MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (1936)
Direction: Frank Capra
Cast: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft, Douglass Dumbrille, Lionel Stander, H. B. Warner, Ruth Donnelly, Raymond Walburn, Margaret Seddon, Margaret McWade
Screenplay: Robert Riskin; from Clarence Budington Kelland "Opera Hat"
Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, Frank Capra
By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
There is a tendency among some to think that all the art produced by a great artist is great. This is false, but it gives cover for bad critics who just recycle old blurbs about said artist. Think of the fawning that goes on in discussions of Shakespeare. Although he could be a great writer, all but a dozen or so of his sonnets were mediocre tongue-twisters, and two-thirds of his thirty-seven known plays range from mediocre to terrible.
In other words, by being uncritical one actually diminishes the great art that has been produced, for an uncritical stance makes it seem as if greatness is a quality alien to all but the blessed few. That sort of approach negates the hard work that all great endeavors require.
This thought was ubiquitous as I watched Frank Capra's 1936 black-and-white classic Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, in many ways, a (lighter) precursor to the later Capra-Gary Cooper social drama Meet John Doe (1941), as both films feature rags-to-riches tales in which men are manipulated by the women they love.
Adapted by longtime Capra collaborator and dialogue expert Robert Riskin from Clarence Budington Kelland's story "Opera Hat," Mr. Deeds is, as all Capra fare, undeniably a good film. It is not, however, on a league with It's a Wonderful Life or even the director's 1934 Oscar-winner It Happened One Night; Mr. Deeds Goes to Town lacks the overall depth of the former (while being far more preachy) and the quick-paced, tart-tongued dialogue of the latter. (Mr. Deeds clocks in at 115 minutes.)
Despite the use of many familiar tropes, what sets Capra apart from lesser directors are his believable lesser characters, all of whom are given moments to shine. (Capra is much helped by Riskin's peerless dialogue.) Add to that the director's relentless glare at his leading actors' characterizations, and his films — which lesser directors would have turned into the cornfests Capra's worst critics claim them to be — possess a grittiness akin to that of film noir.
The plot of Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is quite simple: Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper), a greeting-card poet and tuba player, is a sweet Vermont relative of a millionaire. After inheriting twenty million dollars from his late uncle, Deeds, accompanied by his uncle's slimy lawyer John Cedar (Douglass Dumbrille) and PR man Cornelius Cobb (Lionel Stander), goes to New York City. The New York tabloids have a field day with the story, and one of the newspapers sends their top reporter, Louise 'Babe' Bennett (Jean Arthur), to get the scoop on "Cinderella Man."
On the orders of her editor (George Bancroft), Babe poses as Mary Dawson; under that guise, she slowly seduces Deeds. All the while, he tries to cope with hangers-on and assorted leeches. It is the Great Depression, after all.
Cedar tries to get Deeds to give him power of attorney so he can embezzle some of the money to pay off the debts of his law firm, but the seemingly naive small-towner turns out to be a crafty businessman.