Two classics While ya Work.. #1

( If you have already Read my Review of "dinner"---http://www.epinions.com/content_130132381316.. You can skip this part.)


TBR stands for now two things in my book life. As we alleged literati say in the book chat forums that usually means " to be read" ( of which my pile is quite massive) but for me it also stands for " To Be Reviewed". Well, due to the fact I have been inundated writing 20 articles a month for my actual writing OCCUPATIONS I haven't gotten a chance to get to much book reviewing lately.

But this past weekend while doing other piles of work from my extra-busy life (orchestrating a new composition of mine) I got to do my usual thing of having the TV on to make the time pass faster as I do this. What I got to wonderfully experience thanks to the Turner Classic Movies channel was bang out 250 measures of score while I revisited two classics from TCM's extended Oscar Winner and Nominee celebration– " Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and " Guess Who's Coming To Dinner"– here on a day when I finally have a few minutes to bang out some other writing--- is my thoughts on this first flick :



My goodness what a year 1939 was for movies, Was it not? Perhaps you have not only been long-familiar with this here Jimmy S.classic but some other little flicks called Gone With The Wind and The Wizard of Oz, just to name two others. What I always love about revisiting old classic movies I haven't watched in ages is to try to see their relevance, or lack thereof in terms of thinking of how their subject matter has stood the test of time.. Or how it hasn't.

Paradoxically this charming curio of a movie has aspects of both. On the one hand.. In this day and age of media saturation no matter HOW deep in the boondocks you may live.. Can anyone REALLY see an appointed senator such as the Stewart-portrayed Jefferson Smith REALLY "going to Washington " being this green and wide-eyed? Probably not. And even though this IS quintessential Capra-corn.. The downright cheeseball-ness of watching Mr. Stewart fawn over his new colleagues and the pretty girls he gets to meet while standing agog in front of such famous sites as the Lincoln Memorial is just a tad hard to take through today's jaded 21st century eyes.

But the initial sequences where all of this set-up occurs are another brilliant aspects of this stunningly well-put-together script. In just a few washes of "music video" where Jimmy is superimposed over all these patriotic landmarks over some now-laughably horrible quasi-Americana score, Jeff Smith's naive idealism is VERY clearly set in rock in just some non-dialogued images in a much more resounding and expeditiously clear fashion than another dozen scenes of Jeff Smith basically walking around saying " Golly Gee I am a Senator" could accomplish.

But Jeff starts to get into trouble setting up the plot's main conflict when he decides to become something more than the " Charming rube appointed to fill a chair" than his mentor and father's old friend , Joe Payne has set him up to be. ( Claude Rains in a stunningly underrated performance was nominated for Best Supporting Actor here. And yes Jimmy's cheer-worthy portrayal is the film's centerpiece, but Rains' oh-so-nuanced performance, that doesn't have Jimmy's end-filibustering -histrionic ( but in a good way) speechifying built in , is something I don;t think that's nearly trumpeted enough when people recall this film. )

What Jeff decides to do is make a bill for a camp for underprivileged boys , where the government would pay for the land initially but then boys would send in their nickels and dimes eventually to cover the cost. But what naive Jeff doesn't know is that the land he's choosing is set to be sold to another corporation for much less altruistic uses and Joe Payne's old cronies are pressuring him to get Jeff Smith not only to shut up but to boot him out of the Senate completely. How Claude Rains' Payne has to set Jeff up for a maliciously fabricated scandal– watching his conflicted pain over turning on what was his honorary Godson but while still doing his " job" as a longtime part of an Old Boy's network of Senate wheeling and dealing and compromise is really the performance and plot point that drives the movie just as much as Jeff's fighting " the bad guys."

Joe and cronies set up poor Jeff to look like he OWNS said land in question and that not only would he get the government money for the land.. But he would also be collecting the dimes and nickels from the poor boys !!

Needless to say Jeff's idealism goes careening out the window in dire heartbreak before he decides to fight. Now before I get to the ending I also want to point out that yes the gestalt script point of "evil bad guys again poor, naive good guys" is usually seen as the whole point of this movie.. But there are many nuanced little moment sand scenes BEFORE this all coalesces that I had forgotten about and that captured my eyes and heart just as much as the overall story.

When Jefferson first meets with Clarissa Saunders, his secretary .. As well as the lady who teaches him the mechanics of how one sets up a bill and presents it– their charming banter is delightful and wonderful. ( Not to mention I forgot how BREATHTAKING a woman could look when gazing raptly at Jean Arthur's gorgeous countenance as she expertly played the tough but sweet Saunders –who later encourages Jeff to fight the nasties.) This scene is also educational.. If you didn't learn enough on scholastic rock's I'm just a Bill, this whole perfect little scene will fill in the blanks. !!

The scene where Guy Kibbee tells Rains why he has to help frame Jeff's downfall and dissertates that this is how the Senate has ALWAYS worked with this shifty morality and back-scratching compromise is so powerful, even when Guy Kibbee comes across as some moustache-twirling version of Boss Tweed meets Darth Vader– his coldness is that chilling. ( And also resonant, it's totally plausible to see how this reflects just how politics works today.. The difference in the late 30;s is it just wasn't shoved in the everyday citizen's face on CNN like it is today.)

A final bit moment that wrenched my heart, in a scene that just could have been so maudlinly eeshy is when Jeff is first indicted on the false frame-up.. And goes outside with hat in hand and sits again in front of the Lincoln statue and quite simply, bursts into tears. ( The cheeseball Lincoln images from the beginning now play a fantastic thematic role in making this scene so powerful.) Saunders herself finds poor Jeff and encourages him to fight in some in a brilliantly worded exchange.

Then the " payoff" comes.. Or does it? Jeff decides to hold up his being thrown out of the Senate and the ruination of his Camp bill by filibustering.. And filibustering.. And filibustering... ( watch Clade Rains horribly pained expression when he puts his head in his hands when Jeff starts is rant.. The guilt and horror and self-recrimination in that 2-second gesture has more emotional power resonance that oodles of modern actors' hours of scenery chewing ) Jeff says a lot of cheer-worthy things and the pres is all there and people clap and cry just like you remember.. Etc etc..

But my only main issue here is that I forgot that .. Well.. That's all. There really IS no ending. In the middle of this filibuster Claude Raines tries to commit a shocking Mea Culpa in the lobby ( I won't spoil what he tries to do if you would like to revisit the movie and do not recollect.) .. But then after hours and hours.. Poor Jeff passes out. Does he die? Well, they say he just fainted. And then....

Then.. Credits. I had forgotten such a stellar script doesn't really have AN ENDING!! Did he really die? Does he get to stay in the Senate? Do the evil people get impeached? Does the camp ever happen? Does Saunders fall in love with Jeff? The fact that this movie ended THIS abruptly made me think of the end of The Turn of The Screw when Henry James haunted child seemingly gets totally possessed by the ghosts and just falls dead. Well,.. Um.. What NOW? What Next? What Happened?

While the revisiting of that seeming script deficiency still left me a bit annoyed.. Anyone revisiting this classic as I did will still be mesmerized by the pitch-perfect acting, the intelligent and brilliant script and find themselves, even to their reluctance.. Being swept up in the beauty and artistry of the kind of " corn" that only the brilliant Frank Capra could have put together with so much love and idealism.. Yet with still enough intelligence and maturity as to not come across as empty melodrama. Watch this classic again and you will see once again why this is indeed.... a classic.