Directed by: Frank Capra.
Written by: Sidney Buchman & Lewis R. Foster.
Starring: James Stewart (Jefferson Smith), Jean Arthur (Saunders), Claude Rains (Senator Joseph Paine), Edward Arnold (Jim Taylor), Guy Kibbee (Governor Hopper), Thomas Mitchell (Diz Moore), Eugene Pallette (Chick McGann), Beulah Bondi (Ma Smith), Harry Carey (President of the Senate), Astrid Allwyn (Susan Paine).
In
his excellent recent book, Five Came Back, Mark Harris makes the point (that
others before him have noted) that Frank Capra’s personal politics as expressed
in his films is murky at best – and that this could be a result of Capra not
being overly political at all. Watching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington for the
first time in years, I definitely see that point more clearly than I did when I
watched the film as a teenager. Here is a movie about the Senate – that caused
an uproar in that body when it was released in 1939 – where no one really
expresses a political point of view other than that corruption is bad. None of
the politicians are identified by party. The biggest political point in the
film almost feels like an accident – that big money and media influence has the
ability to compromise politicians who will sell themselves out to stay in
power. Capra and his screenwriters needed a villain, so they created one in Jim
Taylor (Edward Arnold) – who “runs” his home state through his money and his
newspapers and never has to hold elected office. Having said all of that, I
still must say that I think Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a great movie – and
it would take a black souled cynic to completely resist the film – and not be
won over by it. Yes, Capra could have made a more complex film had he addressed
some more political issues, but there is so much here to love that I find I
really don’t care that much.
The
film opens with the Junior Senator of an unnamed (presumably Mid-Western) state
dying unexpectedly. This means that Governor Hopper (Guy Kibbee) – an incompetent
boob who gets no respect from his family, and less from everyone else, needs to
appoint his successor. The “Taylor Machine” names a party hack and tells Hopper
he better play ball. Taylor, alongside the well-respected Senior Senator Joseph
Paine (Claude Rains) have a deal that requires the state to buy up a lot of
land for a dam that they own through surrogates – and they need someone who
will play along so they can get rich. The citizens group Hopper hates the guy
Taylor wants – and say they want another man – someone will rock the boat.
Hopper, not knowing what to do, decides to not listen to either of them – and
picks the man his kids want him to – Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) – a
popular Boy Ranger leader, who has recently become a hero in the state for his
efforts to stop a giant fire. Hopper figures that he’s popular enough to please
the citizens groups, and dumb enough that he won’t cause problems for Taylor.
So just like Gary Cooper’s Mr. Deeds in Capra’s previous film, the small town
boy, with homespun values heads off to the big city – and discovers just how
corrupt everything is.
If
you were to think of an iconic image of Stewart Jefferson Smith is probably the
first character that comes to mind – (if it’s not George Bailey, from another
Capra film). Smith is charming, soft spoken and radiates honesty. He represents
“simple, hometown American ideals” – so much so that when he arrives in
Washington the first thing he does is go on a site seeing tour. Stewart
stammers throughout, gets nervous around the girl he has a crush on (Astrid
Allwyn) and has the perfect “Aw shucks” charm for the role. Jefferson Smith
seems to be exactly what Hooper thought he was – a fool – but underneath that
surface is an idealist – and a smart one at that. He hasn’t been corrupted by
politics yet. Stewart is perfect in roles like this – it made him a star, and
kept him one for decades – and allowed him to explore much darker material –
like in his collaborations with Anthony Mann and Alfred Hitchcock – in part
because audiences liked him so much that they would follow him anywhere – even
if, like in Rear Window and Vertigo, that’s basically voyeurism and
necrophilia. Stewart is great as the wide eyed innocent in those opening scenes
– and when his famous filibuster starts in the last act – after Taylor and
Paine have almost successfully destroyed him and he’s ranting for his life –
he’s great there as well. It ranks as one of Stewart’s best performances.
Yet,
the supporting cast is almost even better than Stewart. Capra favorite Jean
Arthur played a similar role in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town – the street smart,
cynical woman who starts out thinking the main character is a dope, but who
gradually falls in love with him. But Arthur plays it so well – is so smart,
sexy, funny and charming that you hardly care. Claude Rains specialized in
villainous roles yet he doesn’t make Senator Paine into a straight black and
white villain – he honestly believes that the compromises he has made do not
really matter – that they were in fact necessary. It’s just when he faced with
the mirror image of who he once was in Smith that he realizes how far he has
fallen. Stewart and Rains got richly deserved Oscar nominations for their
performances – and so did Harry Carey who played the unnamed President of the
Senate – and despite the unnamed part, he deserved it as well. Throughout the
filibuster, he sits back at first rather annoyed, and then increasingly amused
by Smith, until you feel that even if Smith’s pleas have mostly fallen on deaf
ears during his time there, that Smith has actually won him over. It’s a funny,
laid back performance. Edward Arnold is the embodiment of greed as Jim Taylor –
and even if you wish he was given a more complex character to play, he plays it
well. Thomas Mitchell – in the midst of a career year as he would also win an
Oscar for playing the drunken doctor in Stagecoach, as well as having
supporting roles in Gone with the Wind and Howard Hawks’ Only Angels Have Wings
– is amusing as a drunken reporter – and Arthur’s sounding board – who finds
himself as charmed by Smith as she is. It’s the mark of a great ensemble that a
performance like Stewart’s – that in many movies would tower over everyone
else, dwarfing them, here is just one note in a larger piece.
The
ending of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is somewhat problematic. Like in his
follow-up film, Meet John Doe, Capra and his writers seem to have written
themselves into a corner and didn’t really have a way out of it that would
still give them the happy ending they wanted. In the case of Meet John Doe, the
only logical way to end the film would have been for Gary Cooper to kill
himself – and they weren’t going to do that. Here, having set Taylor up as a
kind of all-powerful tycoon who could do anything he wanted, there was no
logical way for Smith to actually win – so they needed to have one character do
an abrupt about face that doesn’t make much sense. It works, but only because
the audience wants it to, not because of any sort of logic in the movie itself.
And when you think about it, the ending doesn’t really solve anything. Perhaps
the film is more cynical than it gets credit for.
Frank
Capra was often derided during his career – and is still derided by many today.
The term “Capra-corn” was invented to describe his movies. It’s not a
completely unfair criticism – films like Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Mr. Smith Goes
to Washington and It’s a Wonderful Life (to name but three) are certainly corny
in many respects. But Capra, better than most directors, knew precisely what
the audience wanted – and was more than happy to give it to them. Yes, you can
write Mr. Smith Goes to Washington off as a corny fantasy – an overly
idealistic, patriotic piece of rabble-rousing without a clear political agenda
if you want to. Me? I’ll just enjoy the film for precisely what it is – and
what it does well.
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