THE PLAYERS: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, Guy Kibbee, Thomas Mitchell, Eugene Pallette, Beulah Bondi. H. B. Warner, Harry Carey, Astrid Allwyn, Ruth Donnelly, Grant Mitchell, Porter Hall, Pierre Watkin, Charles Lane, William Demarest, Billy Watson, Delmar Watson, John Russell, Harry Watson, Gary Watson, Baby Dumpling, Dick Elliott, H. V. Kaltenborn. Screen play by Sidney Bachman from a story by Lewis R. Foster. Directed by Frank Capra. Produced by Columbia. Running time, 130 minutes.
Probably the picture of 1939.
It's going to be pretty hard to top this intensely human yarn of a visionary, dreaming boy who suddenly is dropped into the maelstrom of Washington politics. Jefferson Smith, head of his state's Boy Rangers, breaks into the headlines when he and his boys put out a dangerous forest fire. So the political bosses shove him into the Senate to fill the term of a dead senator.
The gangling gawky Mr. Smith arouses the mirth of the Senate chamber — until he discovers a huge graft plot in a pending appropriations bill. When he sets out to expose the steal, the machine swings upon him with ruthless savagery. Then Mr. Smith stages a one-man filibuster that turns Washington upside down.
When the year is summarized, I doubt if anything will be found to top James Stewart's shy honest backwoods Galahad from the great open places of a democracy. Jean Arthur is superb as the hard-boiled Washington-wise secretary who takes him in hand, primes him for battle as a joke, comes to lose her heart. Thomas Mitchell is excellent as a blasé political reporter, and Harry Carey, with hardly a dozen lines, contributes an unforgettable performance as the Vice-President presiding over a rebellious Senate.
This, friends, is true movie — warm, arresting, thrilling.
VITAL STATISTICS: That's an authentic copy of the Senate chamber. Architectural measurements, even the details of the molding, are exact. It's the first full-scale replica ever attempted. Accurate down to the little detail of the official snuffboxes which have stood on the presiding officer's desk since the days of the Continental Congress. The galleries — press, diplomatic corps, and visitors — accommodate 700. Expertly copied, too, are the Capitol press room, the grand staircase, cloakrooms, lobbies. The Lincoln Memorial is neatly and reverently duplicated too.... Capra was careful about casting the ninety-six senators. Says they conform to specifications too. A composite senator, he found, is 52, 5 feet 11, weighs 174. Hollywood loves to get exact figures.... Harry Carey has been making films for twenty-nine years. Born in New York, a grad of New York University. Harry is an authority on Indian customs, speaks Navaho.
Publication Date: November 18, 1939