Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Louise “Babe” Bennett: That guy is either the dumbest, stupidest, most imbecilic idiot in the world, or else he’s the grandest thing alive. I can’t make him out.

I found that I liked this film much better when I viewed it as a fairy tale.

The story begins in the small town of Mandrake Falls where Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) owns the tallow works, writes verses for greeting cards, and plays tuba in the town band.  Lawyers suddenly descend on the town to tell Deeds he has inherited $20 million from an uncle.  They scoot Deeds off to New York where a throng of would-be hangers-on have their hands out for a piece of the action.  Although he is taken for a rube, Deeds has uncommon sense and resists all efforts to part him from his money.

Ace reporter Babe Bennett (Jean Arthur) is assigned to get a story on Deeds, who is well protected by a press agent (Lionel Stander).  She pretends to collapse from hunger in front of his mansion and Deeds, who has been waiting for a damsel in distress to come along, is rapidly smitten with her.  This enables her to print stories labelling Deeds “The Cinderella Man” and paint him as a sap.  Deeds falls in love with Babe.  The only thing that rescues him from a deep depression when he discovers her identity is a plan to use his money to help down and out farmers.  This is the only cue the vultures need to try to wrest control of the fortune by having Deeds found incompetent.  Anyone familiar with Capra will have a fair idea how this all plays out.

This has always seemed to me one of the corniest of the Capra oeuvre.  But if you look at it as a fable or fairy tale about a truly good and honest man prevailing over the forces of evil, it comes off much better.  The film certainly has some very funny bits and a charming goofy sweetness about it.  I think Cooper was fine here.  He must be the sexiest man in a three-piece suit ever.

One thing I thought about was the number of times Deeds socked someone who made him mad in the jaw.  This is taken as completely normal and even humorous by the film. There are absolutely no consequences.  I wonder whether this was a sign of the times or is part of the fairy tale.

Frank Capra won his second Academy Award for Directing for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, while Cooper received the first of his five nominations for Best Actor. The film was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Sound Recording.

Trailer