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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 American political comedy-drama film directed by Frank Capra, starring Jean Arthur and James Stewart, and featuring Claude Rains and Edward Arnold. The film is about a naive, newly appointed United States senator who fights against government corruption, and was written by Sidney Buchman , based on Lewis R ...
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: Directed by Frank Capra. With Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold. A naive youth leader is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate.
- (122K)
- Comedy, Drama
- Frank Capra
- 1939-10-19
Mar 23, 2024 · Mr. Smith Goes to Washington stars James Stewart as Jefferson Smith, leader of the Boy Rangers, and he's been selected to be a U.S. senator, despite his lack of government experience.
- Frank Capra
- Author
- Overview
- Production notes and credits
- Cast
- Academy Award nominations (* denotes win)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, American dramatic film, released in 1939, by director Frank Capra that angered the political establishment but won wide acclaim from the public and film industry.
The story concerns Jefferson Smith (played by James Stewart), a hokey, idealistic youth leader who is appointed to the U.S. Senate by his state’s political authorities on the assumption that he will be a pliable stooge. However, when he proposes a national youth camp on the site of a crooked land deal he was expected to approve, his benefactors—as well as the state’s senior senator (Claude Rains)—turn against him. Disillusioned by the corruption of Washington, Smith nearly leaves town but is persuaded by his secretary (Jean Arthur) to mount an impassioned challenge to the system in the form of a marathon filibuster. In the popular climactic scene, one of the few in film history that hinges on a legislative tactic, Smith successfully exposes the attempted graft and wins the day.
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The unflattering depiction of government officials so infuriated real-life legislators that there were calls for the film to be banned. For its portrayal of American political corruption, it was called anti-American and communist; some deemed it propaganda that aided the efforts of the Axis countries at the start of World War II. Notably, Joseph P. Kennedy, then U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, sought to suppress its release abroad.
Critics and audiences responded far differently, and the inspiring, heartwarming film became a box-office hit in the United States and garnered 11 Academy Award nominations. Stewart would win the best actor Oscar the following year for his work in The Philadelphia Story, but many consider his role in Mr. Smith the best performance of his career. The film’s essential belief in the power of democracy was highlighted when, in 1942, several cinemas in France chose it as the final English-language motion picture to be shown before a Nazi-ordered ban was imposed.
•Studio: Columbia Pictures
•Director and producer: Frank Capra
•Writer: Sidney Buchman
•Music: Dimitri Tiomkin
•James Stewart (Jefferson Smith)
•Jean Arthur (Clarissa Saunders)
•Claude Rains (Sen. Joseph Harrison Paine)
•Edward Arnold (Jim Taylor)
•Guy Kibbee (Gov. Hubert Hopper)
•Thomas Mitchell (Diz Moore)
•Picture
•Director
•Lead actor (James Stewart)
•Supporting actor (Harry Carey)
•Supporting actor (Claude Rains)
•Writing (original story)*
- Lee Pfeiffer
After being sworn in, Smith glimpses the humiliating newspaper interview and angrily stalks through the streets of Washington, punching out four men in an ugly and harsh sequence.
He soon discovers, upon going to Washington, many shortcomings of the political process as his earnest goal of a national boys' camp leads to a conflict with the state political boss. Naive and idealistic Jefferson Smith, leader of the Boy Rangers, is appointed to the United States Senate by the puppet governor of his state.
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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Jean Arthur, James Stewart and Claude Rains star in Frank Capra's MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, the award-winning 1939 classic about an idealistic,...
