USA 130m Dir: Frank Capra Key Cast: James Stewart
Originally director Frank Capra intended this to be a sequel to Mr. Deeds Goes to Town but Gary Cooper wasn't available so James Stewart was instead cast as Mr Smith. Whilst Deeds and Smith are similar characters, I think the two films work better as separate stories.
Jefferson Smith (Stewart) has been lauded for his work with the Boy Rangers, is selected to be a replacement senator as he will be popular and is naïve enough to not get in the way of plans to build a huge dam locally. Inevitably though Smith discovers that his fellow state senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains) as well as various others are under the control of businessman Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold) and despite attempts to frame him, Smith filibusters until the truth is revealed.
The film builds to Smith filibustering for the best part of a day and it's a truly fantastic bit of cinema. Stewart is superb as the naïve but idealistic Smith and he has a hell of a lot of work to do to deliver passionate line after passionate line, displaying Smith's worsening exhaustion as he does so.
The dialogue here is just fantastic, full of great speeches about integrity and standing up against corruption. It's one of those films which feels pretty timeless because the entire plot feels totally plausible today, if not more so than ever. Senators were furious at the time of the film for the way they were portrayed and there were even attempts to prevent critical films like this from being shown in cinemas. It feels like they must have been doing something right to cause that level of upset.
This film marks a slight change in the tone of Capra's filmmaking. Previously his films are supremely optimistic but here Smith is surrounding by crooks and corruption. However, there's still that sense of belief that one individual can make a difference and the pessimistic tone leads to a triumphant ending. In many ways the formula for Capra's later work It's a Wonderful Life can be seen here.
A magnificent, timeless film.
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