Gabriel Over the White House

Gabriel Over the White House is a 1933 American pre-Code political fantasy film starring Walter Huston as a genial but politically corrupt U.S. President who has a near-fatal automobile accident and comes under divine influence—specifically that of the archangel Gabriel. Eventually, he takes control of the government, solves the problems of the nation, from unemployment to racketeering, and arranges for worldwide peace, before the angel leaves him, and he dies.

The film received the financial backing and creative input of businessman William Randolph Hearst. It was directed by Gregory La Cava, produced by Walter Wanger, and written by Carey Wilson based upon the 1933 novel Rinehard: A Melodrama of the Nineteen-Thirties by Thomas F. Tweed; Tweed did not receive screen credit (the film's opening credits read "from the anonymous novel, Gabriel Over the White House"), but he is credited in the film's copyright information. The supporting cast features Karen Morley, Franchot Tone, Arthur Byron, Dickie Moore, C. Henry Gordon, David Landau, and Samuel S. Hinds.