Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) : Classic Movie Hub (CMH)

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Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Director(s)	Frank Capra
Producer(s)	Frank Capra (uncredited)
Top Genres	Comedy, Drama, Romance
Top Topics	Book-Based, Integrity, Mistaken Identity, New York, Newspapers, Romance (Drama), Screwball Comedy,

Featured Cast:

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Gary Cooper
(as Longfellow Deeds)

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town Overview:

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) was a Comedy - Romance Film directed by Frank Capra and produced by Frank Capra.

The film was based on the serial story Opera Hat written by Clarence Budington Kelland published in American Magazine from April-Sept 1935.

SYNOPSIS

Capra's populist favorite is about a Vermont hayseed (Cooper) who inherits a fortune and his encounters with the cynical, heartless metropolis. Small-town "pixilated" poet and guileless good guy Longfellow Deeds inherits $20 million, and, when he wants to use it to help the needy, various unsavory types try to get him declared insane. As might be expected, Cooper embodies the simple virtues and wins over hardened newspaper reporter Arthur. Capra favorite Riskin wrote the screenplay and Capra won his second Oscar for the direction. Both leads worked for Capra again in Meet John Doe (Cooper) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Arthur). Based on "Opera Hat," a Saturday Evening Post story by Clarence Budington Kelland.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Academy Awards 1936 --- Ceremony Number 9 (source: AMPAS)

Award	Recipient	Result
Best Actor	Gary Cooper	Nominated
Best Director	Frank Capra	Won
Best Picture	Columbia	Nominated
Best Writing	Robert Riskin	Nominated

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Quotes from Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

Babe Bennett: Certainly I wrote those articles. I was going to get a raise, a month's vacation. But I stopped writing them when I found out what he was all about, when I realized how real he was. 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 straitjackets!

John Cedar: Your Honor, this is absurd. The woman's obviously in love with him.
Babe Bennett: What's that got to do with it?
John Cedar: Well, you are in love with him, aren't you?
Babe Bennett: What's that got to do with it?
John Cedar: You ARE, aren't you?
Babe Bennett: Yes!

Judge May: 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 ever walked into this courtroom!

Facts about Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

The tender scene in which Babe (Jean Arthur) recites a poem that Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) wrote for her was almost deleted because Frank Capra thought it was too sappy. Jean Arthur had been working very hard on that scene and convinced Capra to at least film it, which he did. The bit of Deeds tripping over the garbage cans was added to provide comic relief to break the sentimental mood.

Columbia and Frank Capra intended to make a sequel to this movie, starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur, entitled "Mr. Deeds Goes to Washington" , based on the story "The Gentleman from Wyoming" (alternately called "The Gentleman from Montana" by both contemporary and modern sources) by Lewis Foster. This story was instead turned into the 1939 film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, directed by Frank Capra and starring Arthur and James Stewart.

The film cost over $800,000 which was a very high figure for 1936.

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Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)