Whoever was the casting director did a good job. I just saw this movie for the first time on Mojo-HD while flipping through channels and had to stay till the end. Almost everyone was believable in their roles. I could see Laughton as a dixiecrat senator from the South, Pidgeon as the Majority Leader, Murray as the freshman senator etc.
The only one off was Tone as the president. He looked more like a college professor to me.
Frankly, after seeing the movie only for the first time tonight, and after having read the book many, many times, I think Walter Pidgeon would have been better cast as Leffingwell and Fonda as Munson.
sharePidgeon was too old for Leffingwell at the time. I've always thought Fonda's casting was a problem because any audience wouldn't have seen any ambiguity in the ability and honesty of a Fonda character. At least not before 'Once Upon A Time in the West.' There's a similar problem in 'The Best Man' in 1964.
shareWhile I agree with your overall view of the cast I must disagree about Franchot Tone. In fact, I think he did the best, most understated acting in the entire movie. I thought he was ideally cast and wholly believable as the President.
share