Plot
When a car crash ends the life of a fabulously wealthy patron of the arts, the decedent's $20,000,000 fortune is inherited by one Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) of Mandrake Falls, Vermont. Already a reasonably successful local businessman, Deeds doesn't really feel the need for anything extra in his life: he just wants enough time to practice his tuba and compose greeting-card doggerel. When Deeds is convinced to move to New York, hard-boiled newspaper reporter Babe Bennett (Jean Arthur) is dispatched to get the inside scoop on "The Cinderella Man." Babe's stories of Deeds' eccentricities and no-nonsense dealings with phonies and poseurs provide excellent headline fodder; but she begins to regret her actions, having fallen in love with the big lug. Deeds ultimately sets up a foundation to dispense his fortune to the country's neediest souls, on the proviso that the recipients do their best to get back on their feet, a turn of events that leads his lawyer John Cedar (Douglas Dumbrille) to try to have him declared insane. By the end of the sanity hearing, the judge (H. B. Walker) declares: "Not only are you sane, but you're the sanest man who ever walked in this courtroom!" A joyously unadulterated hunk of Frank Capra-corn, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town was adapted by Robert Riskin from Clarence Buddington Kelland's short story "Opera Hat." In addition to the pleasure of watching the country bumpkin outwit city slickers, the movie is a film buff's dream, boasting one of the best character-actor casts ever assembled for a single film. Nominated for four Academy Awards, the film won Frank Capra his second Oscar (out of three) as Best Director. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviReview
Frank Capra built his career around the themes that he explores in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. For the populist Capra, the battle lines are clearly drawn; he makes his points (sometimes heavy-handedly) by pitting small-town simplicity, selflessness, and idealism against big-city sophistication, greed, and cynicism. Capra raised the "little guy" to iconic status, stereotyping him as effortlessly as he stigmatized the corrupt city slicker. Gary Cooper's Longfellow Deeds often looks as if he is visiting from a different era, an errant knight guided by an anachronistic code of chivalry. He is not afraid to resort to violence if words don't get the job done, although his impassioned speeches tend to get him in more trouble than they get him out of. He is looking for a "damsel in distress," and he is guided by an archaic and romantic notion of "noblesse oblige." Jean Arthur makes her first of three Capra appearances as this damsel, the hard-nosed reporter who exposes Mr. Deeds to ridicule. Her nasally, pointed line delivery is sharp and precise, and Cooper's trademark laconic delivery is also perfect for the role. Playing the part as if born to it, Cooper is at the top of his game, imbuing Deeds with just the right blend of empathy and intelligence. Nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town won Capra his second of three Best Director trophies. ~ Dan Jardine, RoviCast
- Gary Cooper - Longfellow Deeds
- Jean Arthur - Babe Bennett
- George Bancroft - MacWade
- Lionel Stander - Cornelius Cobb
- Douglas Dumbrille - John Cedar
- H.B. Warner - Judge Walker
Credit
Stephen Goosson - Art Director, Samuel Lange - Costume Designer, C.C. Coleman - First Assistant Director, Frank Capra - Director, Gene Havlick - Editor, Dimitri Tiomkin - Composer (Music Score), Howard Jackson - Musical Direction/Supervision, Joseph Walker - Cinematographer, Frank Capra - Producer, Roy Davidson - Special Effects, Edward Bernds - Sound Mixer, Robert Riskin - Screenwriter, Clarence Budington Kelland - Book Author| Mr. Deeds (2002 Film), Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (1999 Film) | |
| Mr. Denning Drives North (1951 Film), Mr. Destiny (1990 Film) |
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