Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1939
It is a little hard rating old movies since you don’t really know the context of that time period and because so many movies have come along that have improved on what works in those early films. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is probably a little too sweet for its own good and, like its main character, maybe a little naïve about politics as well. The movie centers on a new United States Senator, appointed in desperation as a compromise by a corrupt and incompetent governor. The freshman senator, played by Jimmy Stewart, is an idealistic boy scout leader who comes into conflict with the state’s corrupt senior senator. The corruption angle seems a little too obvious, but also unrealistic as the senior senator’s friends buy up land hoping to sell it to the government for a huge profit as part of dam construction project. My main problem with that is the government probably wouldn’t pay inflated values for property today or back then either, so the scheme didn’t make that much sense. I also had issues with a lot of other kind of minor but crucial aspects of the plot machinery. I really enjoyed Claude Rains as the senior senator and Jean Arthur as Stewart’s legislative assistant and love interest. Stewart himself didn’t really blow me away, but it isn’t an easy part to play given the plot contrivances. I think there could have been a good story, but it probably required more nuance and intellectual honesty than Frank Capra was going to attempt. Yes, Washington makes people compromise and powerful people stomp on others, but not quite this way. Ultimately the story resolves a little too hurriedly, like they were about out of film. It is still a nice story with some feel good America stuff thrown in (and some really negative stuff too!), but certainly political movies have come a long way from this one.
Written: 08 Oct 2021
Owned on: Digital