| Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | |
|---|---|
_Window_Card_Poster_(cropped).jpg) Window Card | |
| Directed by | Frank Capra |
| Screenplay by | Robert Riskin |
| Based on | Opera Hat 1935 story inAmerican Magazine byClarence Budington Kelland |
| Produced by | Frank Capra |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Joseph Walker,a.s.c. |
| Edited by | Gene Havlick |
| Music by | Howard Jackson (musical director) |
| Color process | Black and white |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures Corporation |
Release date |
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Running time | 116 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $845,710 or $500,000[1] |
| Box office | $2.5 million (rentals)[1] |
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is a 1936 Americancomedy-dramaromance film directed byFrank Capra and starringGary Cooper andJean Arthur in her first featured role.Based on the 1935 short story "Opera Hat" byClarence Budington Kelland, which appeared inserial form inThe American Magazine, the screenplay was written byRobert Riskin in his fifth collaboration with Capra.[2][3]
Longfellow Deeds is the co-owner of a tallow works, part-time greeting card poet, and tuba-playing inhabitant of the hamlet of Mandrake Falls,Vermont. During theGreat Depression he inherits 20 million dollars from his uncle, Martin Semple. Semple's scheming attorney, John Cedar, locates Deeds and brings him toNew York City. Cedar gives his cynical troubleshooter, ex-newspaperman Cornelius Cobb, the task of keeping reporters away from Deeds.
Cobb is outfoxed by star reporter Louise "Babe" Bennett, who appeals to Deeds' romantic fantasy of rescuing a damsel in distress by masquerading as a poor worker named Mary Dawson. She pretends to faint from exhaustion after "walking all day to find a job" and worms her way into his confidence. Bennett proceeds to write a series of enormously popular newspaper articles on Longfellow, portraying him as a madcapyokel who has suddenly inherited riches, giving him the nickname "Cinderella Man".
Cedar tries to get Deeds'power of attorney in order to keep his own financial misdeeds secret. Deeds, however, proves to be a shrewd judge of character, easily fending off Cedar and other greedy opportunists. He wins Cobb's wholehearted respect and eventually Babe's love, falling for her himself and proposing in a poem. She quits her job in shame, but before she can tell Deeds the truth about herself, Cobb finds out and tells Deeds. Deeds is left heartbroken and decides to return to Mandrake Falls.
After he has packed and is about to leave, a dispossessed farmer stomps into his mansion and threatens him with a gun. He expresses his scorn for the seemingly heartless, ultra-rich man, who feeds doughnuts to horses but will not lift a finger to help the multitudes of desperate poor. After the intruder comes to his senses, Deeds realizes that he can put his troublesome fortune to good use. He decides to provide 2,000 fully equipped 10-acre (4-hectare) farms free to homeless families if they will work the land for three years.
Cedar joins forces with Deeds' only other relative, Semple, and his shrewish wife, in an attempt to have Deeds declaredmentally incompetent. A sanity hearing is scheduled to determine who should control the fortune. During the hearing, Cedar calls an expert who diagnoses Deeds withmanic depression based on Babe's articles and witnesses to his recent behavior. As he has since been taken into custody, Deeds continues to refuse to speak.
Babe speaks up passionately on his behalf, blaming herself for what she did to him. When he realizes that she truly loves him, he begins speaking, systematically punching holes in Cedar's case and then punching Cedar in the face. The judge declares him to be not only sane, but "the sanest man who ever walked into this courtroom." Victorious, Deeds and Babe embrace and kiss, Deeds sweeping her up into his arms and carrying her off.
Uncredited:
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Originally,Frank Capra intended to makeLost Horizon afterBroadway Bill (1934), but lead actorRonald Colman could not get out of his other filming commitments. Thus, Capra began adaptingMr. Deeds Goes to Town. As production began, the two lead actors were cast: Gary Cooper as Longfellow Deeds and Jean Arthur as Louise "Babe" Bennett/Mary Dawson. Cooper was Capra's "first, last and only choice" for the pivotal role of the eccentric Longfellow Deeds.[4]
Arthur was not the first choice for the role, butCarole Lombard, the original female lead, quit the film just three days before principal photography, in favor of a starring role inMy Man Godfrey.[5] The first scenes shot on the Fox Studios' New England street lot were in place before Capra found his replacement heroine in a rush screening.[6] The opening sequences had to be reshot when Capra decided against the broad comedy approach that had originally been written.[5]
Despite his penchant for coming in "under budget," Capra spent an additional five shooting days in multiple takes, testing angles and "new" perspectives, treating the production as a type of workshop exercise. Due to the increased shooting schedule, the film came in at $38,936 more than the Columbia budget for a total of $806,774.[7] Throughout pre-production and early principal photography, the project still retained Kelland's original title,Opera Hat, although Capra tried out some other titles includingA Gentleman Goes to Town andCinderella Man before settling on a name that was the winning entry in a contest held by the Columbia Pictures publicity department.[8]
The film was generally treated as likable fare by critics and audiences. NovelistGraham Greene, then also a film critic, was effusive in his praise, stating that this was Capra's finest film to date and describing Capra's treatment as "a kinship with his audience, a sense of common life, a morality".[9]Variety noted "a sometimes too thin structure [that] the players and director Frank Capra have contrived to convert ... into fairly sturdy substance. "[10]
This was the first Capra film to be released separately to exhibitors and not "bundled" with other Columbia features. On paper, it was his biggest hit, easily surpassingIt Happened One Night.[11]
It was the seventh most popular film at the British box office in 1935–36.[12] In a 2004 listing compiled by theBritish Film Institute,Mr. Deeds Goes to Town was placed at number 88 in their all-time chart based on cinema admissions in the UK, with an estimate attendance of 8.3 million.[13][14]
| Year | Award ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 | Academy Awards[15] | Best Picture | Columbia | Nominated |
| Best Director | Frank Capra | Won | ||
| Best Actor | Gary Cooper | Nominated | ||
| Best Original Story | Robert Riskin | Nominated | ||
| Best Sound Recording | John P. Livadary | Nominated | ||
| New York Film Critics Circle Awards[16] | Best Film | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | Won | |
| Best Actor | Gary Cooper | Nominated | ||
| 1936 | National Board of Review Awards | Best Film | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | Won |
| Top Ten Films | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | Won | ||
| Venice Film Festival | Mussolini Cup for Best Foreign Film | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | Nominated | |
| Special Recommendation | Frank Capra | Won |
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is recognized byAmerican Film Institute in these lists:
A radio adaptation ofMr. Deeds Goes to Town was originally broadcast on February 1, 1937, onLux Radio Theater. In that broadcast, Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur and Lionel Stander reprised their roles from the 1936 film.[19]
A planned sequel, titledMr. Deeds Goes to Washington, eventually becameMr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). Although the screenplay was actually based on an unpublished story titledThe Gentleman from Montana,[20] it was initially intended as a sequel with Cooper reprising his role.[N 1] Because Cooper was unavailable, Capra immediately reenvisioned the project as being suited forJimmy Stewart (who was borrowed fromMGM)[21] and Jean Arthur[22] (who plays a character with a different name).
The secondanimated feature film fromFleischer Studios,Mr. Bug Goes to Town, was inspired byMr. Deeds Goes to Town.
A short-livedABCtelevision series of thesame name ran from 1969 to 1970, starringMonte Markham as Longfellow Deeds.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town was loosely remade asMr. Deeds in 2002, starringAdam Sandler andWinona Ryder.
The Bengali movieRaja-Saja (1960) starringUttam Kumar,Sabitri Chatterjee, and Tarun Kumar, and directed byBikash Roy was a Bengali adaptation of this film.
The 1994 comedyThe Hudsucker Proxy had several plot elements borrowed from this film.[23]
A Japanese manga adaption ofMr. Deeds Goes to Town was made in 2010 by Ogata Hiromi, titledBara no Souzokunin.
The 1949 Tamil movieNallathambi starringN S Krishnan was an adaptation ofMr. Deeds Goes to Town, aimed at promoting social justice and education.
The 1983 Turkish movieÇarıklı Milyoner inspired from the movie.
In 2016,Mr. Deeds Goes to Town was re-released with a4K-digital restoration for the film's 80th anniversary.[24]
The bucolicVermont town of Mandrake Falls, home of Longfellow Deeds, is now considered to be an archetype of small town America, withClarence Budington Kelland, the author of the original story, having created a type of "cracker-barrel" view of rural values contrasted with that of sophisticated "city folk".[25][26] The wordpixilated,[N 2] previously limited to New England[27] (and attested there since 1848), "had a nationwide vogue in 1936" thanks to its prominent use in the film,[28] although its use in the screenplay may not be an accurate interpretation.[N 3]
The worddoodle, in its modern specific sense of drawing on paper rather than in its older more general sense of 'fooling around', may also owe its origin[citation needed] – or at least its entry into common usage[citation needed] – to the final courtroom scene in this film. The Longfellow Deeds character, addressing the judge, explains the concept of adoodler – which the judge has not heard before – as being "a word we made up back home to describe someone who makes foolish designs on paper while they're thinking."
The courtroom scene inspired the publication in the year after its release of a book that incorporated both words,Everybody's Pixillated: A Book of Doodles.[29]
The lyrics to the 1977Rush song "Cinderella Man" on theA Farewell to Kings album are based on the story ofMr. Deeds Goes to Town.[30]
In the movieBaby Boom, a babysitter refers to her hometown of Mandrake Falls.
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