Mr. Deeds Goes to Town - 1936
Director Frank Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin have this gift of telling a story with humor and drama mixed into a picture of life in America as they lived it. Absolutely normal people who do some oddball things in typical human nature.
Here's the setup.
Multi-millionaire Martin W. Semple suddenly dies in a car crash in Italy.
But you don't need to remember this guy, for this millionaire isn't important--it is his money that is the catalyst for what's to come.
Back at his headquarters in New York, Semple's attorneys and his professional staff are reeling at the loss. They are on the search of his heir, one who will be able to maintain the life they've grown accostomed to, being self-served with the fat retainers while Semple was around.
They do find the person listed in the will; it's his nephew by his sister. His name is Longfellow Deeds, a young man in Mandrake Falls, Vermont. They travel to Vermont, meet him, and let hime know the whole Semple fortune is his, $20 million after taxes. His reaction surprises them-
Longfellow Deeds: Why did he leave all that money to me? I don't need it..
You get more out of a story when you understand the characters. The introduction of Longfellow Deeds is one of the more sweetly gentle characters you will find in the movies. He volunteers his time generously, he writes poetry (something that earns him more money than his joint ownership of a tailor shop in town) and plays tuba in the local City Band. He is comfortable with friends and everybody in Mandrake Falls knows him well. Both Longfellow Deeds and Mandrake Falls are pretty straight-arrows in their world, so why would someone be wary of deceit, especially bearing $20,000,000 to give to you?
Deeds' is getting along all right and making a life in Vermont. Suddenly, through no effort on his part, he's given $20M from the death of a relative. He is given a hero's send-off from his home in Mandrake Falls, VT, a place that also seems lost in time with its rosy, quiet, simple existence. Mr. Deeds heads into New York City under the wing of some very sycophantic people. At first, Deeds is wary of them, but more as a fish out of water than ethically.
His uncle's Manhattan Mansion is too big for him; his valet, Walter (Raymond Walburn), is true and loyal as his automatic reaction to a lifetime in service. While Deeds likes him, he won't stand for being treated as if he's four year's old being dressed and fed. His other assistants, like Cornelius Cobb (Lionel Stander), bristle at his adjustment to the life of a wealthy social leader, a job Longfellow didn't signup for. Longfellow is also starting to bristle at the expectations being placed on him and his reaction is to, at times, knock heads together.
And of course there's a girl. A hard, jaded newspaper reporter Babe Bennett (Jean Arthur), who ingratiates herself by pretending of being a sympathetic but lonely stranger -"Mary Dawson"- who needs his rescue at first and using his increasingly adoring friendship to write an expose secretly about him, using the moniker, "Cinderella Man." Babe follows him as he sets out on a real bender out in the streets in the middle of the night. Babe writes is all down for the newspaper and "Cinderella Man" is a dark success in a town looking to disparage hicks with sudden wealth.
Deeds is hurt by the unflattering attention is brings him but his perspective is far more detached than personal hurt feelings. He is sympathetic in a way not many around him are demonstrating.
Longfellow Deeds: What puzzles me is why people seem to get so much pleasure out of hurting each other. Why don't they try liking each other once in a while?
Babe/"Mary" finds Deeds is having an effect her too. Kindness has a way of softening up a person who is tired of the art of deceiving when it's not your standard operating procedure. She's crucifying him in the papers and it's killing her. In romance story fashion, the truth comes out and it is harsh and painful for both of them.
This is a fable about a man who's been pretty insulated by his home and upbringing. He is living within his head and heading toward a fall. It builds to a reaction, to a rising set of circumstances that Longfellow Deeds finally faces as an existential crisis, one with an angry, desparate guy with a gun. The Forgotten Man is not forgotten in this tale. It puts Deeds' proirities into crystal-clear perspective for him. The forgotten man who read about a wealthy fool's antics in the newspapers and now he's angry and resentful of the waste he sees.
The plot takes a big swing and you've got to see it. Money is seen not as amusement anymore but as a tool for something else. The plot has a spin of Hope...
And the reactions of Deeds' "handlers" in the law office is dovetailed into legal action.
1936 had John Steinbeck, Huey Long, and on other end of the spectrum, Wallis Simpson and little Gloria Vanderbilt.
Los Angeles Chief of Police James Edgar Davis sends 125 officers to the borders of Nevada and Oregon in an attempt to prevent Okies from reaching Los Angeles.
Cost of living in 1936:
Average new house: $3,925.00
Average annual wages: $1,713.00
Gallon of Gas: 10¢
Average rent (house): $24.00 per month (most people rented)
Loaf of Bread: 8¢
1 LB of Hamburger Meat: 12¢
List price of a new basic car: $665.00