Keeper of the Flame

“Of course they didn’t call it fascism. They painted it Red, White, and Blue. They called it Americanism.”

Christine Forrest, played by Katharine Hepburn, stands before the large vault she has just opened. Her shoulder length hair styled into soft waves, framing her face beautifully. In Hepburn’s singular cadence, she reveals the mastermind plot to Spencer Tracy’s soft spoken fedora’d character, Steven O’Malley.

“This was the essence of their plan. Here are some articles ready for release, to stir up all these little hatreds of the whole nation against each other.”  

Having produced a large folder full of files from the safe, she holds it open before Tracy and points to a page.  

“This was an article to be published in an anti-Semitic paper attacking the Jews.”

She flips to the next page.

“This was to be used in the farmers Gazette, to stir them up against the city dwellers.”

She begins to flip faster through the pages.

“Here’s one attacking the Catholics, Anti Negro, Anti-Labor, Anti Trade Union, subtle appeal to the Klu Klux Klan.” 

Tracy looks on with interest as she continues.

“Here’s a list of Newspaper Editors who either sought to occupy public office or sought to dictate who should occupy public office and when they failed, felt the public was a great stupid beast. Here’s a list of men who served their country in the last war, and were failures at business, and again longed for the power of rank and the prestige of a uniform.”

Hepburn closes the book, gesturing back toward the open vault, before adding. 

“In there are the names and addresses of the men who were designated to be America’s first storm troopers.”

She moves in front of the vault to recite the remainder of her speech. And I am thinking to myself, “I love Katherine Hepburn. And damn this McGuffin is really long winded.  Whoever wrote this is laying it on pretty thick”.  But I’ll let her finish before getting too far ahead of myself.

“But what was really shocking to me was the complete cynicism of the plan. Each of these groups was simply to be used, until its usefulness was exhausted. Hates were to be played against hates. If one group threatened to get too powerful, it would be killed off by another group. And in the end, all these poor little people, who never knew to what purpose they were lending themselves, would be in the same chains. Cowed and enslaved.”

Many Hepburn and Tracy films are well known classics, so this one immediately aroused my curiosity. Why had I never heard of this movie before? 

Is it a bad movie? I don’t think so. There are some pacing issues. It seems no one’s heart was really in it. This was Hepburn and Tracy’s second film together. Tracy was drunk a lot during filming. Hepburn complained about the lack of romance in the film, although there was already plenty going on off screen. George Cukor, the director, enjoyed making the first half of the film but was turned off by the second half.

Which is funny to me, because the villain reveal was where I was truly stunned by the film. There are just some things you don’t expect to see in an old movie. Right at the top, after swearing and married people sleeping in one bed instead of two, is fascism in America. At the height of heavy handed patriotic filmmaking, prevalent during World War II, they make a movie that insinuates America could become like Germany?  What? No!  That is crazy talk.  

In today’s intense time of political unrest, I could definitely see a movie like this getting made. For a movie of its time though, it seems far-fetched. Plot twist! The idea came from a real plot to overthrow the government back in 1934, known as the “Business Plot”. Cue dramatic orchestra music. 

Turns out the “New Deal” then was as upsetting as the “Green New Deal” today. Especially to a group of rich bankers and other captain of industry types called “The Liberty League”. Fun fact, one of the names associated with this group is a banker named Prescott Bush. Yes, I am speaking of George W. Bush’s Grandfather.

The Liberty League was upset with FDR and his policies. The long version of this story involves the gold standard and despising social security. The short version is a bunch of super rich guys (40 billion dollar kind of rich) invested 3 million dollars in overthrowing the government and replacing it with a Fascist one. You know, like Hitler did. Their plans were foiled when they tried to involve former Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler.  Butler was a famous WWI veteran. They believed other veterans would rally behind him in a military coup. Butler however, in true American hero fashion, turned them in to congress for treason. Although there was plenty of proof, no one was ever prosecuted. The End.

The Liberty League dissolved in 1940.  But in case you are worried that it’s really gone, don’t be. It’s supposed successor is known as the “Tea Party”.  

Keeper of the Flame was released to mixed reception. Louis B. Mayor was reportedly furious after watching it (I don’t know of a story involving the man where he wasn’t enraged). It also supposedly upset some Republican members of Congress.  

Upon a second viewing, I was able to catch a lot of the foreshadowing toward the ultimate reveal that I missed the first time round. I really enjoyed it, even with the heavy handed speeches. I suggest giving it a look see. Provided you’re not too mad at me for giving so much away.  You can find Keeper of the Flame on HBO Max and Amazon Prime at the moment.  

One last thing, before I leave you. Below you’ll find Spencer Tracy in his Father Flanagan type exchange with a wonderfully talented kid, Darryl Hickman (playing Jeb Rickards), in yet another: ‘let’s break the forth wall and speak directly to the audience about something really important’ moment.

Spoiler: it feels eerily relevant today.

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