Mr. Deeds Goes to Town [G]

The life of naïve small-town hick Longfellow Deeds is changed dramatically one day when his multimillionaire uncle dies in a car accident and a fortune of $20,000,000 is left to him. Already dubious about what to do with so much money, a trip to New York cements Longfellow’s belief that the money will do him more harm than good as he gets hounded by the press, romantically tricked my a wisecracking reporter, and mooched off by all manner of greedy people including his so-called attorneys. It becomes obvious to Longfellow how many people want the money, but who are the people who need it? 

The first of the now-timeless screwball comedies, Frank Capra’s Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is quite possibly the sweetest and most uplifting movie ever! A true classic that is impervious to the eroding process of time, this movie has absolutely everything you could want: romance, comedy, drama, and a great twist of the plot that paves the way for a most moving and climactic ending. I absolutely adored this film! 

The life of naïve small-town hick Longfellow Deeds is changed dramatically one day when his multimillionaire uncle dies in a car accident and a fortune of $20,000,000 is left to him. Already dubious about what to do with so much money, a trip to New York cements Longfellow’s belief that the money will do him more harm than good as he gets hounded by the press, romantically tricked my a wisecracking reporter, and mooched off by all manner of greedy people including his so-called attorneys. It becomes obvious to Longfellow how many people want the money, but who are the people who need it? 

We’ve seen the simple-and-cutely-naïve-countryman-lost-in-the-throes-of-the-big-city story before, but this could very well be the place where it all began, and quite honestly I don’t think we’ve ever seen a story quite like this. What I really loved about the whole film was the character of Mr. Deeds. Gary Cooper performs the role of the sweet everyman beautifully without turning him into some sort of caricature, which is so easy and tempting to do. As the story allows for heaps of comedy, a brilliant level of restraint is exercised here, which makes the ending all the more emotionally stirring as well as the scene where he discovers he’s been duped absolutely heart-wrenching! You could see the ground fall metaphorically from beneath his feet and I could not stop the tears from promptly springing to my eyes! 

The film is perfectly balanced in terms of everything regarding plot: a plethora of secondary stories branch off from the central rags-to-riches narrative, each one weighing in at equal proportions! And we don’t just get to take a satisfying emotional experience away from watching this movie. No, not at all; the film is dripping with notions of antimaterialism, a comment on greed and what it does to a society, as well as a resurgence of traditional ideals and values: good will toward men, love thy neighbour, there are even lovely old-fashioned notions about romance inserted into the mix, like picking up the bride and carrying her over the threshold, and waiting for a damsel in distress. Everything, absolutely everything about this film is sweetness! 

Starring Jean Arthur, George Bancroft, Lionel Stander, Douglass Dumbrille, Raymond Walburn, H.B. Warner, Ruth Donnelly, Walter Carlett, and John Wray, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is one of the sweetest movies every made, filled with romance, drama, change, misadventures, and comedy. I adored it, absolutely ADORED it and it’s so going into the collection!