Mr. Smith is going to Washington
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Mr. Smith is going to Washington |
| Original title | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1939 |
| length | 129 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK without age restriction |
| Rod | |
| Director | Frank Capra |
| script |
Sidney Buchman , Lewis R. Foster |
| production | Frank Capra for Columbia Pictures |
| music | Dimitri Tiomkin |
| camera | Joseph Walker |
| cut |
Al Clark , Gene Havlick |
| occupation | |
| |
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is an American movie from the year 1939 . Directed by Frank Capra . The film was based on an original story by Lewis R. Foster .
Jean Arthur and James Stewart can be seen in the leading roles . The final climax of the film is a filibuster in the US Senate , a marathon speech designed to delay or prevent a political vote.
action
Samuel Foley, the senator of an undisclosed state, dies in Washington . His colleague, Senator Paine, passed the message on to Governor Hubert "Happy" Hopper, who has the right to nominate a successor to Foley until the next election, and who is discussing the matter with media magnate Jim Taylor. Taylor, who, thanks to his power over the media and economy, rules the state and can control Hopper at will, is involved in the construction of a dam that is actually not needed, but devours vast amounts of taxpayers' money. So he assigns Hopper to find a replacement for Senator Foley, who on the one hand is not involved in the machinations around the dam and on the other hand can easily be brought on course. After Hopper rejected some candidates for political reasons, his children propose Jefferson Smith as the ideal candidate. Smith, an inexperienced, gullible-naive Boy Scout leader, is a local celebrity who admires Senator Paine, an old friend of his father's. After some persuasion, Smith is finally ready to go to Washington and take the post.
Once in Washington, however, the press gives Smith a nasty reception and ridicules him, which leads him to want to resign. Paine persuades Jefferson Smith to stay and fight to establish a national youth camp. With the help of his cynical assistant Clarissa Saunders, whom he took over from his predecessor, Smith prepares his application to the Senate. As a place for the construction of the youth camp, however, Smith has designated Willets Creek, of all places, where Jim Taylor and Senator Paine want to build their dam. Clarissa Saunders feels increasingly sympathy for the inexperienced Senator and clarifies Smith about the machinations. Taylor and Paine do their utmost to talk Smith out of Willets Creek. But the idealist proves to be incorruptible.
When he tries to make the matter public, Senator Paine accuses him of having bought land on Willets Creek to make money. Witnesses and forged documents emerge to prove the allegations. Disaffected, Smith now wants to leave Washington for good, but Clarissa Saunders, who thanks to Jefferson Smith believes in the good in people again and has fallen in love with him, implores him to stay in Washington and fight. The only chance Smith has left is the filibuster . He appears before the Senate and begins a long-term speech with which he wants to convince the public and the Senate.
But Jim Taylor is using the full power of his media to cut his state off from the Washington news and to get the people he wanted to see things. Meanwhile, children across the country are working to help Smith and are distributing Smith-published Boy Scout newspaper. They are forcibly prevented by Taylor's men. When it comes to injuries, Clarissa and his mother push Smith to give up. Baskets of letters against Smith are also being delivered to the Senate. Before Jefferson Smith collapses after almost 24 hours of continuous speech, he reminds Senator Paine of the times when he and Smith's father fought “for the lost cause”. Paine becomes aware of the betrayal of his ideals, tries to commit suicide but is prevented from doing so. Paine then confesses his guilt in front of the assembled Senate while the unconscious Smith is carried outside to cheers.
History of origin
Frank Capra originally wanted to make a film about the composer Frédéric Chopin , but this project was rejected by Harry Cohn , the head of Columbia Pictures . Cohn wanted "a new Mr. Deeds" from Capra, a rerun of the hit movie Mr. Deeds Goes to Town from 1936 with Gary Cooper. Capra was extremely upset. The director had delivered a number of artistically and financially successful films in a row for Columbia and expected more concession from the studio. Immediately after his clash with Harry Cohn, Capra was recommended to read the synopsis of a script entitled “The Man from Montana”. Capra read it, even though the title sounded like a western , and was immediately enthusiastic. He went to Cohn, praised his instinct, and offered to make a film that would surpass Mr. Deeds . To Cohn's delight, he chose “Mr. Deeds goes to Washington ”and initially planned Gary Cooper again for the lead role. But Cooper was at the time under contract with Sam Goldwyn , who, after months of negotiations, refused to release his biggest star.
Capra had already made up his mind in favor of James Stewart, with whom he had worked successfully for the film Lebenskünstler the year before . In Capra's opinion, the younger Stewart was a better fit for the role than Cooper and, as an actor coming from the theater, he also had better speaking technique for the climax of the film, the filibuster. For the female lead, Capra only considered Jean Arthur from the start, who had already been partner in Mr. Deed's Gary Coopers and in the life artist James Stewart, although she was considered difficult because of her legendary stage fright .
In October 1938, Capra and his author Sidney Buchman went to Washington to do research . Frank Capra was there to his surprise by FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover invited to a visit to the FBI Headquarters and was allowed at a shooting a machine gun firing. Capra received a photo of this event autographed by Hoover as a gift. It wasn't until years later that Capra would learn that Hoover suspected him of being a communist and even wanted to get James Stewart to spy on him.
The collaboration between James Stewart and Jean Arthur, which was celebrated as a result, turned out to be more problematic during filming than in the previous year with Lebenskünstler . Stewart would later call Arthur the best actress he'd worked with in his career. And Jean Arthur also respected her partner's talent, although she got along better with Gary Cooper's restrained style than with the livelier Stewart. But this time Stewart absorbed his difficult role too much to be able to take into account the insecurities of his colleague as expected. The filibuster scene in particular required all of Stewart's concentration. He experimented with his voice to the point of exhaustion. Finally he had an ear, nose and throat doctor put a sore throat with a solution of mercury chloride in order to make the hoarseness sound real after many hours of speech.
synchronization
The German dubbing was only made for television broadcast in 1977 on behalf of ZDF . Erich Ebert directed the synchro .
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Jefferson Smith | James Stewart | Eckart Dux |
| Clarissa Saunders | Jean Arthur | Maddalena Kerrh |
| Senator Joseph Paine | Claude Rains | Hans Korte |
| Jim Taylor | Edward Arnold | Günther Sauer |
| Diz Moore | Thomas Mitchell | Wolfgang Hess |
| Governor Hubert Hopper | Guy Kibbee | Walter Reichelt |
| Chick McGann | Eugene Pallette | Michael Habeck |
| Senator Agnew | HB Warner | Leo Bardischewski |
| Senate President | Harry Carey | Arnold Marquis |
| Senator MacPherson | Grant Mitchell | Werner Abrolat |
| Reporter Nosy | Charles Lane | Manfred Lichtenfeld |
| Kenneth Allen | Russell Simpson | Herbert Weicker |
| HV Kaltenborn , CBS | HV Kaltenborn | Kurt E. Ludwig |
| Sweeney Farrell | Jack Carson | Hartmut Reck |
| Carl Cook | Dick Elliott | Kurt Zips |
reception
The film, which is now considered a classic, was already a great success with critics and audiences in 1939. However, there were angry protests from politics. Senate Democratic Majority Leader Alben W. Barkley called the film "grotesque." The US Ambassador to Great Britain , Joseph P. Kennedy , described him as a threat to the reputation of the United States in Europe on the verge of war. The premiere of Mr. Smith took place in October 1939 a few weeks after the German attack on Poland .
From January 1940 Joseph Goebbels tried to get the showing rights for the film, which made fun of corruption and parliamentarism in the USA. However, there was no performance in Germany. In 1942, many cinema owners in Paris deliberately showed Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington as the last US film before a ban on English-language films imposed by the German occupiers came into force.
Reviews
- Lexicon of the international film: "Capra's famous social satire, which advocates democracy and the freedom of the individual, convinces above all through the successful mixture of joke and seriousness as well as the excellent presentation."
- Leonard Maltin counted the film among the "beautiful Capra Americana " with first-class performances by James Stewart and Jean Arthur.
- Reclam's film guide found in the “typical Capra film” the “humor a little more cumbersome, the political message more striking than, for example, in the comparable film Mr. Deeds goes to town ” from 1936 with Gary Cooper .
Remarks
- In 1962 a short-lived television series with Fess Parker in the role of the young senator "Eugene Smith" was created under the same title in the USA .
- In 1977 Tom Laughlin shot an unsuccessful remake called Billy Jack Goes to Washington , he himself played the lead role.
- In 1992, a new version was created loosely based on the original material with Eddie Murphy under the title An honorable gentleman .
Awards
The film was one of the first to be inducted into the National Film Registry in 1989 .
New York Film Critics Circle 1939
- Best movie
- Best Actor (James Stewart)
Oscar
- Lewis R. Foster for Best Original Story
Overall, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington for the Academy Awards held on February 29, 1940 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, including in the categories of Best Picture , Leading Actor , Director , Editing , Score and Best Supporting Actor for Claude Rains and Harry Carey.
Awards from the American Film Institute in 2007:
- No. 26 in the "List of the 100 Best American Films of All Time"
- the role of Jefferson Smith played by James Stewart was ranked 11th in the "List of the 25 greatest American film heroes of all time"
- The film received a top position 5 in the "List of the 100 most inspiring American films of all time"
literature
- Victor Scherle, William Turner Levy: The Complete Films of Frank Capra. Citadel Press, New York, Secaucus 1992, ISBN 0-8065-1296-2 .
Web links
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in theInternet Movie Database(English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michael Munn: Jimmy Stewart . 2006, ISBN 1-56980-310-2 , p. 94
- ↑ John Oller: Jean Arthur . 1999, ISBN 0-87910-278-0 , pp. 113f.
- ↑ Munn, p. 95
- ↑ Oller, p. 175
- ↑ Munn, p. 95
- ↑ Munn, p. 90
- ↑ Oller, p. 103
- ↑ Munn, p. 96f.
- ↑ Mr. Smith goes to Washington. In: synchronous database. Retrieved February 15, 2020 .
- ↑ Munn, p. 97
- ↑ Markus Spieker: Hollywood under the swastika: The American feature film in the Third Reich. CD-ROM, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier 2003.
- ↑ Oller, p. 117
- ↑ Mr. Smith goes to Washington. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 3, 2016 .
- ^ Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide 1999 . ISBN 0-451-19582-5
- ^ Reclam's film guide . 2nd Edition. 1973, ISBN 3-15-010205-7