Following her Best Actress Oscar win in 1940 for Kitty Foyle, Ginger Rogers was able to spend the next decade and beyond balancing dramatic roles with the lighter musical and comedy performances for which she had become known. The RKO films with Fred Astaire behind her, Rogers found herself in a position where she could appear in Tender Comrade, a black-and-white film about wives living on the home front, one year, and lavish Technicolor musical Lady in the Dark, the next. In 1946, she was cast by Frank Borzage (7th Heaven, Street Angel) as one of America's most beloved First Ladies, Dolley Payne Madison, in Magnificent Doll.

Written by Irving Stone, whose popular biographical novels would inspire such films as Vincente Minnelli's Lust for Life and Carol Reed's The Agony and Ecstasy, Magnificent Doll traces Madison s journey to the White House from her youth in Virginia at the end of the Revolutionary War to the famed episode in which, during the Battle of Bladensburg, she refused the leave her exalted residence without a portrait of George Washington. In between she is wooed by two great men of American politics, Senator Aaron Burr (David Niven) and his colleague, James Madison (Burgess Meredith).

Lavishly designed, Magnificent Doll boasts cinematography by five-time Academy Award nominee Joseph A. Valentine (Shadow of a Doubt), striking outfits by legendary costume designers Travis Banton (best known for his work on a number of Josef von Sternberg s pictures with Marlene Dietrich) and Vera West (whose credits include Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula and other classic Universal horror pictures), and hats by the celebrated milliner and fashion designer Lilly Daché.

***

Director Frank Borzage and star Ginger Rogers both came acropper in the lavish but dull historical biopic Magnificent Doll. The usually ebullient Rogers seems encased in wax as Dolly Madison, first lady of the United States in the early 19th century. The story begins as young Washington socialite Dolly Payne, previously and unhappily wed to one John Todd (Horace McNally), can't make up her mind romantically between idealistic politician James Madison (Burgess Meredith) and firebrand Aaron Burr (David Niven). Burr solves that problem when he flees the country after killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, leaving the field clear for Madison. What should have been the film's highlight, Dolly's rescue of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution during the 1812 burning of Washington, is treated as a throwaway. Told in flashback, the film ends just before Madison's ascendancy to the White House, with Dolly chastely charming the current chief executive Thomas Jefferson (Grandon Rhodes). Magnificent Doll is anything but.

Excerpt from Barnes and Noble located HERE

Average Bitrate: 26.27 Mbps

Chapters 12

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

There was an Olive Blu-ray  of the film, with no extras, released in the US HERE. We don't own it to compare. Arrow Academy's Blu-ray is single-layered but has a supportive bitrate and looks very textured. This new 1080P image is in the 1.37:1 aspect ratio. The overall image is consistent and pleasing with some light surface scratches. Contrast is layered and there is depth - it looks splendid in-motion.

Magnificent Doll is certainly not premium Borzage - and it's not much of a film either aside from the performances and costumes. The historical context is certainly of interest despite the poetic licensing. I greatly appreciated the commentary and visual essay which, actually, may have more value than the film. The Arrow Blu-ray is certainly advanced over the bare-bones Olive edition. If you are keen on historical dramas, Borzage's output post his silent masterpieces, or the performers - this would be the release to get.