Frank Capra and long time collaborator Robert Riskin penned this comedy-drama romance film based on the 1935 serialized short story Opera Hat. The choice to adapt it into a film came after original plans to adapt Lost Horizon fell through due to scheduling conflicts with the intended lead actor forcing Capra to either cast someone else, which he refused to do, or make something else instead. He chose Opera Hat and had only one actor in mind for the lead, Gary Cooper. For his romantic foil Jean Arthur was cast after Carole Lombard bowed out at the last minute in favor of what she considered a juicier role. A contest was held to determine a better title for the film and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town won.
The story centers around Mr. Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper), a callow greeting card poet who lives in the small town of Mandrake Falls, Vermont. Sometime during the Great Depression he inherits $20 Million from his late uncle, Martin Semple, who died suddenly in a car accident in Italy. Semple’s scheming attorney, John Cedar (Douglass Dumbrille) locates Deeds and brings him to New York City to take control of his inheritance. Cedar tasks ex-newspaperman Cornelius Cobb (Lionel Stander) to keep the press away from Deeds.
This is ultimately foiled by star reporter Louise “Babe” Bennet (Jean Arthur) who appeals to his good nature by pretending to be an out of work woman exhausted from a long day of job hunting, fainting in front of him from the effort. Using this scheme she worms her way into his confidence and, eventually, into his heart. She uses the time she spends with him to write up a series of articles, portraying him as a yokel who has suddenly inherited riches he doesn’t know how to handle, giving him a catchy nickname “Cinderella Man.” When he proposes to her she begins to feel sorry for what she has done and intends to confess to him but Cobb figures it out first and exposes her to Deeds who is heartbroken by the revelation.
If this plot seems familiar it is because elements of it were reused on a number of occasions from the silly, but popular, sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies to a quasi-remake in the early 2000’s, Mr. Deeds, starring Adam Sandler. It’s the American Dream to inherit millions from a rich relative and makes for an engaging fantasy imagining it happing to ourselves. This film turns that fantasy on its ear, though. When the good news is delivered to Mr. Deeds he is nonchalant about the whole thing. Money means little to him and he is perfectly content to remain in Mandrake Falls writing his greeting card poetry. Despite what others initially think about him he is no fool, though. He quickly sees through John Cedar’s schemes ascertaining that the man is not to be trusted. This allows him to avoid signing over power of attorney on his finances, something Cedar is pushing him to do to hide his shady business dealings.
The bulk of the story revolves around the relationship between Deeds and Babe, though. Jean Arthur may not have been the first choice for this role but she is excellent in it. She is completely believable as a hard-nosed reporter in it just for the pay and a promised paid vacation. She didn’t expect to fall for Deeds, though, and that leads to a crisis of conscience. When Deeds, broken hearted by the betrayal, determines to give away his fortune, he is taken to court by his attorney and Deed’s only other relatives in an attempt to have him declared mentally unfit to have control of the fortune. Babe appears in court and vigorously defends him, chastising herself for her role in painting him in a bad light and showing to him that she truly does love him. Only then does he realize that she has fallen for him, too, and he speaks up, tearing holes in the prosecutor’s case.
Gary Cooper is in fine form as the strait laced Longfellow Deeds, a little too strait laced in fact. There are times when his character is a little too altruistic to be believed. And then there are moments like when he is introduced to some famous writers he admires only to realize they look down on him, mocking him. This leads to an all out brawl that feels out of character to the otherwise genteel man. When he feels betrayed by Babe he just shuts down, refusing to defend himself when the court is on the verge of taking away all of his fortune, preventing him from using it to help homeless people acquire farm land to live on and cultivate. If it were just him losing the money this wouldn’t have bothered me but he’s willing to jeopardize these nameless people he wants to help just because of a broken heart. Cedar is painting him out to be manic depressed and his reaction is playing directly into that assertion.
As a whole this is a feel good crowd-pleaser of a film that is just as sweet now as it was in the 1930’s. The Great Depression setting would have helped, too, to build audiences trust for Mr. Deeds as he seeks to use his newly found gains to aid the poor of the city. He isn’t the type of character to allow riches to change who he is or how he thinks about life and that makes him a truly likable protagonist. The story is a little shallow and doesn’t quite justify the longer runtime, though. It could have been trimmed by about ten minutes and the pacing would have been all the better for it. Still, it is one of Capra’s top tier films sitting right up there with It Happened One Night and It’s a Wonderful Life, a little syrupy and sentimental but that’s what people need sometimes to get them through the bitterness of life in the 1930’s.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Columbia
Best Director: Frank Capra (won)
Best Actor: Gary Cooper
Best Original Story: Robert Riskin
Best Sound Recording: John P. Livadary
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Release Date: April 12, 1936
Running Time: 116 Minutes
Not Rated
Starring: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft, Lionel Stander, Douglass Dumbrille and H.B. Warner
Directed By: Frank Capra
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