|
The joke is that the Boy Scout can't get lost in Washington, "he must have a compass with him." The dead senator's replacement is supposed to be "the simpleton of all times," instead the elongated soprano (James Stewart) proceeds to chase the moneychangers away from the temple. Upon arrival he soaks up the national history carved in marble, gradually he learns of the dilapidated monument that is his mentor (Claude Rains), "the Silver Knight" who's become part of the graft racket. "You must check your ideals outside the door, like you do your rubbers." The political machine, perpetuated by magnates and puppets embodied by rotund character actors (Edward Arnold, Eugene Pallette, Guy Kibbee), the snide side of the free press, "we don't have to be re-elected." The test of faith is shared by the cynical secretary (Jean Arthur), who goes from resenting having to babysit the wide-eyed galoot to cheering from the wings of the Senate Chamber. "It's a forty-foot dive into a tub of water, but I think you can do it." Honest Abe redivivus, David plus Don Quixote, the ultimate Frank Capra martyr. The aberration of virtue in the system of "jungle law," disillusionment has the gangling hero crumpled in the shadows of Lincoln Memorial. Screwball-comedy tempo sets off the darkening melodrama, whirlwind montages alternate with sustained behavioral beauties (i.e., Arthur's glorious drunk scene with Thomas Mitchell). It comes down to "democracy's finest show," Mr. Smith hoarse and haggard in his filibuster Calvary, a desperate verbal outpouring to contrast with Mr. Deeds' silence. "Either I'm dead right or I'm crazy." "You wouldn't care to put that to a vote, Senator?" A furtive smile on Harry Carey's august visage as the Vice President anchors the dénouement, among the great admirers is Kurosawa in Ikiru. Cinematography by Joseph Walker. With Astrid Allwyn, Beulah Bondi, H.B. Warner, Ruth Donnelly, Grant Mitchell, William Demarest, Charles Lane, Porter Hall, Jack Carson, and Dub Taylor. In black and white.
--- Fernando F. Croce |