| Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | |
| Director: | Frank Capra |
| Producer: | Frank Capra |
| Screenplay: | Robert Riskin |
| Music: | Howard Jackson (musical director) |
| Cinematography: | Joseph Walker, a.s.c. |
| Editing: | Gene Havlick |
| Color Process: | Black and white |
| Studio: | Columbia Pictures Corp. of Calif. LTD. |
| Distributor: | Columbia Pictures Corporation |
| Runtime: | 116 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $845,710 or $500,000 |
| Gross: | $2.5 million (rentals)[1] |
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is a 1936 American comedy-drama romance film directed by Frank Capra and starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur in her first featured role. Based on the 1935 short story "Opera Hat" by Clarence Budington Kelland, which appeared in serial form in The American Magazine, the screenplay was written by Robert Riskin in his fifth collaboration with Frank 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 the Great Depression he inherits 20 million dollars from his uncle, Martin Semple. Semple's scheming attorney, John Cedar, locates Deeds and brings him to New 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 madcap yokel 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 10acres 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 declared mentally incompetent. A sanity hearing is scheduled to determine who should control the fortune. During the hearing, Cedar calls an expert who diagnoses Deeds with manic depression based on Babe's articles and witnesses to his recent behavior. As he has since he was 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:
Originally, Frank Capra intended to make Lost Horizon after Broadway Bill (1934), but lead actor Ronald Colman could not get out of his other filming commitments. Thus, Capra began adapting Mr. 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, but Carole Lombard, the original female lead, quit the film just three days before principal photography, in favor of a starring role in My 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 including A Gentleman Goes to Town and Cinderella 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. Novelist Graham 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 surpassing It 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 the British 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 | |
| Best Director | Frank Capra | |||
| Best Actor | Gary Cooper | |||
| Best Original Story | Robert Riskin | |||
| Best Sound Recording | John P. Livadary | |||
| New York Film Critics Circle Awards[16] | Best Film | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | ||
| Best Actor | Gary Cooper | |||
| 1936 | National Board of Review Awards | Best Film | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | |
| Top Ten Films | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | |||
| Venice Film Festival | Mussolini Cup for Best Foreign Film | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | ||
| Special Recommendation | Frank Capra | |||
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: