Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

#6 in my ranking of Frank Capra’s filmography.

The precursor to this was American Madness, the first fully Capra film, but this is where Frank Capra entered that stage in his career where he completely became what he’s become known for: the optimist in the midst of the Depression, the one who insisted that the American had it within themselves to help each other in the desperate times of fiscal and legislative mismanagement that kept the economy from running again. In the face of the death of the American dream, as Capra became one of the most successful film directors in the world, he used his forum to offer up a plea to the people, from the rich to the poor, to reach out and help one another. It was a message that resonated well with Depression audiences and when combined with Capra’s innate sense of humor, touching humanity, and a strong script by his most frequent writing collaborator, Robert Riskin, Capra had a real winner here.

A rich man dies and leaves the entirety of his fortune to his nephew, Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper), a simple man who lives in the small Vermont community of Mandrake Falls. He plays the tuba, will talk to anyone, and writes poetry for postcards. He’s perfectly content in his little American town when John Cedar (Douglass Dumbrille) and Cornelius Cobb (Lionel Stander) show up at his door with the news of the twenty million dollars he’s suddenly been granted. The film is essentially built in three parts, and the first part is Deeds discovering the troubles of money. Not only does he have people like Cedar trying to trick him out of his money, but he also has unwanted attention from the newspapers in stories written by Babe Bennett (Jean Arthur), a pretty young woman who gets her stories by pretending to be an ingénue to get in close with him. Deeds spends like crazy in his own little way to enjoy the benefits of wealth, like giving donuts to a horse, all while growing increasingly disenchanted with everyone around him save Babe.

What this early section does is create a likeable lead in Deeds, and while I think Cooper was miscast as the boyish heir to a fortune, it’s still a fun performance as he dances around people who think he’s a simpleton, does the little things we might do with a sudden fortune and few cares, all while falling for the pretty Babe. It’s fantastical and like a fairy tale, essentially taking Lady for a Day and condensing it down to a single act. The whole thing turns when Deeds finds out who Babe really is, the reporter making fun of him in the newspapers, breaking Deeds’ faith in everyone around him, opening him up to the pleas of a poor man (John Wray) who pulls a gun on him and breaks down into tears at the hardship he’s enduring through the Depression.

This is where the plea from Capra starts with Deeds coming up with the plan to buy nearly twenty million dollars’ worth of land, breaking it up into ten acre parcels, and then giving them out to those who would work them for three years. How Deeds’ generosity manifests is important to Capra’s worldview, I think. He didn’t have Deeds just giving money away. He had Deeds using his money to help find ways for those in trouble to work and contribute. It wasn’t about handouts but a leg up, and it’s exactly when the men who flood his house want. It’s not about fixing the whole problem, it’s about using what we have to help those around us. I can easily see why it appealed to Depression-era audiences, and I see the appeal now.

I think the film stumbles in its third act, though, when it becomes, essentially, a trial (it’s more of a hearing, technically) where we get a solid 15 minutes of testimony that just recites what happened in the film’s first ninety-minutes. It’s not the most interesting development as we’re progressing towards the film’s finale, but it does end up having a purpose given Deeds’ eventual cross-examination of everything where the first half essentially just laid the groundwork for jokes that play out in the second.

It’s the most Capra movie Capra had made up to this point. We have the embrace of small-town Americana. We have a simple, good-natured man getting good fortune. We have the corrupt powers around him trying to take him down. We have the girl falling for the man’s good-naturedness. I only really have a problem with how long the third act plays out and Cooper himself.

Cooper wasn’t a bad actor by any means. He was charming and had chops. He was good, but this role is more boyishly innocent than Cooper could play. Capra’s later leading man, Jimmy Stewart, would have been a more natural fit.

Anyway, it’s easy to see why this blew up at the box office in 1936. It had the right message of hope. It had movie stars. It’s really well-made and well-written. It’s entertaining and leaves you with a spring in your step as you leave the theater and a glimmer of hope about the people around you. It’s fun, funny, touching, and it has a great message. That I have these niggling issues with it bothers me. I want to love it more fully. Oh well. It’s still really good.

Rating: 3.5/4