Rent Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Comedy-Drama. - Mr. Deeds Goes to Town review by Steve

 Frank Capra gives us an unlikely hero, a rich man who wants to give all his money away! Longfellow Deeds is an everyman from Hicktown, USA who inherits $20m and moves to the bright lights of New York. Deeds is taken for a ride, but surely he can trust fast talking newshound Babe Bennett, who he is falling in love with?

Gary Cooper gives a signature performance as the provincial, tuba playing writer of greetings cards who grows disillusioned by ambient corruption. Jean Arthur became a star as the tough cynic who repents. As ever, Robert Riskin's dialogue is full of sharp political wit, and he's brilliant at voicing Deeds' idiosyncratic wisdom.      

Some of the commentary on America in the depression feels like editorialising. Unlike other Capra/Riskin films, the message isn't spun into the thread of the narrative. They hammer away at the point that America needs to find a unified solution to the depression which includes the rich and the poor. At times the film seems as naive as its hero.

There are many incidental pleasures, like the unflattering portrayal of the Algonquin round table of New Yorker critics. Its theme is that a corrupt society will always make good people look naive, even dangerous. Which is fair enough. Deeds wins out because Capra can't send his audience home without hope. But the reality may prove to be different.

"Budington must feel like an awful stranger.” - Mr. Deeds Goes to Town review by LJ

This comedy-drama is almost identical in plot to the later Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, except that Mr. Deeds is a jerk and it is much less engrossing.