All the King's Men (1949) (DVD)

Brand new case. Disc in mint condition. Stock image.

Region 4 (NZ)

A sombre but realistic chronicle of raw, brutal power in force, All the King's Men is based on Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name. It was brought to the screen in 1949 by producer Robert Rossen who also wrote and directed the film. The story was inspired by the rise and fall of southern bigwig Huey Pierce Long, the infamous "Kingfish" who was Louisiana's governor and one-time senator. Long's tactics of building public works during depression to serve his own needs more than those of his constituents eventually brought about his own assassination in 1935.

A compelling story of a self-made, self-styled politician, it was politics that almost prevented Rossen from making All the King's Men in the first place.