Post 72

I just saw Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I liked it--a lot. I love Jimmy Stewart. I think Cary Grant is my all-time favorite movie actor, but Jimmy will always be my favorite Everyman, I think; he's just so good at it!

Many aspects of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington struck me as--interesting. I'm a big fan of Frank Capra--fantastic director--and I really tried to pay attention to his art as I watched. I don't have a trained eye, really; I don't know too much about film as yet, but I try to pay attention and see what I can pick out. I really, really liked how in the one scene between Jeff and Susan, the camera stayed focused entirely on Jeff's hat rather than on their faces--a very risky move, I would think, but very effective. On the other hand, I didn't really like the choppiness during the scene when Taylor and Paine were talking at length early on in the movie--the camera kept cutting back and forth between two shots from the same angle, one being slightly closer than the other. The dialog was pretty long, and I suppose even directors in '39 hated to keep the shot static for too long, but why not do some close-ups on their faces or something?

I also found the writing interesting in that, even though the movie culminates in a day-long filibuster, it wasn't really--uh--speech-centric. I mean, Senator Smith says some very good things, and sometimes he says them passionately, but really the drama of the scene is the press battle in his home state (which remains unnamed, which also struck me as an interesting bit of writing). I thought it worked really well, which is good news because I went into the movie all prepared to hear Jimmy Stewart deliver some passionate, patriotic speech, and had the scene not been so good, I probably would have been disappointed; as it is, I think that the scene plays out in such a way that it's actually more poignant than had it been some big, dramatic speech.

Have you ever seen Mr. Deeds Goes to Town? I've only seen it once (and not recently), so I don't remember what Mr. Deeds says in that courtroom scene, but I remember it got me right here [picture me gesturing to somehow indicate my chest]. Same deal with the courtroom scene in The Majestic (another movie I've seen only once and not recently; I remember really liking the courtroom scene, liking the rest of the movie for the most part, but really not able to take Jim Carey seriously--not because he acted the part poorly, but just because he's Jim Carey). Big, dramatic speeches tend to get to me--when they're in movies, at least. But Mr. Smith Goes to Washington has the overall effect of being touching and meaningful rather than building up to one touching, meaningful monologue, and I kinda think I like that better. And the fact that Paine finally breaks down (which we all hoped and secretly knew he would do) but that he doesn't break down until our vanquished hero has lost consciousness--that to me was also a very good move, made Jeff more of a tragic hero than a glorious victor, which was very satisfying to me because happy endings often leave me unsatisfied.

Anyway. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It's a classic--and a good one--and I think I'd recommend it to most anyone. I was happy, too, that it wasn't some patriotic pep-rally for America--at least not in the gag-me-with-a-spoon way that I feared it would be; it's actually a very honest and telling sort of flick. More of a--well, actually--I'll close this post by quoting the Meeting of the National Conference on Citizenship held October 4, 2007:

"Benjamin Franklin and his colleagues in Philadelphia knew that the Constitution did not herald the establishment of a perfect society but rather the pursuit of a "more perfect union." Thus, it was fitting for the Founders then and for us today to speak not only of the depth of our national pride but, when relevant, of our doubts. The quotation "my country right or wrong" was qualified by Carl Schurz’s sensible phrase—when she is right, support her; when she is wrong, correct her."

PS According to my labels, this post marks more posts on this blog that talk about movies than about myself--or anything else. Of course, this postscript could ruin that if I intended to be really thorough with my labeling--naaaaahh.