Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Longfellow Deeds, a simple-hearted Vermont tuba player, inherits a fortune and has to contend with opportunist city slickers.

Director:

Frank Capra

Writers:

Robert Riskin (screenplay), Clarence Budington Kelland (story)

Stars:

Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft

Won 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Gary Cooper	...	Longfellow Deeds
Jean Arthur	...	Babe Bennett
George Bancroft	...	MacWade
Lionel Stander	...	Cornelius Cobb
Douglass Dumbrille	...	John Cedar
Raymond Walburn	...	Walter
H.B. Warner	...	Judge May
Ruth Donnelly	...	Mabel Dawson
Walter Catlett	...	Morrow
John Wray	...	Farmer

Storyline

Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life - including playing the tuba in the town band. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow picks up his tuba and moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone from the greedy opera committee to the sensationist daily newspaper. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. Babe is a hot-shot reporter who figures the best way to get close to Deeds is to pose as a damsel in distress. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.

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Plot Keywords:

tuba | small town | vermont | reporter | tuba player | 

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Taglines:

Rocking America with laughter!

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 April 1936 (USA)

Also Known As:

El secreto de vivir

Filming Locations:

Columbia/Sunset Gower Studios - 1438 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally Frank Capra was going to make Lost Horizon after Broadway Bill but Ronald Colman couldn't get out of his other filming commitments. So Capra decided to make this film instead.

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Goofs

When Mr. Deeds is playing the tuba, the acting is out of synchronization with the sound.

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Quotes

[Mac, the newspaper editor, is chewing out his reporting staff for their inability to get a scoop on Deeds]
MacWade: He's been here three days and what have you numb-skulls brought in? Any halfwit novice could have done better. You imbecilic stoops. Now get out of here before I really tell you what I think of you. Go on, get out!
[a reporter mumbles an unintelligible insult at Mac as he exits the office]
MacWade: What was that?
Reporter: I said you were a... uh... I said you had dirty plaster.

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Crazy Credits

Winthrop Oliver Warner (a studio musician) actually played the tuba for the film.

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Connections

Referenced in Shawshank: The Redeeming Feature (2001)

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Soundtracks

"For He's a Jolly Good Fellow"
(uncredited)
Traditional
In the score during the opening credits and often throughout the film

User Reviews

67 years on and the film is still pertinent.....

Of all Capra's films this is the one I like the best, partly, I think, because there has never been anybody in the history of cinema to match Gary Cooper at putting on the boyish charm. As Longfellow Deeds, a man who inherits a lot of money he does not need and therefore does not want, Cooper is just right, a hick, but not a fool, a gentle man but not one who will let the wool be pulled over his eyes. The films' pertinence arises from its' depiction of a rich man prepared to give his wealth away to benefit his fellow man. It was a fantasy then, and is as much a fantasy now, because we do not learn, least of all from pictures even as good as this one.