Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

After seeing the remake (Mr. Deeds), I wanted to see the original. And as usual, the original was head-and-shoulders above the remake, and made the remake seem pretty pointless.

The plot is the same--Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) unexpectedly inherits a fortune from an uncle he'd never met, then goes to the city to take care of the legalities.

Babe Bennett (Jean Arthur) is a tough newspaper reporter who poses as sweet, innocent Mary Dawson to get the scoop on him.

But instead of a crooked board of directors, there's a greedy cousin, and there are no over-the-top silly jokes. It's still funny, but it doesn't resort to idiocy to accomplish that. Really made me wonder why lately Hollywood seems to think that only slapstick is funny.

It did take me a while to warm up to Gary Cooper in the role. I'd only ever seen him in macho roles, so this mild-mannered character seemed rather odd to me--I'd expected something more like Jimmy Stewart from It's a Wonderful Life. Not that he didn't play the role convincingly--it was just my expectations that were off.

There is a tendency amongst 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 and tendencies about the artist. Think of the unthinking and fawning that goes on in discussions of Shakespeare. Yes, he was a great writer, but all but a dozen or so of his sonnets were mediocre tongue-twisters, and two thirds of his thirty-seven known plays were mediocre to terrible, so by being uncritical one actually diminishes the great art produced, for an uncritical stance makes it seem as if the touching of greatness is a product alien to all but the blessed. In short, it negates the hard work that all great endeavors require.
This thought was ubiquitous as I watched the 1936 black and white Frank Capra classic film Mr. Deeds Goes To Washington. The film was adapted from a story, Opera Hat, by Clarence Budington Kelland, by longtime Capra collaborator, and dialogue expert, Robert Riskin. It's a good film, to be sure, as all Capra fare is, but it's not in a league with It's A Wonderful Life, nor even his earlier Oscar-winning classic, It Happened One Night. It lacks the overall depth of the former- and is far more preachy, and, in comparison to the latter, it lacks the quick pacing and tart-tongued dialogue, as it clocks in at 115 minutes in length.
This film was, in many ways, a precursor to the later Capra-Cooper film, Meet John Doe, as both films feature rags to riches tales in which men are manipulated by the women they love. This film, however, is not as bleak as the later film. Yet, despite the use of many familiar tropes, what sets Capra apart from lesser directors are his believable lesser characters- all of whom get moments to shine, as well as the peerless dialogue. Add to that Capra's relentless glare at his leading actors' characterizations, and his films- which with lesser directors would have truly been the cornfests his worst critics claim, are ones always presented with a grittiness that could be from later films noir, in the midst of the feelgoodery.... All in all, Mr. Deeds Goes To Town is Capra in fine form, if not at the top of his game. Yet, if it's true that not all the art produced by a great artist is great, the opposite sentiment has merit: even the lesser art from great artists is better than that produced by lesser artists. This film is proof of that claim.

It was too long and a little too slow for my liking. He was too brooding, too silent, and was it okay then to punch everyone when you felt like it? I like other Capra films, but this was just okay for me. I like to divide movies into "would I watch it again if someone else wanted me to watch it with them or not?" The answer would be 'no'. I'd find something else better and more interesting to do with my two hours.

Add me to the list of fawning reviews. If you do not cry at the end of this movie, you are not human. The acting, direction, dialogue, and above all, sheer humanity of this picture make it one of the cinematic greats. Thank you Turner Classic Movies! As a side note, I should disclose that I am a practicing trial attorney. The depiction of my profession is vicious, bordering on hateful. This movie loses a half star for this, but since Amazon only provides full star increments, I'm erring on the side of a one star de-merit. Don't get the wrong idea, I have the ability to laugh at myself and bought into the lawyer bashing as I watched the movie. Only in retrospect do I express this half-star-de-meriting outrage. The lawyers depicted here violated nearly every rule of professional ethics and would be disbarred in any jurisdiction. Shame on you, Frank, for this cheap effort to move the plot! Ironically, it's really at its base a form of stupid intolerance that this very movie seeks to critique.

Great title isn't it? I thought so, but then I'm jaded. But then I love Frank and everything he's done.

Don't waste your time (or money) on cheap imitations. You know there is nothing like the original. It is impossible for any remake of any Frank Capra film to be a cinematic improvement over the original, even if the original is in black and white. (Sorry Adam Sandler, it's nothing personal) Capra's character development is genius. The interactions and transformations along with laugh out loud humor make the movie go by way too quickly.