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Not rated. () |
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All Flixster |
(1401) |
853 |
4304 |
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(723) |
440 |
2221 |
Male |
(678) |
413 |
2083 |
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| Mr. Deeds (64%) |
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|---|---|---|
| Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (78%) |
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| His Girl Friday (33%) |
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| You Can't Take It with You (60%) |
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| Life Is Beautiful (La Vita è bella) (27%) |
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Plot: A poet inherits 20 million dollars from his uncle and is promptly declared insane by all those who want a piece of the pie.
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:April 4, 2008
So much better then I was expecting!
A really funny, touching and surprising film that just makes you smile! One of Capra's best.
Does anyone think Daniel Craig stole his DNA from Gary Cooper? -
MCT:March 10, 2008
A wonderful story that is uplifting, charming and smart. Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur are a joy to behold. The Adam Sandler remake can't hold a candle to this classic. Capra at his best.
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MCT:March 8, 2008
Another Frank Capra classic, and a favorite of mine. It's very underrated and is far superior to the remake starring Adam Sandler. There are quite a few funny parts, and is a very original movie that was copied many times.
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MCT:January 9, 2008I've gotta say one stupid thing first--how on earth did one man end up making two films with titles that are formatted as "Mr. [So-and-so] Goes to [Such-and-Such]"? It's not a simple issue of two nouns joined by a conjunction, or a subject and an intransitive verb, or something else similarly simple--or even a person performing the same action, but specifically a male specifically travelling to a location. On the same thread, I would suggest that, upon viewing this one, I feel that Mr. Deeds Comes to Town would have been a more appropriate title, which I will explain in good time.
The beginning of the film is our old favourite trick--the newspaper headline spinning into focus. It seems a wealthy magnate named Martin Semple has fallen prey to vehicular trauma, leaving a fortune of $20 million dollars--especially keeping in mind this is set during the Depression--to his pseudo-estranged nephew Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper), a man who lives in the small town of Mandrake Falls, Vermont and writes greeting and postcard poetry, playing the tuba in the town band. Lawyer John Cedar (Douglass Dumbrille) takes the extremely cynical Cornelius Cobb (Lionel Stander--wait, Kup?!*), who is employed as the man to keep stories out of the newspaper for the late Semple, to find Mr. Deeds and inform him of his inheritance. We quickly learn that Cedar's motivations are less than pure--he wants power of attorney over the money so that he and his croneys (Cedar, Cedar, Cedar and Budington--the last of whom Deeds can never figure out a rhyme for) can control it themselves, and once Deeds comes into town, we find that everyone is willing to try anything and everything to get their hands on the money that means so little to Deeds himself. He almost shrugs when informed, saying, "That is an awful lot, isn't it?" and continuing to thoughtfully oomph phblatt on his tuba. Louise "Babe" Bennett (Jean Arthur) poses as one "Mary Dawson" to get close to Deeds, hoping to earn a month long paid vacation from her editor in the process, finding herself--you saw this coming, right?--falling madly for the sweetly naïve, loveable, yet fairly intelligent Deeds.
Once again, Capra and constant screenwriter Robert Riskin (husband of legend Fay Wray--star of the original 1933 King Kong) have tasked themselves with an honesty versus cynical greed sort of story. We have another honest man, this time the unbelievably, ridiculously honest Deeds, going up against the entire world, which is so steeped in its own jaded egocentric values that it literally tries to label the man insane for wanting to give to his fellow man. Over a half of the films in the set of Capra movies I bought were scripted by Riskin, and I have no complaints about this. His screenplays are fantastic, always with snappy comebacks that feel fresh--even over seventy years later, and dialogue for romance that, too, does not find itself mired in cliché or grasping at straws. Capra, too, remains in control, bringing a believability to the character of Deeds which would otherwise be nearly impossible to swallow.
Cooper, who I had previously only seen in High Noon, brings a similar countenance (of course, it is his own!) to the role, but by that I mean more his tendency to constantly look dour, rarely smiling and always seeming as if there's an awful lot on his mind, troubling him. It works though, he may or may not be aware of this part of his appearance, but it never affects our impression of the personality and character of Deeds. Despite this seeming somberness throughout, we take him as a good-hearted and kind man anyway, when he "aw, shucks" his way through many a scene, always seeming perfectly sincere in it. Arthur brings the "tough reporter lady who softens when she sees a real human being" type character to life quite well, which is pleasing to see as she apparently is going to continue on into the last two films in this set as well. Stander is excellent as the tough, sarcastic, suspicious Cobb--while I saw early on that he would be the lone voice consistently defending Deeds, it never felt overly scripted, nor poorly played. It seemed utterly natural for his character to cling to someone like Deeds, who he could easily tell was the real deal, but to be protective and scolding of him at the same time, fearing in his way that the world around them would ruin him, and hoping to instill in him at least some semblance of self-preservation. It's for that reason, that Deeds is the stranger, that I suggested earlier that the verb should have been "Comes" instead of "Goes"--Deeds is the stranger to our reality, coming into it, not going out into another one, and it is him, while we are proud of him and admire him, that we feel is out of touch with reality. This is, I must admit, pretty amusingly balanced by the few things he will protect himself over--a run in with some pompous poets who decide to mock him ends with Deeds on top, despite the fact that he is fooled temporarily by these men.
Again, as everyone suggests of Capra, this is a fanciful, fairy tale world in its way, but he doesn't shy away from negativity all the same. Deeds is told that violence is not an appropriate response, and though it is a light-hearted approach to it, it is still there and not (exactly) seen as a positive, though we most certainly cheer when some get theirs. Murder comes about in at least discussion in the previous two films I've seen, and here we open the film with a death. It's not all flowers and rainbows here, though there's a much more clear delineation as to who is good and who is bad--but at the same time, hearts can change. I know some people hate this for its lack of reality--possibly being unable to accept these things out of their own pessimistic view of humanity, or possibly out of a jealous envy of the world in which these characters live, but I do feel that in forms expressed so well as Capra's films, there's no problem with taking a dip into a more optimistic world and seeing some good, even if it's written.
Sidenote: Pixilated? The subtitles spelled it that way (I had to make sure I was really hearing that word) but some sites spell it "pixellated"--and clued me into the fact that not only did this film popularize that term, but also "doodling." Fascinating, I must say, though the Faulkner sisters' definition of being "touched by pixies" is a far cry from an image which has broken down into its most basic elements. Interesting, then, that the word was so wholely replaced, as I see little if any connection--and certainly the pixellated I'm familiar with, the latter definition, is derived from the elements being "pixels"--but perhaps that term is related to pixies. I suppose I should go look that up....
*OK, I know this is totally bizarre for someone to be raving about Frank Capra and to be excited that he just saw the man behind the voice of a Transformer, and I'm a total goof, but I can't help it. -
MCT:December 9, 2007
Good fun with a warm heart and infinitely superior to the Adam Sandler remake, but lacking in alot of ways including the character of Deeds who's kind of all over the place.
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MCT:December 1, 2007
Another Capra classic. Far superior to the more comical re-make. Still funny but full of true heart and emotionally uplifting performances. Not to be missed.
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MCT:October 28, 2007
What a quirky comedy. Cooper would play the nice guy who is always misunderstood. In this he plays a small town fella who finds out that he is the recipient of a windfall, goes to NYC, and becomes the laugh of the town.
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MCT:October 22, 2007
Fantastic! Why watch the Adam Sandler remake when you can have the original. Gary Cooper is wonderful!
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MCT:October 11, 2007Out of all the movies I've seen with Gary Cooper (which isn't very many, I guess), this is his best. He is utterly convincing as Longfellow Deeds, the naive man who inherits an enormous fortune and doesn't know what to do with it. Although it is a wonderful comedy, it also shows the dark side of America's Great Depression, especially when Deeds decides to use his money for the poor and is declared insane. It's one of Frank Capra's best movies and one of the best films ever made.
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MCT:September 1, 2007
Frank Capra was an auteur genius...watch this and It's A Wonderful Life back to back and you will believe too
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MCT:August 30, 2007
Complete and utterly delightful. Gary Cooper is perfection, Jean Arthur is one of the best female leads in the decade, and the entire film is not only funny and idealistic like the very best of Capra, but, all combined, makes one of the most adorable films ever made. And sigh to Gary Cooper.
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MCT:July 29, 2007Sad to say this but I liked the remake much more. Some movies are just so old that the language makes you need an' inturpetor.
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MCT:May 13, 2007
One of the all time great comedies. Blows the remake out of the water, Gary Cooper is great, and so is Jean Arthur, as always.
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MCT:April 20, 2007
"They think he's pixilated."
Gary Cooper embodies all the subtle charm and humility in the world as small towner, Longfellow Deeds. Immediately after he inherits 20 million dollars from his uncle, the vultures come out from the woodwork, intent on taking his money and ruining his reputation. In return, humble Deeds has his own ideas of how his money should be spent. A light-hearted and charming classic with a great message! -
MCT:April 9, 2007
Old Classic movie about the man(Gary Cooper)who is quiet,rich,& funny who was perceived as a crazy man because he wants to help the poor people during the economic distressed(war time)no one ever been generous.For them he is lunatic,needed to be stopped to give his fortune to others,he was sued by his realtive for being unfit person to make a decision.He represent himself to the court without any lawyer.And he won the case.
1939 is the time of depression,people have nothing to eat,no job...this period there are no one ever generous to help & build people's life by the thousand at one time. -
MCT:April 9, 2007
The movie starts off bland, but the ending was hilarious! I guess the best is always saved for last.
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MCT:February 17, 2007
A truly classic film. Frank Capra at his best. It's a simple movie that has wonderful messages for all to hear.
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MCT:February 6, 2007
Who is judge the craziness of man? This the question that plagues Longfellow Deeds. He sees the world as many of us do, mixed up and full of prejudices. We can assert this to anything: ie, race, creed, color, religion, politics, thoughts, views, experiences. The desires and aspirations of Longfellow are beyond the comprehension of the stuffy, New York lawyers. This is all at once frustrating and saddening, however, true to the Capra form, good wins in the end.
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