Mr. Deeds Goes to Town : Frank Capra and Gary Cooper at their peak

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Directed by
Frank Capra

Writing credits
Clarence Budington Kelland (story)
Robert Riskin (screenplay)

Runtime: 115 min

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Post depression America was seeing many people struggling with the ability to make ends meet. It no longer mattered whether you would a good person, or if you were out for only yourself, it pretty much depended on luck, as to whether you would be prosperous or not. Frank Capra took on the story of Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper), a small-town man, who strove to improve the quality of life for those around him, and thought about himself last of all. The character had everything that he could ever want; a steady job, a roof over his head, and a town full of people that adored his kindness. He was happy with his life, and wanted nothing more than what he already had. Suddenly, he is the inherit ant of 20 million dollars from a relative he barely new, and he is faced with a whole new world of greed.

Gary Cooper plays the lead role of the film, in one of the many films for which he was nominated for an academy award. He didn't win, but he shows off just what great range he has in his film roles. For this film, he had to assume to persona of a small-town man, who sees the good in everyone, and has not been confronted by the corruption that drives many people in the business world. Leading a normal life, he is now thrust into the limelight of New York City, and must deal with every opportunist who wants to sink their hands into his new-found fortune. Never seeing money as something of true value, or as something that determined the measure of a man, he was reserved in spending it on himself, and instead looked for what good he could do with the cash.

Jean Arthur plays the other lead, as Louise Bennett, a newspaper reporter tasked with getting the scoop on Deeds. She strikes up a friendship with him, in order to have first-hand knowledge of how this "country-bumpkin" would end up dealing with the big city and everything that it had to offer. This back story of hers actually made the film flow better, because Capra was then able to use the tried-and-true Newspaper headlines as a way to move forward in the plot. Instead of just making Deeds look bad, the headlines were able to make plot points, and further the time-line of the film without actually having to use dialogue or characters. A staple in films around that generation, Capra pulls this off brilliantly. That mixed with the great character development, and an enveloping story helped with Capra the Oscar for Best Director in 1937.

Mr. Deeds has been remade two times since the original came out in 1937, but it was this film that truly brought the story its due. It is basically a story of how a man must mature in the world in order to understand that people are not always what they seem. It shows the how valuable innocence can be, while at the same time showing how invaluable compassion is. With Capra and Cooper, there are some very dramatic scenes towards the end of the film that show just what great talents they both were. Instead of just relying on character telling a story, they use silent expressions and camera angles to help develop the story further. What that ended up doing was putting a face to what was going through the mind of Longfellow Deeds at all times.

The film did come out in 1937, but it still keeps pace with a lot of the dramatic films that come out today. Some of the dialogue is a little dated, and some of the scenes would be considered too slowly-paced for today's movie goers, but Capra really makes it work. The film kept me as a fixated audience and really helped to show me what was going on in film during the late 1930's. The camera work, and the pans were done quite well, and the fact that it was in black and white actually brought more respect to the film in my opinion. There were times when the film seemed to be a little rough, or that some of the overlay for the soundtrack could have been improved, but we are talking about a 70 year old movie here. The story of Mr. Deeds is one that is by now well known, and I found the original to be very well worth watching. It is the type of film that is great for families, and at the same time offers something to the thinking man. I highly recommend this film as a showcase for great direction and acting, with a good story behind it.