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Mr. Deeds
Goes to Town (1936)
In director Frank Capra's famous Capra-corn romantic
comedy:
- the startling opening of the death of civil leader,
banker, and financier Martin W. Semple in Italy, due to a high-speed
motor accident-crash off a bridge; the headlines declared:
"Trustees of Semple Estate Declares Huge Fortune Close to Twenty
Million"; the Disclosure of Semple's Will by Attorney Cedar,
Semple's Estate Representative, was Highly-Awaited; it was announced
in other headlines:
"Investigators Searching for Heir to Semple Millions" -
the Semple Heir Was Yet Unknown
- the Semple heir was located in the small Vermont town
of Mandrake Falls, introduced by its train station sign: "Welcome
to Mandrake Falls, Where the Scenery Enthralls, Where No Hardship
E'er Befalls, Welcome to Mandrake Falls"
- the heir was unassuming, eccentric bumpkin Mr. Longfellow
Deeds (Gary Cooper) from the small town of Mandrake Falls, VT - 28
years old, a guileless, tuba-player, local tallow factory manager,
an unworldly bachelor, a poet and writer of rhymes for sentimental
birthday cards, and the unexpected heir of $20 million dollars from
his uncle Martin Semple; Deeds reacted unbelievably: ("I wonder
why he left me all
that money. I don't need it")
- the scene of Deeds' first contact with unscrupulous
and "oily" lawyer John Cedar (Douglas Dumbrille), who insisted
that Deeds be brought to New York City; after a large town send-off
on the train, Deeds moved into an enormous, inherited mansion on
Fifth Avenue; he encountered many annoyances upon his arrival from
the media and many others; as his measurements were being taken by
a tailor, he noted to Cedar: ("The strangest kind of people
- salesmen, politicians, moochers, all want something. I haven't
had a minute to myself. Haven't seen Grant's Tomb yet")
- the scene of Deeds' meeting with the non-profit opera
board, to serve in the place of his deceased uncle who was the chairman
of the board, when he told off the snobbish gathering that wanted
him to pay the $180,000 bills: ("If it's losing that much money,
there must be something wrong. Maybe, maybe you charge too much.
Maybe you're selling bad merchandise. Maybe a lot of things")
- the character of Deeds with boyish charm, such as:
racing to the window to watch a fire engine, or sliding down the
stairway bannister of his mansion, or tickling the bottom of the
foot of a marble statue of a young woman
- the scene of wily reporter Louise "Babe" Bennett's
(Jean Arthur) masquerade as poverty-stricken
"Mary Dawson" in a rainstorm, when she pretended to faint
and he came to her rescue outside his mansion, and took her for a meal
at Tullio's - where she told him the sob story of her life: "I'm
really just a nobody"
Babe Masquerading as Poor 'Mary Dawson'
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'Mary's' Sob Story in Restaurant: "I'm really
just a nobody"
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Her Reporting on Him as "The Cinderella Man"
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- the second encounter between Babe and Deeds (after
she had ridiculed him as a 'sap' and dubbed him "The Cinderella
Man"
in her most recent column), including a sight-seeing tour to an aquarium,
a ride on the open top of a Fifth Avenue bus, and a visit to Grant's
Tomb where he patriotically extolled America as a place where any
boy could become President: ("Oh, I see a small Ohio farm boy
becoming a great soldier. I see thousands of marching men. I see
General Lee with a broken heart surrendering. And I can see the beginning
of a new nation, like Abraham Lincoln said. And I can see that Ohio
boy being inaugurated as President. Things like that can only happen
in a country like America"); shortly later, he expressed his
idealism: "What puzzles me is why people seem to get so much
pleasure out of, out of hurting each other? Why don't they try liking
each other once in a while?" - and his uncomfortableness with
the big city: "People here are funny. They-they work so hard
at living they forget how to live"
- their visit to Central Park, where on a park bench,
they sang an improvised duet of "Swanee River," with "Mary" drumming
on the lid of a garbage can with two sticks, while he made tuba-like
oom-pah-pah bass sounds with his mouth: ("Way down upon the
Swanee River. Far, far away...")
- the over-romantic Deeds' marriage proposal to "Mary"
- with the presentation of a sentimental poem to her that she read
outloud (barely audible) in a moving, emotionally-choking whisper:
("I've tramped the earth with hopeless beat, Searching in
vain for a glimpse of you. Then heaven thrust you at my very feet,
A lovely angel, too lovely to woo. My dream has been answered,
but my life's just as bleak. I'm handcuffed and speechless, in
your presence divine. For my heart longs to cry out, if it only
could speak. I love you, my angel, be mine, be mine"); she
responded breathlessly, "Oh, darling," and collapsed
in his arms, but he was so embarrassed that he fled
- soon after, Deeds' disgruntled discovery that "Mary" was
a deceitful, Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter, when it was revealed
in a newspaper clipping by his press agent: ("Mary Dawson my
eye! That dame took you for a sleigh ride that New York will laugh
about for years...She's the slickest, two-timing, double-crossing...She's
the star reporter on the Mail! Every time you opened your
kisser, you gave her another story. She's the dame who slapped that
moniker on ya Cinderella Man! You've been making love to a double
dose of cyanide")
- after the dramatic revelation, Deeds descended his
stairs and was confronted by an unemployed, outraged, hunger-crazed
farmer (John Wray): ("Did you ever think of feeding doughnuts
to human beings?") - he caused Deeds to rethink things, to remain
in New York, and to give away his entire fortune - the newly-acquired
source of all his misfortune - to dispossessed, unemployed farmers
- the long concluding and climactic sequence of Deeds'
lunacy hearing, presided over by Judge May (H.B. Warner); Babe hysterically
pleaded to the judge: "The whole hearing's ridiculous. That
man's no more insane than you are....It's obviously a frame-up. They're
trying to railroad this man for the money they can get out of him...What
kind of a hearing is this? What are you trying to do - persecute
the man? He's not defending himself. Somebody's got to do it";
but after a number of witnesses (seen in short vignettes), the judge
recommended committing Deeds, for his own safety, in an institution
as prescribed by law
- Babe urged Deeds to speak up, and testify against
the charges he was faced with: ("He could never fit in with
our distorted viewpoint, because he's honest and sincere and good.
If that man's crazy, your Honor, the rest of us belong in strait-jackets");
to begin, Deeds debunked all the silly quirks that people have: the
Judge's 'O-filling', Dr. Haller's doodling, and his Uncle's nose-twitching
and his Aunt's knuckle-cracking as other examples: ("So you
see, everybody does silly things to help them think. Well, I play
the tuba")
- to the charge of being "pixilated," Deeds
debunked the two nice elderly Faulkner sisters, Jane and Amy Faulkner
(Margaret Seddon and Margaret McWade), brought there from his hometown
(who declared him "pixilated"); they were unmasked as self-centered
and frivolous, and neutralized when under further questioning, they
admitted: "Why, everybody in Mandrake Falls is pixilated
- except us"
Mr. Deeds' Lunacy Hearing - Finally Defending
Himself
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Noticing People's Silly Quirks
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"Why, everybody in Mandrake Falls
is pixilated - except us"
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Defending His Philanthropy to Help the 'Underdog'
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- and then Deeds' successful defense of his philanthropy
with a speech about helping the 'underdog': ("From what I
can see, no matter what system of government we have, there will
always be leaders and always be followers. It's like the road out
in front of my house. It's on a steep hill. Every day I watch the
cars climbing up. Some go lickety-split up that hill on high, some
have to shift into second, and some sputter and shake and slip
back to the bottom again. Same cars, same gasoline, yet some make
it and some don't. And I say the fellas who can make the hill on
high should stop once in a while and help those who can't. That's
all I'm trying to do with this money. Help the fellas who can't
make the hill on high")
- the final declaration of the Judge on Deeds' insanity:
("Mr. Deeds, there has been a great deal of damaging testimony
against you. Your behavior, to say the least, has been most strange.
But, in the opinion of the court, you are not only sane but you're
the sanest man that's ever walked into this courtroom. Case dismissed")
- Babe and Deeds were reconciled to each other and kissed
in the film's final moments - Babe peppered her lover's face with
kisses, and with tightly-closed lips, Deeds kissed her back amidst
cheers and the singing of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow"
The Judge's Final Determination in the Case
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Deeds Declared Sane and The Case Dismissed
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Babe and Deeds Reconciled
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Death of Financier in Italy
The Mandrake Falls Welcome Sign at the Train Station
Tuba-Playing Mr. Deeds
Send-Off on Train to NYC
In 5th Avenue Mansion With Opera Board
Sliding Down the Stairway Bannister
Deeds' Patriotic Thoughts at Grant's Tomb
Performance of "Swanee River" in Central Park
Marriage Proposal Poem
Newspaper Clipping Revealing Mary's Real Name and Occupation
Confrontation with Hungry Farmer - Causing Deeds to Vow
to Give Away His Fortune
Deeds' Vow of Philanthropy
Babe Urged Deeds to Defend Himself ("It's obviously
a frame-up")
Some of the Damning Testimony Against Deeds
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