Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

Director: Frank Capra
Written by: Robert Riskin, based on "Opera Hat" by Clarence Budington Kelland
Year: 1936
Genre: Comedy
My rating: 4 out of 5

"Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" starts with a few seconds of a car driving fast and then careening off a bridge. Newspaper headlines flash onto the screen and inform us that millionaire Martin Semple was in it. The world's biggest news becomes the disclosure of Semple's will, and the announcement of his heir. As it turns out, he left all $20 million to his nephew, Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper), who lives in the small town of Mandrake Falls, Vermont. Semple's scheming attorney, John Cedar (Douglass Dumbrille) of Cedar, Cedar, Cedar & Budington, finds the tuba-playing greeting card poet and brings him to New York City. Having never left his hometown, Deeds has a hard time adjusting to the big city, and becomes excited by every fire truck that blares past. Cedar hires ex-journalist Cornelius Cobb (Lionel Stander) to keep reporters away from Deeds, but the determined Louise "Babe" Bennett (Jean Arthur) slips past him, pretending to be a poor worker named Mary Dawson who faints in front of Deeds' mansion. She starts spending time with him, and writes a series of incredibly popular articles about his odd behavior (such as feeding donuts to a police horse), giving him the nickname "Cinderella Man."

For the first half-hour of "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," the most interesting aspect of the film was the supporting characters. They are every bit as lively as the comedy requires (this being a more straightforward comedy than earlier Capra films). Cooper's performance, however, seemed terribly lackluster during this time. He walks an awkward line between confused simpleton, and someone who knows exactly what he's doing but is very very bored. It seems like in the first several scenes, the other characters are the main characters, and Deeds is only there to bounce lines off of them. Not that Adam Sandler's performance in the 2002 remake was any better, I just found myself wishing that Cooper would choose a way to play the part and stick with it. Fortunately, the performance shot sky-high after meeting Jean Arthur's spirited character, and for the rest of the film there were minimal flaws.


Structure/Form:
What does the title mean in relation to the film as a whole?
It refers not only to Deeds' move to New York, but his freewheeling nature and desire to see the sights of the city.


Are there any repeated scenes, images, dialogue, etc.? What purpose do they serve?
Within individual scenes there are some repetitions, but throughout the whole film the only ones are Deeds' tuba-playing and his Cinderella Man nickname.


Is sound used in any vivid ways to enhance the film?
"For He's A Jolly Good Fellow" could be called the movie's theme song, and it is played several times.


Are there any striking uses of perspective? How does this relate to the meaning of the scene?
Sometimes we see the way people look at Deeds through his eyes.


What specific scene constitutes the film's climax? How does this scene resolve the central issue of the film?
After he starts to give away his money to victims of the Great Depression, Deeds is tried for insanity, and for much of the hearing he remains silent as his behavior is attributed to manic-depressive disorder. At the end, however, he speaks up with the encouragement of his friends, and explains his actions.


Does the film leave any disunities at the end? If so, what does it suggest?
The ending leaves the characters in a somewhat uncomfortable situation, but it is separate from the main issue of the film, and doesn't evoke any questions.


Why does the film conclude on this particular image?
It both wraps up the central issue and implies a happily ever after.


Theme:
How does this film relate to the issues presented or developed? What questions are evoked by the film? Does the film present a clear point of view on an issue? How?
The predominant theme here is about how people in large numbers unreservedly make fun of those who act differently. During the sanity hearing, Deeds points out that everyone has their own idiosyncrasies, having already found some examples in the room. There is also a fairly consistent theme of greed and how money can negatively affect your life, but it is not addressed quite as directly.


Mise en Scene:
Deeds looks up from eating a sandwich and sees the mob of unemployed farmers looking at him.

Dominant: Where is our eye attracted first? Why?
We don't really have a place to focus, because we try to take in all of their expressions.

Lighting key: High key? Low key? High contrast? Some combination of these?
High key, to clearly show the faces of all of the farmers.

Shot and camera distance: What type of shot? How far away is the camera from the action?
We see the group through Deeds' eyes.

Angle: Are we (and the camera) looking up or down on the subject? Or is the camera eye level?
Perhaps a wee bit down.

Density: How much visual information is packed into the image?
We see that each of the several hundred farmers is hungry.

Composition: How is the two-dimensional space segmented and organized? What is the underlying design?
There isn't really much organization, which is interesting since they are supposed to be standing in line.

Framing: Tight or loose? Do the characters have no room to move around, or can they move freely without impediments?
This was probably the tightest shot Capra ever had to shoot.