It is a performances centric movie

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Dolly Madison is a truly fascinating character from American history. Unfortunately, while "Magnificent Doll" does center on her life, it also is filled with historical inaccuracies...enough so that it's not a particularly good history or civics lesson. The biggest problem is that romance between Madison (Ginger Rogers) and Aaron Burr (David Niven) as I could find no indication that they ever dated or had any sort of relationship apart from taking a room at her mother's rooming house. There also is no mention of a child from her first marriage...one that did NOT die from Yellow Fever. And, sadly, what we know Dolly DID do was generally omitted or given only brief mention. Apart from the inaccuracies, the film is a mildly entertaining but occasionally stuffy film. In particular, the latter portion of the movie seems to go off the rails...and boredom set in as I watched. Not terrible...but Dolly sure deserves better than this tepid plot.

The Great director Frank Borzage does it again with this magnificent film. Ginger Rogers not only looks sumptuous in it but what a performance ,especially as the climax of the movie. Definitely one of her best dramatic performances and a revelation, as this movie was a financial flop at the time and what a great shame. Universal obviously pulled out all the stops with this and everything about it is top notch. It was just a pity that they didn't film it in Technicolor which would have been the icing on the cake. Great performance too from David Niven who really at times seems very sinister in his unlikable role which was a very unusual role for him to play. Burgess Meredith is likewise very good and gives very admirable support to the main leads. Interesting to see Peggy Wood in it, as Dolly's mother, and , of course, she played Mother Abbess in the film version of "The Sound of Music". The movie, as always from the director, is beautifully photographed and wonderful direction to the actors obviously bringing out the best in all of them. Costumes, too, created by the great Travis Banton as well as Vera West. All in all great entertainment that one can now appreciate, despite awful reviews at the time as often happened from some of those so-called expert critics, whom one wonders sometimes if they even watched the film.

I saw this movie 45 years ago on the "Fabulous 52", a late night show dedicated to old movies. I was a teenager at the time and would stay up very late while babysitting. It made a big impression on me and I never forgot it. I especially enjoyed the story line of her first marriage although, I later found out it was not accurate. I searched in recent years to find it on DVD to no avail. To my delight, I recently was able to watch the entire movie on the Internet, 45 years later! What a treat! I remembered a lot of it. I would love to have a copy of it. Although the story line is not quite accurate, the movie got me interested in Dolley Madison and her life. I thought it was very well done for a movie of its time. I would recommend it to old movie buffs.

Bizarrely cast and talky historical drama about the romantic and political involvement of the titular Southern belle (Ginger Rogers) with the then-U.S. Secretary of State James Madison (Burgess Meredith) and misguidedly ambitious Presidential nominee Aaron Burr (David Niven). Given that Niven ends up losing both the girl and the candidature (to Thomas Jefferson), he is understandably glum throughout – but the tragic fact that the beloved British actor had just lost his wife in a freak accident at home surely cannot have aided his countenance any! As usual, my fondness for films depicting political machinations perhaps made this appeal to me more than it would have otherwise but, while everybody concerned was clearly seen at a better advantage elsewhere, it must be said here that the narrative certainly wasn't a familiar one and, consequently, it held my interest throughout.