Review of Meet John Doe (1941) by John E — 21 Jun 2011
An adept satire of the media/political machine, Capra is as cynically optimistic as ever, but another studio-imposed ending robs the film of some of its chutzpah. Stanwyck is quite enjoyable as somebody who has all the confidence in the world and only later becomes aware she is no better than a tool of the snooty elite.
Gary Cooper perfectly embodies the American everyman sucker. What's really something is how prescient the script is, how unchanged and unaffected it is by the passage of time. Capra remains cautiously optimistic about this news system; he knows that so far, it's the best system we've got, and people will continue listening to it.
It's important to remember that we need to have our own critic, constantly appraising and analyzing what is being shown us.
This review of Meet John Doe (1941) was written by John E on 21 Jun 2011.
Meet John Doe has generally received very positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
