Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Talk about cinematic deja vu.

Frank Capra borrows the same template for mr. smith goes to washington that he used with Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.

Take a good man from a small town, bring him to the big city, have the establishment laugh at him and then threaten his reputation with a perceived scandal.

I'm not complaining. I think both films are great. They were both released during the Great Depression. I'd imagine the regular Joe could use a healthy dose of optimism on the silver screen to get by during those tough times.

Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) is quite content living in a small town writing poetry for postcards. His life takes a dramatic turn when his rich uncle dies, leaving him an estate of $20 million. This is 1936 folks. Multiply that number a few times to get a sense of what that cash would be worth in 2013. $200 million? $400 million? Lawyers package him up for New York City and his new home - a huge mansion. "Gosh, I've got a lot of friends," he notes before he leaves town by train. Residents of Mandrake Falls are happy for him. Rather than applauding his success, those in the Big Apple are ready for a handout or slap Deeds around.

The tremendous wealth doesn't put dollar signs in Deeds' eyes. But plenty of other people are seeing green. Deeds is seen as an easy mark. The board of an opera company expect him to cut a cheque to wash away a sea of red ink. Established poets invite him to their table to ridicule him. Newspapers are desperate for copy on the new millionaire in the Big Apple. Babe Bennett (Jean Arthur) gets a promise of a month's paid vacation from editor MacWade (George Bancroft) if she can get Deeds' story. She captivates Deeds, a bachelor, then mocks him in a series of stories where he's dubbed The Cinderella Man.

Deeds wants to return home and escape all the scammers and ridicule that surround him. It takes an appeal from a down-and-out farmer (John Wray) for Deeds to consider how he can help others with his cash. That appeal is a little too sappy for this viewer, but that's a brief beef. Greedy lawyer John Cedar (Douglas Dumbrille) recruits another relative of the deceased and comes up with a plan to get the piles of cash from Deeds.

Cooper, in one of his first classic screen roles, is just right as the slow-talking, quick-thinking Deeds. Here's a man who can spot a con (save Babe's scoops) and is more concerned about finding love than driving around in a big car. Betrayals hurt, especially when he learns what Babe did.

Lionel Stander is well cast as Cornelius Cobb, the public relations guy who is supposed to keep Deeds out of trouble. "Bull's what I've been selling all my life," he notes at one point. Great line.

Jean Arthur is a dream - a beauty with brains who falls for Deeds and is haunted by how her words are used to persecute Deeds.

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is funny, romantic and optimistic effort from one of Hollywood's greatest directors. Capra won an Oscar for this 1936 effort. The film earned four other Oscar nominations including best actor and picture.


RATING: 8/10

FUN FACTS: Gino Corrado appears as a strolling violinist in Mr. Deeds. He had many bit parts in his career, added up to an impressive 394 credits. Corrado's resume included Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, Citizen Kane and Mr. Smith Goes to Washingon.

John Wray was Himmelstoss in the original All Quiet on the Western Front.

George Bennett appeared in John Ford's classic western, Stagecoach, in 1939.

You're in the Navy Now (1951)

This comedy isn't quite ship-shape.

That's too bad because look at the talent associated with this 1951 release - director Henry Hathaway (Call Northside 777, True Grit) and actors Gary Cooper (high noon, Meet John Doe), Eddie Albert (The Longest Day) and, in his film debut, Charles Bronson.

You're in the Navy Now is based on a true story from the Second World War. The United States Navy experimented with a steam engine that would boost the speed of a sub chaser by 10 knots. Project XP11204 is pretty neat, a slice of WWII history this history buff didn't know about.

Said engine never seems to work for long, prompting numerous replacements and returns to sea to make it right. Dubbed the Tea Kettle, the boat and its crew becomes the joke of the navy. Morale is poor. Skipper Lt. John Harkness (Gary Cooper) is flustered. He's an engineer who was quickly educated in the ways of the military and pressed into service. Almost all of the crew is also new to the navy too, save George Larrabee (Millard Mitchell), an old salt who wonders what he's done to get his latest assignment. He calls his comrades "a lot of misfits."

There are numerous problems with this film. Let's start with Harkness' wife, Ellie (Jane Greer). She's way too young for him. Cooper would have been about 50 when he made this film. Greer was half her age. I complained about a wide age difference last week with The Pink Panther. The same argument stands here. It's hard to believe these two are a couple. There's no chemistry. I'd suggest not offering this line to your better half, "You smell better than an engine room."

Some of the acting is just plain bad. I'm a big fan of Mitchell, who I first discovered in the excellent war film twelve o'clock high. But there's a scene in this film where he reacts with laughter that makes him look like he's making his debut in a high school drama production. My beef isn't just with Mitchell. There are other scenes in this film that look like they involve a bunch of amateurs, not a major studio effort from 20th Century Fox and a decent talent like Hathaway.

Here's another complaint which isn't really fair since this movie was made in 1951. But I think viewers will definitely notice. The funniest scene in the film involves the Tea Kettle racing along at an unstoppable speech. Numerous collisions appear imminent. But, to a viewer in 2013, it's so obvious scenes of other ships, or structures, are cut in. Sigh. But I do love how the brass react to the bumpy ride along the way.

And, how about the top secret angle associated with the project. Doesn't that make things hush-hush? Yet everyone and his brother on the naval base knows what's going on with the Tea Kettle. New steam engines are loaded on in broad daylight. Loose lips sink ships. Wouldn't the Germans and Japanese figured out what the Americans were up to with all that chit chat?

There are funny moments in the film. Efforts to move the ship from its berth with an impatient port commander (Ed Begley) are quite well-done.

But You're in the Navy Now comes close to being a shipwreck.

RATING: 5/10