Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

When Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) inherits over 20 million dollars, his life is turned upside down, which previously just consisted of being a member of the voluntary fire service in the remote village he lives in and playing the tuba in the chapel there. Now he travels to New York City, where his huge inheritance awakens the greed of those around him. Tabloid reporter “Babe” Bennet (Jean Arthur) sells the exclusive story of her experience with the “Cinderella Man”, who has unsuspectingly fallen in love with her. Following an encounter with a group of impoverished farmers, Deeds decides to distribute his wealth among the poor, which leads his relatives to try and declare him mentally incompetent so they can inherit in his place. In court, he questions such concepts as madness, normality, reason and common sense and makes a rousing plea for broadmindedness, tolerance and openness towards difference.

Frank Capra was the most important director to work at Columbia Pictures after winning five Oscars for It Happened One Night (1934). No other director was so closely linked to the studio’s rise from second-class status to being one of Hollywood’s most significant producers.