Review of Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) by Grant S — 31 Aug 2018

Another Capra classic.

One of the wealthiest men in the country dies and leaves his entire fortune to his nephew, Longfellow Deeds. Deeds is a simple, satisfied man of moderate means living in a small town. In an instant he is whisked to New York where he is waited on hand and foot and becomes the target for scammers, lawyers and publicity-seekers. Overwhelmed by the turn his life has taken, and awoken to another use for his new-found fortune, Mr. Deeds makes a momentous decision.

Directed by the legendary Frank Capra, this has the Capra trademark features: the main character goes from nobody to somebody, and discovers it's not necessarily a good thing; there's the usual mountains of sentimentality that are laid on so thick and idealistically that they should backfire, but work out in the end.

The sentimentality and idealism does come close to wrecking this movie. The start was good, with Gary Cooper playing the innocent, yet savvy, country hick perfectly. In the middle things got very schmaltzy and idealistic and I started to lose interest. However, the final third or so, the court scenes, was highly engaging, entertaining and profound, with a great conclusion, making it all worth while.

The plot is very reminiscent of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Meet John Doe (which also starred Gary Cooper). Not as good as those two movies, due to the idealism and schmaltz overload in the middle, but a great movie nevertheless.