Small-town poet Longfellow Deeds inherits $20 million from an uncle he barely knew. His benefactor's big city lawyers expect him to be easily manipulated as they continue to profit from the estate at the expense of the poor and downtrodden, but Deeds proves to be an eccentric independent determined to use his fortune to help Depression America. Complicating matters is his involvement with Babe Bennett, a beautiful woman he thinks is just another unfortunate, not realizing she's the tabloid reporter who's been making a mockery of him in the press. When Deeds' lawyers set out to have him declared insane, the stage is set for a showdown as inspiring as it is comic.
Producer/Director: Frank Capra
Screenplay: Robert Riskin
Based on the Story "Opera Hat" by Clarence Buddington Kelland
Cinematography: Joseph Walker
Editing: Gene Havlick
Art Direction: Stephen Goosson
Music: Howard Jackson
Cast: Gary Cooper (Longfellow Deeds), Jean Arthur (Babe Bennett), George Bancroft (Mac Wade), Lionel Stander (Cornelius Cobb), Douglass Dumbrille (John Cedar), Raymond Walburn (Walter), H.B. Warner (Judge May), Ruth Donnelly (Mabel Dawson), Walter Catlett (Morrow), John Wray (Farmer), Ann Doran (Girl on Bus), George "Gabby" Hayes (Farmer's Spokesman), Mayo Methot (Mrs. Semple), Dennis O'Keefe (Reporter in Courtroom), Franklin Pangborn (Tailor)
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Why Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is Essential
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town marked a change in director Frank Capra's films. It was the first time he consciously tried to make a social statement. The film's success would lead him to continue to make socially oriented films, including You Can't Take It With You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Meet John Doe (1941) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946). All of them dramatized the same theme, which Capra would define as "the rebellious cry of the individual against being trampled to an ort by massiveness -- mass production, mass thought, mass education, mass politics, mass wealth, mass conformity." Some critics have affectionately (and at times not so affectionately) labeled this viewpoint "Capra-corn."
From this point on, Capra refused to accept just any film that came out of the writing department. Instead, he insisted on spending six months to a year getting each of his scripts ready for production. As such, he inspired other directors to seek more control over their films. That control and his penchant for stories that tackled society's ills made him one of the first directors hailed as an auteur when French critics like Francois Truffaut began focusing their work on the director and his personality.
This was the seventh of 12 films on which Capra would collaborate with screenwriter Robert Riskin, who played a key role in the development of Capra's directorial style. Their other collaborations included It Happened One Night (1934), You Can't Take It With You and Meet John Doe. Riskin won a Best Screenplay Oscar® for It Happened One Night.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town established the screen persona that Gary Cooper would play for the rest of his career. Whereas previously he had been a popular male sex symbol, making screens sizzle as he shared love scenes with the likes of Joan Crawford and Marlene Dietrich, after Deeds he was seen as a pure, homespun all-American type. Future Cooper characters would be easily vamped by the likes of Barbara Stanwyck and Ingrid Bergman. As compensation for losing the smoldering sexuality of his previous screen persona, he would become one of the screen's most beloved stars and win Oscars® for playing all-American heroes in Sergeant York (1941) and High Noon (1952).
Mr. Deeds also made it possible for Cooper to maintain his independence from the Hollywood studios. It was the first film he made after completing his contractual obligations to Paramount Pictures and independent producer Sam Goldwyn. Its success made it unnecessary for him to sign another long-term studio contract.
Jean Arthur had been making films since 1923, but had made no great impact before Mr. Deeds except for her appearance in John Ford's 1935 The Whole Town's Talking, starring Edward G. Robinson and co-written by Riskin. With Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, she finally burst through to screen stardom.
Capra would re-team with Cooper for Meet John Doe, another tale of a simple man who takes on the powers of corruption. He would use Arthur as his leading lady again in You Can't Take It With You and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
by Frank Miller
