Eleanor and Franklin

This first part of Eleanor and Franklin: The Early Years, the critically acclaimed 1976 television miniseries, focuses on the early lives of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, concluding on their wedding day. The story is mostly told in flashback, as the first lady receives word of the death of President Roosevelt and, while making funeral preparations, reflects on her life with him. Distant relatives in the wealthy and sprawling Roosevelt family of New York, young Franklin and Eleanor met several times during their childhood, and much of the action in this installment of the drama utilizes young actors, including Mackenzie Phillips, who plays Eleanor at the age of 14. Playing the main characters as young adults, Edward Herrmann and Jane Alexander are brilliant in portraying the great American love story, as the privileged yet socially awkward Franklin finds himself completely captivated by the brainy and conscientious Eleanor. The miniseries was based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by historian Joseph P. Lash, and interspersed with the human drama are vignettes out of American history, such as cameo appearances by Eleanor's uncle Teddy, whose enormous personality suits his job as president of the United States. The second and concluding part of the miniseries focuses on Franklin D. Roosevelt's early career and the major role his wife played in overcoming profound difficulties in their marriage. Told mostly in flashback, the film features Edward Herrmann and Jane Alexander, whose performances in the title roles are uncanny. During World War I, the Roosevelts moved to Washington, D.C., where young Franklin, while serving in the Wilson administration, began having an affair with Lucy Mercer, his wife Eleanor's social secretary. Deeply wounded when she discovers his betrayal, Eleanor nonetheless stays with Franklin. And she would be at his side when, during a summer vacation with their five children, he was stricken with polio and paralyzed. Urged to take a more public role during his recuperation in the early 1920s, Eleanor touchingly admits, "I'll never be any good at public speaking." In a scene in which Eleanor drives a roadster down a country road while rehearsing the speech she's on her way to give in rural New York State, Alexander beautifully captures Eleanor's determination to overcome her own shyness and become a champion of progressive politics. Eleanor and Franklin: The Early Years won 11 Emmy Awards, and its intelligent screenplay and fine acting have aged very well. It's a great love story as well as a great political story, an engaging drama made all the better by its historical resonance. --Robert J. McNamara