MR SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON is quite easily one of *those* classic films that everyone has heard of but not everyone has seen. It's referenced in everything, from television programmes like The Simpsons through to American Politics textbooks. It's got that glowing word-of-mouth aura about it, kind of like another of Frank Capra and James Stewart's collaborations, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. You know the story even before you see the film: James Stewart plays small-town community hero and full-time Boy Ranger Jefferson Smith, the idealistic naive kind of guy who's an aw-shucks patriot and can quote chunks of Lincoln and Washington off the top of his head. When one of the sitting senators in his state passes away, the massive political machine controlling and choking the state, headed by the ruthless James Taylor (Edward Arnold), goes into action. It's already bought out the senior Senator, Joseph Harrison Paine (Claude Rains), and attempts to break Jeff's back when he does finally go to Washington and his idealistic hope of setting up a national boys' camp in his home-state runs smack against a dam-building graft scheme Mr. Taylor is currently hatching. With the help of sassy, worldly Clarissa Saunders (Jean Arthur), Jeff sets out to prove not only that he is innocent, but that his faith in his ideals and principles will win him the world and the respect he deserves, all this through an absolutely cracking filibuster that takes up the last fifth or so of the film.
There is much to recommend MR SMITH, but I'd like to concentrate on the acting. Three actors deserve special praise for their work showcased in this film, although the supporting cast is also excellent, from the page boys in the Senate Room through to Governor 'Happy' Hopper (Guy Kibbee), the sympathetic Senate President (Harry Carey), and of course, Edward Arnold as Jim Taylor is as crusty and mean as ever. However, the three top-billed stars must also take top acting honours. Jean Arthur is excellent as 'Call me Clarissa only if you mean it' Saunders--she's completely believable from first to last, from her initial skepticism about the "Daniel Boone" she was going to have to shepherd around, through to her last impassioned fight for and with Jefferson Smith to win through against the Taylor political machine and the Senate. It's easy to believe her when hardboiled city gal Saunders listens to Smith waxing lyrical about nature, about the wonders of the American system and political symbols, and melts--her drunk scene when she keeps promising to marry her buddy Diz Moore (Thomas Mitchell) because she doesn't yet know that she's already in love with Jeff is great to watch. One really cannot help but adore Arthur, always sweet, real, and very much a Capra heroine (see YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, MR DEEDS GOES TO TOWN etc.).
Claude Rains is, as usual, excellent in his role as Senator Paine: he creates a character who is flawed but essentially good, someone who is so used to 20 years of taking orders from someone else that he can believe he's just 'compromising'. It takes Jefferson Smith, of course, to make Paine realise that there can be no compromising one's ideals without losing something even more important--one's integrity. Paine's final impassioned scene, when he bursts back into the Senate hall, is a fabulous display of deep self-disgust. Rains truly is one of the most undeservedly unknown actors of his generation: a rare chameleon who blends into every role he plays so much so that he's appeared in some of the most famous film classics of all time (aside from MR SMITH, he also plays key roles in CASABLANCA and NOTORIOUS, to name just two), and is not only as well-known for it as he should be, but also isn't often recognised from film to film! His performance is MR SMITH is no exception: pitch-perfect and utterly credible.
Finally, we come to James Stewart's Jefferson Smith, what must surely be one of the best performances ever committed to film--not just of Stewart's own filmography, but of every screen actor to date. He makes a potentially hokey, foolish character a real person, someone you'd really like to meet some day. By the end of the film you're cheering Smith on without reservation, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that you *believe* Stewart as Smith. From his first stuttery speech down to his final powerful filibuster, Stewart makes the role his. No person, dead or alive, could take on the role and hope to perform anywhere as well as Stewart has done. It would take some doing to keep the Washington sightseeing scenes from being oversentimental, and Capra manages to do so only when Stewart's expressive face is pictured onscreen, marvelling at these symbols of democracy and the American Way. (The flag montage goes on far too long for my taste.) Moreover, his filibuster scene alone could have won him lifetime achievement awards. Whether fired from within or aided by mercury (Stewart requested that his throat be painted with it so that it would be appropriately hoarse while filming the later hours of his marathon filibuster), it's quite a sight to behold. The fact that the Academy Award didn't go to him in this year is a travesty only slightly mitigated by his win in the same category the following year for THE PHILADELPHIA STORY. This film, however, truly contains the archetypal James Stewart character--an idealistic everyman-hero who loses confidence in himself but always comes through on top in the end.
If it isn't evident enough by now, the performances given in this film by the three top-billed actors is reason enough to watch it. However, MR SMITH also has a great script, fantastic production values, and a wonderful message. It may be Capra-corn, but it's Capra-corn of the first order, and will make you both smile and cry and believe that the world is a much better place than you thought it was.
There is much to recommend MR SMITH, but I'd like to concentrate on the acting. Three actors deserve special praise for their work showcased in this film, although the supporting cast is also excellent, from the page boys in the Senate Room through to Governor 'Happy' Hopper (Guy Kibbee), the sympathetic Senate President (Harry Carey), and of course, Edward Arnold as Jim Taylor is as crusty and mean as ever. However, the three top-billed stars must also take top acting honours. Jean Arthur is excellent as 'Call me Clarissa only if you mean it' Saunders--she's completely believable from first to last, from her initial skepticism about the "Daniel Boone" she was going to have to shepherd around, through to her last impassioned fight for and with Jefferson Smith to win through against the Taylor political machine and the Senate. It's easy to believe her when hardboiled city gal Saunders listens to Smith waxing lyrical about nature, about the wonders of the American system and political symbols, and melts--her drunk scene when she keeps promising to marry her buddy Diz Moore (Thomas Mitchell) because she doesn't yet know that she's already in love with Jeff is great to watch. One really cannot help but adore Arthur, always sweet, real, and very much a Capra heroine (see YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, MR DEEDS GOES TO TOWN etc.).
Claude Rains is, as usual, excellent in his role as Senator Paine: he creates a character who is flawed but essentially good, someone who is so used to 20 years of taking orders from someone else that he can believe he's just 'compromising'. It takes Jefferson Smith, of course, to make Paine realise that there can be no compromising one's ideals without losing something even more important--one's integrity. Paine's final impassioned scene, when he bursts back into the Senate hall, is a fabulous display of deep self-disgust. Rains truly is one of the most undeservedly unknown actors of his generation: a rare chameleon who blends into every role he plays so much so that he's appeared in some of the most famous film classics of all time (aside from MR SMITH, he also plays key roles in CASABLANCA and NOTORIOUS, to name just two), and is not only as well-known for it as he should be, but also isn't often recognised from film to film! His performance is MR SMITH is no exception: pitch-perfect and utterly credible.
Finally, we come to James Stewart's Jefferson Smith, what must surely be one of the best performances ever committed to film--not just of Stewart's own filmography, but of every screen actor to date. He makes a potentially hokey, foolish character a real person, someone you'd really like to meet some day. By the end of the film you're cheering Smith on without reservation, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that you *believe* Stewart as Smith. From his first stuttery speech down to his final powerful filibuster, Stewart makes the role his. No person, dead or alive, could take on the role and hope to perform anywhere as well as Stewart has done. It would take some doing to keep the Washington sightseeing scenes from being oversentimental, and Capra manages to do so only when Stewart's expressive face is pictured onscreen, marvelling at these symbols of democracy and the American Way. (The flag montage goes on far too long for my taste.) Moreover, his filibuster scene alone could have won him lifetime achievement awards. Whether fired from within or aided by mercury (Stewart requested that his throat be painted with it so that it would be appropriately hoarse while filming the later hours of his marathon filibuster), it's quite a sight to behold. The fact that the Academy Award didn't go to him in this year is a travesty only slightly mitigated by his win in the same category the following year for THE PHILADELPHIA STORY. This film, however, truly contains the archetypal James Stewart character--an idealistic everyman-hero who loses confidence in himself but always comes through on top in the end.
If it isn't evident enough by now, the performances given in this film by the three top-billed actors is reason enough to watch it. However, MR SMITH also has a great script, fantastic production values, and a wonderful message. It may be Capra-corn, but it's Capra-corn of the first order, and will make you both smile and cry and believe that the world is a much better place than you thought it was.