A unassuming greeting card poet from a small town in Vermont heads to New York City upon inheriting a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him.A unassuming greeting card poet from a small town in Vermont heads to New York City upon inheriting a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him.A unassuming greeting card poet from a small town in Vermont heads to New York City upon inheriting a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 5 wins & 7 nominations total
Stanley Andrews
- James Cedar
- (uncredited)
Frank Austin
- George Rankin
- (uncredited)
John W. Austin
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
Irving Bacon
- Frank
- (uncredited)
Louise Bates
- Minor Role
- (uncredited)
Bobbie Beal
- Chorine
- (uncredited)
Hank Bell
- Unemployed Farmer in Line and Courtroom
- (uncredited)
Billy Bevan
- Cabby
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis movie marks the entry of the verb doodle (in the sense of absent-minded scribbling) into the English language. The word was coined for the movie by screenwriter Robert Riskin.
- GoofsWhen Deeds announces he is giving his money to the farmers, one of the headlines of the newspaper reads backwards.
- Quotes
Longfellow Deeds: People here are funny. They work so hard at living they forget how to live.
- Crazy creditsWinthrop Oliver Warner (a studio musician) actually played the tuba for the film.
- ConnectionsEdited into High Hopes: The Capra Years (1981)
- SoundtracksFor He's a Jolly Good Fellow
(uncredited)
Traditional
In the score during the opening credits and often throughout the film
Featured review
The flaws are covered by the warming effect and the sheer charm of the film
When a famous millionaire dies the media is aflame with the identity of his missing heir. The lawyers are just as interested and track him down to none other than small-town, simple-living Longfellow Deeds. He is more bemused than anything else about his sudden wealth and goes to New York to find out more. Once there he finds no end of people offering him services or selling him things and he tries to find some humanity within the city and the sharks around him. He believes he has found it with women-in-distress Mary Dawson but little does he know that she is really "Babe" Bennett the sharpest reporter on the streets.
Unfair to watch this film with wholly modern eyes as some have done berating it for its celebration of small-town values and perhaps depicting a naivety that is beyond the pale. Likewise though, I don't think that we should embrace it unquestioningly as many do. At its heart it is a Frank Capra film and it presents us with everything that we have come to expect from a film with that description. A simple man (many would say a "good" man) is confronted and to an extent crushed by examples of modern society that fly contrary to his moral and solid existence. That's it. It doesn't really matter what the specifics happen to be here as this is all you really need to know. To some extent of course this is all a bit obvious and naïve and indeed to some viewer it will be hard to get past that but in its favour it does manage to presence this homely cliché with an enormous wedge of charm.
This charm is evident throughout the film but one of the best examples of it is in the courtroom scene that manages to just about avoid being preachy due to the sheer cheering quality it has to it. Capra's direction and Riskin's script bring this out really well although I would question the tagline "rocking America with laughter" it was amusing and warming but not hilarious by any means. I'm not entirely sold on Cooper in the lead and certainly not as enamoured as some are here. For my money he plays the "aw shucks ma'am" stuff just a bit too heavily, forgetting to give me a character to go along with it. Jean Arthur is better as she has more to play with, while Bancroft is fun in a bit of a cliché but a fun one. The rest of the cast do what you would expect whether they be simple men inspired, crooked men confronted or serving men treated with respect all good but nothing earth shattering.
Overall then this is an obvious film that does just what you expect it to and watching it purely with modern eyes will kill it for many viewers. It is best watched with a mind to the period even if not total forgiveness because it is not without flaws. The charm and the warming effect it has makes it though and, while not the Capra I would point the newcomer to, it is certainly an example of what we mean when we now say something is Capra-esquire (which is quite something to have your name used as a descriptive word so many years later!).
Unfair to watch this film with wholly modern eyes as some have done berating it for its celebration of small-town values and perhaps depicting a naivety that is beyond the pale. Likewise though, I don't think that we should embrace it unquestioningly as many do. At its heart it is a Frank Capra film and it presents us with everything that we have come to expect from a film with that description. A simple man (many would say a "good" man) is confronted and to an extent crushed by examples of modern society that fly contrary to his moral and solid existence. That's it. It doesn't really matter what the specifics happen to be here as this is all you really need to know. To some extent of course this is all a bit obvious and naïve and indeed to some viewer it will be hard to get past that but in its favour it does manage to presence this homely cliché with an enormous wedge of charm.
This charm is evident throughout the film but one of the best examples of it is in the courtroom scene that manages to just about avoid being preachy due to the sheer cheering quality it has to it. Capra's direction and Riskin's script bring this out really well although I would question the tagline "rocking America with laughter" it was amusing and warming but not hilarious by any means. I'm not entirely sold on Cooper in the lead and certainly not as enamoured as some are here. For my money he plays the "aw shucks ma'am" stuff just a bit too heavily, forgetting to give me a character to go along with it. Jean Arthur is better as she has more to play with, while Bancroft is fun in a bit of a cliché but a fun one. The rest of the cast do what you would expect whether they be simple men inspired, crooked men confronted or serving men treated with respect all good but nothing earth shattering.
Overall then this is an obvious film that does just what you expect it to and watching it purely with modern eyes will kill it for many viewers. It is best watched with a mind to the period even if not total forgiveness because it is not without flaws. The charm and the warming effect it has makes it though and, while not the Capra I would point the newcomer to, it is certainly an example of what we mean when we now say something is Capra-esquire (which is quite something to have your name used as a descriptive word so many years later!).
- bob the moo
- Mar 28, 2008
- Permalink
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Mister Deeds - Milijonar dobrotnik
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $800,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $8,362
- Runtime1 hour 55 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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Top Gap
By what name was Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) officially released in India in English?
Answer