police commissioner of New York City. In 1897 he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy. His charge up San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War in 1898 is re-created. He becomes vice president in March 1901 and assumes the presidency when William McKinley is assassinated six months later. According to the narrator, Roosevelt refused to be beholden to political bosses, doing what he believed to be right for the American people.
Cast
Sidney Blackmer
Theodore Roosevelt
Douglas Wood
President William McKinley
Selmer Jackson
John W. Riggs
Theodore von Eltz
William Loeb
Arthur Loft
Big Jim Rafferty
John Ridgely
Reporter
Glenn Strange
Jim Rawlins
Robert Warwick
Capt. Leonard Wood
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CinemaSerf
Sidney Blackmer certainly couldn’t be accused of being half-hearted with his downright ebullient portrayal of American politician Teddy Roosevelt. Beginning with his determination to rid the police department of it’s corruption through to his visionary anticipation of the Spanish-American War before his election as Governor of New York. In all of those positions he managed to irritate just about every vested interest, so they decided to put him up for McKinley’s Vice-President where they assumed he could do no great harm. Unfortunately, a gunman managed to see he was unexpectedly elevated to the top job and there he remained until succeeded by Taft. All of that is crammed into a twenty minutes that really doesn’t do much justice to his achievements and relies far too much of the exuberance of his performance and of a series of soundbite-style clips of his famous and vibrantly flag-waving speechifying. It might encourage more exploration of the career of this formidable man, but as a stand alone drama it’s far too rushed and superficial.
