Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
As promised, here are my notes introducing last month's movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was directed by famed director, Frank Capra, director of It’s a Wonderful Life, It Happened One Night, and Meet John Doe. It stars Jimmy Stewart as an idealistic, naive young man who is appointed to a senate seat only to find that the politics of his state are run by a political machine which is sponsoring a bill for graft. (Note: no political party is ever identified in the movie)
Stewart’s character represents the powerful forces of American freedom, democracy and morality over oppression and evil. It is the movie that made Jimmy Stewart a major movie star. The film also stars Jean Arthur, the queen of screwball comedy, and a superb supporting cast including the incomparable Claude Rains as Senator Taylor. Look also for Beulah Bondi as Ma Smith, perhaps most recognizable as Ma Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life and Thomas Mitchell as the newspaper man Diz Moore, also in It’s a Wonderful Life as Uncle Billy.
The film was shot entirely on a sound stage at Columbia, where Capra had an exact replica of the senate chambers constructed. The exception (to the sound stage) was Stewart’s sightseeing tour. The scenes where James Stewart wanders around in amazement at the Washington monuments were "stolen", since the US Parks Service had denied the studio permission to film near them. Not only is the representation of the senate chambers accurate, the film also accurately portrays senate rules and procedures – I don’t remember how old I was when I first saw the film, but I remember being shocked when hearing of a senate filibuster and realizing that it was being staged by a group of senators and not just one!
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is ranked #26 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 Greatest Movies. It is ranked #5 on AFI’s list of the 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time. That same list is headed by another Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart film – It’s a Wonderful Life. Jimmy Stewart’s character, Jefferson Smith, was voted #11 on the AFI list of 50 greatest film heroes.
At the time the movie was released it caused an uproar in Washington. The Washington Press Club sponsored a premiere showing for more than 4000 viewers – including congressmen, senators and supreme court justices. About 2/3 of the way through people began walking out, including the senator from Montana. Some shouted “Outrage” and “Insult” The Washington Press denounced Capra for daring to show graft in the Senate. According to Capra, he received a cablegram from Joseph P. Kennedy, then the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, saying that the film would damage "America's prestige in Europe" and should therefore be withdrawn from European distribution. Ironically, while American politicians were upset over the film’s portrayal of political corruption, the film was banned in fascist states for fear that it showed democracy working! And, In 1942, when a ban on American films was imposed in German-occupied France, the title theaters chose Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) for their last movie before the ban went into effect. One Paris theater reportedly screened the film nonstop for thirty days prior to the ban.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington received 11 Academy Award nominations, but up against stiff competition in 1939 from Gone with the Wind, Stagecoach, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Wuthering Heights and The Wizard of Oz, it won only one Oscar – for Best Original Screenplay. The 1939 Best Actor Oscar went to Robert Donat for Goodbye Mr. Chips. The following year Jimmy Stewart would win the Best Actor Oscar for his role in The Philadelphia Story, which was largely considered a consolation prize for losing on his more impressive performance in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was directed by famed director, Frank Capra, director of It’s a Wonderful Life, It Happened One Night, and Meet John Doe. It stars Jimmy Stewart as an idealistic, naive young man who is appointed to a senate seat only to find that the politics of his state are run by a political machine which is sponsoring a bill for graft. (Note: no political party is ever identified in the movie)
Stewart’s character represents the powerful forces of American freedom, democracy and morality over oppression and evil. It is the movie that made Jimmy Stewart a major movie star. The film also stars Jean Arthur, the queen of screwball comedy, and a superb supporting cast including the incomparable Claude Rains as Senator Taylor. Look also for Beulah Bondi as Ma Smith, perhaps most recognizable as Ma Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life and Thomas Mitchell as the newspaper man Diz Moore, also in It’s a Wonderful Life as Uncle Billy.
The film was shot entirely on a sound stage at Columbia, where Capra had an exact replica of the senate chambers constructed. The exception (to the sound stage) was Stewart’s sightseeing tour. The scenes where James Stewart wanders around in amazement at the Washington monuments were "stolen", since the US Parks Service had denied the studio permission to film near them. Not only is the representation of the senate chambers accurate, the film also accurately portrays senate rules and procedures – I don’t remember how old I was when I first saw the film, but I remember being shocked when hearing of a senate filibuster and realizing that it was being staged by a group of senators and not just one!
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is ranked #26 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 Greatest Movies. It is ranked #5 on AFI’s list of the 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time. That same list is headed by another Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart film – It’s a Wonderful Life. Jimmy Stewart’s character, Jefferson Smith, was voted #11 on the AFI list of 50 greatest film heroes.
At the time the movie was released it caused an uproar in Washington. The Washington Press Club sponsored a premiere showing for more than 4000 viewers – including congressmen, senators and supreme court justices. About 2/3 of the way through people began walking out, including the senator from Montana. Some shouted “Outrage” and “Insult” The Washington Press denounced Capra for daring to show graft in the Senate. According to Capra, he received a cablegram from Joseph P. Kennedy, then the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, saying that the film would damage "America's prestige in Europe" and should therefore be withdrawn from European distribution. Ironically, while American politicians were upset over the film’s portrayal of political corruption, the film was banned in fascist states for fear that it showed democracy working! And, In 1942, when a ban on American films was imposed in German-occupied France, the title theaters chose Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) for their last movie before the ban went into effect. One Paris theater reportedly screened the film nonstop for thirty days prior to the ban.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington received 11 Academy Award nominations, but up against stiff competition in 1939 from Gone with the Wind, Stagecoach, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Wuthering Heights and The Wizard of Oz, it won only one Oscar – for Best Original Screenplay. The 1939 Best Actor Oscar went to Robert Donat for Goodbye Mr. Chips. The following year Jimmy Stewart would win the Best Actor Oscar for his role in The Philadelphia Story, which was largely considered a consolation prize for losing on his more impressive performance in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Labels: movies
