There's a great cloud of dread hanging over America. The European continent has engaged in another War. And the United States president is hesitant to involve his Nation in this most dire situation.
Unfortunately there are others in America who see the War a great financial opportunity. A small group of the world's richest men. The owners of U.S. Steel, oil, newspapers, A Supreme Court judge and a mysterious man who has under his wing an organisation known as ''the Gray shirts.''
And to make things worse for the president his cabinet leans heavily on pro-war sentiment. It seems as if America will be dragged into another conflict regardless of what the president wishes to do*.
The Gray coats are a strange unionist division . comprised of working men from all over the United States. Their goal it seems is to either take over the United States Parliament or integrate their own organisation within the party politic. They're led by a very voicetress and commanding fellow by the name of Lincoln Lee . his organisation and methods lean very closely to that of the National Socialist who had so recently acquired power within Germany. Although it's never stated that his organisation Is Fascistic in any way , it is heavily implied especially with the arm gesture that every Soldier gives at their local meetings held underground in a parking lot within the District of Columbia. Of course being a fascistic American organisation there's a slight religious parallel to their ideology.
As The crucial day comes when the cabinet is to give their vote for America's involvement in the war, The president of the United States is kidnapped.
And the country is turned upside down. Decisions can't be made, deals can't be broker, a declaration of war could not be confirmed nor denied Without the signature of the US president. And everybody is collectively losing their minds, the Secret Service is on edge and they have to investigate every town, every city, boat, Backwater Hamlet and even have to question the president's wife. Nobody is entirely sure what will happen now. The grey shirts are under extreme suspicion as it's supposed they were the ones that kidnapped him. But their leader Mr. Lee deny such an allegation claiming 'that if he had the president in his hands he would have killed him!'
Or try to convince him to go along with his plan. As he puts it. Kidnapping the president does his Organisation no good. Absolutely nobody is sure who did it. The Council of rich businessmen are on edge too, the sentiment of the u.s. people has moved from war involvement to the worry of their president. And no Finance can be gained from such a mindset. The only solution they have now is too get the vice president to commit to the war himself.
The second half of the movie doesn't have the fun story of politics, unions and corporate greed.
The film becomes your typical Noir based detective tail. As one man from the Secret Service tries to Uncover the country's most baffling plot. It's only at the very end when you discover that he's in on the plot that we get any unique twist.
The President had kidnapped himself. Purposely to stop the country from entering the war. Some argue this is the major reason the film didn't do well when it first came out. Americans were a bit weary of an isolationist presidents, and everybody could see the real storm clouds hovering over Europe. Perhaps they would have been more inclined to listen to the president at the end of this film when he gives his speech on peace if they knew that a half a million of their soldiers where going to die in some Crab Shack part of Europe or on some small Island located in the Pacific. But that's looking at a film of hindsight
''The President Vanishes'' was originally a story written by Rex Stout who would later go on to write his famous Nero Wolfe series. The interesting thing is he purposely left his name off of the original manuscript when he had the story published.
The idea behind this was to let the American people create a rumour that it was somebody in the higher echelons of the American government who would initially written the story. Thus giving it increased publicity and better cash Revenue. Apparently it had worked quite well to as the book was fairly popular. At some point Rex Stout had admits that he was the one who was written it. And he'd even commented years later that he preferred the movie adaptation to his original novel. A sentiment he doesn't share with just about any of his other writings.
*I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up the great irony that in this story, it's a peace-loving president having to fight a war council to keep America out of combat. Which has become almost the polar opposite of America's reality as of the present. The u.s. president has so much power that he can over rule the United States Senate or House of Representatives on a case of military involvement. Oh how one can wish that the United States presidential power would return to that of the 1930s. But even at that point the power of one man in the presidential system was already too powerful. I'm not sure how far back you have to go in US history to get the intended power base of a US leader.
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