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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)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActorGary CooperNominated
Best DirectorFrank CapraWon
Best PictureColumbiaNominated
Best WritingRobert RiskinNominated
See More Oscar Winners

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Mr. Deeds Goes to Town Quotes:

Babe Bennett: I know why he won't defend himself! That has a bearing on the case, hasn't it? He's been hurt, he's been hurt by everybody he met since he came here, principally by me. He's been the victim of every conniving crook in town. The newspapers pounced on him, made him a target for their feeble humor. I was smarter than the rest of them: I got closer to him, so I could laugh louder. Why shouldn't he keep quiet - every time he said anything it was twisted around to sound imbecilic! He can thank me for it. I handed the gang a grand laugh. It's a fitting climax to my sense of humor.
Babe Bennett: Here's a guy that's wholesome and fresh. To us, he looks like a freak. Do you know what he told me tonight? He said when he gets married, he wants to carry his bride over the threshold in his arms... I tried to laugh, but I couldn't. It stuck in my throat... He's got goodness, Mabel. Do you know what that is?... No, of course you don't. We've forgotten. We're too busy being smart alecks. Too busy in a crazy competition for nothing.
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!
Longfellow Deeds: I've tramped the earth with hopeless beat, Searching in vain for a glimpse of you. Then heaven thrust you at my very feet, A lovely angel, too lovely to woo. My dream has been answered, but my life’s just as bleak. I'm handcuffed and speechless, in your presence divine. For my heart longs to cry out, if it only could speak. I love you, my angel, be mine, be mine.
Longfellow Deeds: [to the Court] It's like I'm out in a big boat, and I see one fellow in a rowboat who's tired of rowing and wants a free ride, and another fellow who's drowning. Who would you expect me to rescue? Mr. Cedar - who's just tired of rowing and wants a free ride? Or those men out there who are drowning? Any ten year old child will give you the answer to that.
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Mr. Deeds Goes to Town Facts
Bess Flowers was an extra in this movie. Nicknamed "Queen of the Hollywood Extras" Flowers appeared in over 700 movies of which 21 were Oscar noms for Best Picture of which 5 won. This makes her a record holder for an actor appearing in Best Picture winning films.
According to a Motion Picture Herald news item, the film was banned in Germany "on the ground that non-Aryan actors had participated" in the production.
Screenwriter Robert Riskin considered this to be his favorite film.
In the movie, Mr. Deeds couldn't find a word to rhyme with "Budington". This is the writer's middle name (Writers: Clarence Budington Kelland (story)).
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.
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