Product Description

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 12/09/2008 Run time: 116 minutes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8426 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2008-12-09
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Japanese, Korean
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 116 minutes

Customer Reviews

"Longfellow's always been pixilated."
It was in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town that Frank Capra perfected the blend of comedy and social commentary that would become his trademark. The screwball comedy was graceful rather than frantic and the social elements of Robert Riskin's fine screenplay are handled in an even-handed manner that earned Capra the second of his three Acadamy Awards for Best Director. Both Gary Cooper as the tuba playing no nonsense Longfellow Deeds and Jean Arthur as the reporter who exploits him until she falls for his goodness are wonderful in this true Capra classic.

Longfellow Deeds (Cooper) lives in the small town of Mandrake Falls where he makes a living writing greeting card poems and spends his free time playing the tuba. He is less than enthused when a bunch of big city attorneys show up at his door to tell him he has just inherited 20 million dollars from a relative he never met. The law firm of Cedar, Cedar, Cedar and Budington just want him to sign over his power of attorney and Deeds goes to the city with them mainly so he can get a look at Grant's Tomb.

Deeds is honest and good but no pushover and his initial reluctance about the situation proves wise as everyone wants to mooch off of Deeds and make a fool of him at the same time. Deeds gives as good as he gets and wins over the crusty Cornelius Cobb (Lionell Stander) to his way of doing things but can't get around the way a certain Louise Bennet is mocking his every escapade in the papers, making him look a fool and a country bumpkin.

But Deeds knows it doesn't matter when he meets the sweet Mary Dawson (Jean Arthur), a lady in distress who becomes his constant companion. Deeds no longer has to go off by himself like he did back home and talk to an imaginary girl because his dream girl has finally appeared for real. He tells Mary that she makes up for all the fakes he's met and writes a poem to her telling her how much he loves her. The problem, of course, is that Mary Dawson and this Louise Bennet who has christened him the Cinderella Man in all the papers are one and the same.

Arthur is wonderful as the cynical reporter who slowly realizes that Longfellow is good, straightforward and honest. She realizes it is the viewpoint of everyone else that is distorted. Before she can get to him to make her confession, however, Cobb breaks the bad news to Deeds and his faith in everything is lost. He is ready to pack it up and head back to Mandrake Falls until a starving farmer breaks into his home and gives Deeds an idea. It is the depression and Deeds' plan to give those down and out a chance to fend for themselves and get back on their feet will take evey penny he has, which is just what he wants.

But the same attorneys who courted him before, now try to prevent the noble Deeds from doing a noble deed and attempt to have him declared insane. It is the last straw for Longfellow, who shuts down completely, refusing to even defend his actions at his hearing. It is only when in an outburst from Arthur he learns she really does love him that he comes alive and gives them what for. As Cobb says earlier in the film, "lamb bites wolf!"

This is another great Capra film that shows it is the "average" fellow who really represents our values and mores as a people and a country, while entertaining us like no other director could. In addition to the constant joke about the name Budington throughout the film, because Deeds can't find a rhyme for it, it is also an "in" joke; the original story adapted by Riskin was written by Clarance Budington Kelland!

Cooper and Arthur are memorable together and you will definitely get choked up when she reads Longfellow's poem about her on the steps of her apartment. Arthur does, because the words he has said earlier to a group of published poets making fun of him echo in her heart: "I guess it's alright to hurt someone as long as you don't care how much you hurt them."

Sony is putting out this newly remastered edition which has audio commentary, a featurette, the trailer, and vintage ads. The cover art looks the same but is in color this time, making an attractive display for film buffs. I still have an older TV and really saw nothing wrong with the previous editions of this wonderful classic, not being that picky, so will leave this area to those more qualified in regards to the technical aspects.

If all the great Capra classics were represented by a vase full of red roses, this would be the one white rose in the center. It is flawless and pure, and represents everything that was special about the films of the first director allowed to have his name above the title. After seeing this film, you'll know why.

A Most Sublime Piece of "Capra-Corn" with Cooper and Arthur at Their Youthful Zenith
This is "Capra-corn" at its most sublime as this 1936 comedy is still one of the legendary director's best works due primarily to the sterling, career-defining performances of Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur. In the 1930's and 40's, Frank Capra's oeuvre was the humanistic picture, inspirational to the common folk reeling from the Great Depression and later World War II. Written by his frequent (and later quite embittered) collaborator, Robert Riskin, this was his first film fully in this direction after his Oscar-winning success with the quintessential runaway heiress comedy, 1934's It Happened One Night. It's intriguing to know that Capra only made this film because he could not start production on the far more ambitious Lost Horizon as scheduled and fit this in only when Cooper became available for the title role.

Cooper portrays Longfellow Deeds, a young poet and volunteer fireman in a small Vermont town who suddenly inherits $20 million, a huge fortune at the time, from a distant uncle who died in an automobile crash in Italy. Having never been outside of his hometown, Deeds is thrust into the limelight and moves to Manhattan to take care of his uncle's estate and related business interests. The first half has all the trappings of a "fish out of water" situation (which Capra pretty much perfected with this film), but it doesn't take Deeds long to figure out that the people around him are not as sincere as they want him to think. One exception, he believes, is Mary Dawson, a small-town girl looking for a job before she faints from hunger. He falls in love with her not realizing that she is really ace reporter Babe Bennett out to land a juicy newspaper story about Deeds' "Cinderella Man" exploits. Tired of the selfish cynicism surrounding him, Deeds gives away his fortunes to establish a program to help poor farmers. In response, his advisors attempt to have him put away for insanity.

Previously a stoic straight arrow in primarily westerns and female-oriented weepies, Cooper emerges here as a multi-dimensional leading man with a deft comedy touch, while the throaty-voiced Arthur (in a role abandoned by no less than Carole Lombard) shows her natural élan as a tough newspaperwoman who discovers her vulnerability thanks to Deeds' magnanimous gestures. It's no wonder these two returned to Capra's hands in subsequent features - he in Meet John Doe, she in You Can't Take It With You and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. The top-notch supporting cast is headed by Lionel Stander as Deeds' confidante (a role similar to the agent he played in the 1937 A Star Is Born); H.B. Warner as the sympathetic Judge May (who would later return to Capra for Lost Horizon as the wizened Chang and for It's A Wonderful Life as the drunken druggist who slaps George on his deaf ear); and Douglass Dumbrille as the nasty Cedar. The remastered 2008 DVD has a scene-specific commentary track, fairly interesting, from the director's son, Frank Capra, Jr., who is also featured in a ten-minute short about the film. Several vintage trailers of the senior Capra's films are included though surprisingly not one for Deeds.

Utterly delightful romantic/social comedy
I love Frank Capra's 1930s films. They are on the one hand so clearly products of their time, which was the period of the New Deal and a sense of optimism and idealism about whether America could overcome its problems and bring about a better life for most Americans. And, it was the period of time immediately preceding WW II, which transformed America in general so profoundly, and no one less than Frank Capra. By his own admission, the war brought about a shift in Capra's social and political vision, from a Leftist position to a Rightist one. After the war, Capra was able to duplicate his pre-War success only once, with IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Later in life, in his autobiography and after moving back to a leftist political position, Capra acknowledged that his shift to the Right marred his cinematic vision, and ruined him as a filmmaker.
On one level, MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN is easy to criticize. It does espouse simplistic, naive beliefs about society and politics. It is anti-capitalist, whereas Capra's post-WW II films (excepting IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE) were pro-business. The film does seem to suggest that there are simple answers to enormously complex problems. All this, however, enchants me. I wish that we today had not lost this capacity to have simple, goodhearted beliefs.

Once one moves away from the social and political elements in this film, which are nonetheless quite strong (and the sentiments expressed here helped give rise to what is frequently referred to as "Capra-corn"), one is left with a delightful, funny, and inspiring romantic comedy. Could any actor in the history of film have been more perfect as Longfellow Deeds? Well, perhaps Jimmy Stewart or Henry Fonda (certainly not Adam Sandler). But even those two stellar actors would have fallen short of Cooper in communicating his abject indifference to his fate during his trial late in the film. Having him in that role was a perfect bit of casting. Jean Arthur, one of Capra's two favorite actresses, was perfect as Babe Bennett (though his other favorite actress, Barbara Stanwyck, might have been even more perfect). The two make a perfect team: the idealistic, naive, and good hearted Deeds (though completely intolerant of bunk) and the cynical, cold hearted, manipulative undercover reporter whose heart is melted and transformed by Deeds. In a supporting role, Lionel Stander is outstanding.

All in all, this is just a great film, and stands as one of Capra's finest efforts, definitely one of the five or six classic films he made upon which his reputation will always be preserved.

There is an absolutely excreble version of the film, with Adam Sandler playing Deeds. The film is beyond than embarrassing. There are two reasons to engage in a remake. First, an earlier film contains excellent premises, but executed its own concepts poorly. Thus, a remake provides an opportunity to get it right. The 1941 version of THE MALTESE FALCON was actually a remake of an earlier version of the novel. The second reason to undertake a remake is when the filmmakers have no interesting or inventive ideas of their own, and pilfer those of others to rake in some box office. Since the original MR. DEEDS would be extremely difficult to improve upon, one wonders if this film is an example of reason number two. I should add that there is a third reason to engage in a remake: love of a previous film and to try and pay homage by remaking it. I believe that this is the case with the unsuccessful remake by Mel Brooks of TO BE OR NOT TO BE (why try to remake a perfect film?), the more successful CAPE FEAR (which was nearly as good as the original), or the high tech remake of PLANET OF THE APES.

Bit of trivia: This was the only film that Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur made together. In 1942 Hitchcock wanted to reunite the two of them in SABOTEUR. He was unsuccessful; however, and instead cast Robert Cummings and Priscilla Lane in the leads. The film today, despite some amazing scenes, is usually criticized for its very weak stars. One wonders how successful that film would have been if Hitchcock had managed to get the Gary and Jean.

Second bit of trivia: Jean Arthur, although she always looks very calm and self-possessed, suffered from almost debilitating screen fright, frequently becoming nauseous before or during shooting. In fact, her career eventually ended when she was doing a stage version of BORN YESTERDAY, playing the Judy Holliday role. During the middle of the play, the stress became too much for her. She was unable to return to finish the play, and except for a unsuccessful attempt at a TV sitcom, her career was over.