Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

1939′s classic film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, is one of the most lauded classics of all time. It was nominated for several Oscars and won the Oscar for Best Writing of an Original Screenplay. It was nominated for just about every other major Academy Award in 1940, including Best Picture and Best Actor. In a year that featured ten best picture nominees (including The Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights, Stagecoach, Of Mice and Men, Love Affair and the eventual best picture winner Gone with the Wind), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was in some excellent company.

Frank Capra’s masterpiece is rather simple in terms of the general plot. A naive man is sent to Washington from his small town to serve in the Senate. He is appointed to be a seat-filling Senator, courtesy of the other Senator from his state, and is essentially set up not to bother anyone because it is assumed that he will be too naive to accomplish anything. Jefferson Smith has other ideas and actually does accomplish something, taking on big business and corruption in one of the most sweeping and exhausting segments of film ever.

James Stewart plays Jefferson Smith, the idealistic Senator from the small town. He brings such innocence and youthful exuberance to the role that it becomes easy to cheer for him. Stewart’s performance here is almost maddening, as he pushes all of the right buttons to make Smith into a superhero and provides enough energy to keep audiences of all ages cheering for him. Smith takes on everything corrupt about Washington and Stewart brings that power and triumph about in an exhausting overture that is one of the most memorable sequences in film history.

Stewart doesn’t do it alone, however, and the supporting cast is as full and rich as anything assembled. The characters are powerful, from the big business tycoon in control of everything to the assistant who had lost her way before the doe-eyed Smith came to Washington. The film collects these characters and manipulates them in such a way that allows for change but never commands it. The big business corruption doesn’t go away or vanish because of Smith’s actions; it stays up until the end and forces Smith into a heap on the floor of the Senate. People change, but these elements that maintain a soulless aura over our world do not.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is all about that individual change. A little stretched in some scenes, while giving some other scenes too little time, the film still works through important and eerily relevant subject matter with class and professionalism that brings the performances and direction of Frank Capra to such a high level that it is hard to compete with for its era.

The film does end a little too abruptly, though, and the conclusion feels oddly rushed with a moment in the hallway that makes little sense. Another scene between Saunders and her reporter friend seemed to go on for too long with no actual payoff. Other than that, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is an important film. It was so important, in fact, that it made 1930s-1940s Washington tremendously uneasy. It was also banned in much of Europe. It truly is a dangerous and honest film that looks at corruption and pulls no punches, asking a lot from its performances and the entire crew.

Trailer: