The President of the U.S. is possessed by the Angel Gabriel

This strange fantasy film bankrolled by William Randolph Hearst’s Cosmopolitan Pictures and released by MGM seems to suggest that political dictatorship is needed to enable America to throw off the evils of the Depression and return to stability and prosperity.  An ineffectual president (played by Walter Huston) is apparently possessed by the angel Gabriel and then, in this scene, assumes dictatorial powers which he, quite amazingly, conflates with the democratic ideas of the country’s founding fathers.