by Laura Lai
Film’s Title: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town Lead Actors: Gary Cooper (Longfellow Deeds), Jean Arthur (Bebe Bennett), Douglas Dumbrille (John Cedar), John Wray (farmer) Screenplay by: Robert Riskin Director: Frank Capra Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is a great comedy made in 1936 and directed by Frank Capra. It is the story of a young and sensitive poet who plays tuba and who has never left his small city that goes to New York to cash a sudden inheritance. Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) is visited by a group of lawyers from Cedar, Cedar, Cedar and Budington to be informed that he inherited $20 million dollars following the sudden death of this uncle. On this occasion, Longfellow Deeds left Mandrake Falls to go to New York, where he came across a journalist working under cover, Bebe Bennett (Jean Arthur), who cared more about her front-page story than about his feelings. Because of her articles, he got a negative publicity and the nickname of ‘Cinderella Man.’ But when he got the visit of a farmer (John Wray) angry because he could not feed his family, the Cinderella Man became Santa Claus and decided to share his fortune with U.S. farmers and help them build their farmers. Cedar & Cedar law firm suits him and the last ten-fifteen minutes of the movie are hilarious—this comedy’s climax (and ending). The entire movie has English subtitles and the viewers get a very good laugh from the beginning to the end. I, particularly, liked the ‘echo scene’ (58th minute) when Longfellow Deeds realized that whatever he said in the hall of the house had an echo, and he made a short echo concert with the other stuff working in the house. Furthermore, the ‘farmer dinner’ scene is a sequence I particularly enjoyed because it was humanly touching: the hungry farmer got the dinner seat that Longfellow prepared with golden dishes to propose to his fiancée. Last, but not least, I liked the wise remarks of the poet Longfellow Deeds who said that he did not understand why people like to offend and to hurt each other—something that I did not understand either, and I am not sure that anybody can explain that. He also wisely said that people are ‘in a crazy competition for nothing’—with which I agree. At this point, an old saying crosses my mind that makes (a spiritual) sense. It says that ‘what you give is yours forever, and what you keep is lost forever.’ However, this ‘nothing’ must be big, really big, since so many compete for it and consider worth hurting and humiliating… for nothing. Instead, this movie is a piece of something that was nominated at the 1937 Academy Award for Best Actor in Leading Role, Best Directing, Best Picture, Best Writing, and for Best Sound Mixing. Enjoy the movie!
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