In this dark political time, it’s comforting to know that earlier generations also suffered their own corrupt and incompetent political leaders and savaged them in various blackly comic ways. I’m especially reminded of the year 1947, when two notable politically satirical films were released. Both were made in Hollywood, which generally regarded politics as toxic subject matter in movies, almost sure to cut box-office revenues in half.

The harsher of the two films is called The Senator Was Indiscreet. It’s a scathing black comedy written by Charles MacArthur (The Front Page) and directed by the celebrated playwright, humorist, and theatrical director George S. Kaufman, who specialized in social satire such as Of Thee I Sing and The Solid Gold Cadillac. Kaufman hated Hollywood, and this was his one and only time in the director’s chair. It’s about a pompous old jackass named Melvin G. Ashton (William Powell) who, after a thirty-five-year career as a lowly politician, has managed to maneuver his way into a Senate seat and, from there, fancies the idea of taking the short hop to the presidency. When he’s told that the party wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole, he reveals that he’s kept a political diary for all those years in which he’s recorded, as he says meaningfully to a party boss trying to squelch him, “everything.”

Panic ensues. Attempts to steal and destroy the diary fail. Crooked politicians with names like “Honest John Meany” prepare to flee to South America. And, very soon, that elderly dimwit Ashton is a front-runner in the upcoming election.