Meet John Doe ****½ (1941, Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan) – Classic Movie Review 3848

Director Frank Capra’s vintage 1941 drama Meet John Doe stars Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold and Walter Brennan. Robert Riskin’s screenplay is based on the story The Life and Death of John Doe by Robert Presnell Sr and Richard Connell. It was a box office hit and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Story.

Stanwyck plays newspaper columnist Ann Mitchell, who uses a wounded homeless man (Cooper) in a publicity stunt to promote the idea of American fair play. The tramp agrees to impersonate a non-existent person, so he becomes John Doe and spouts decency slogans. He says he’ll be committing suicide as a protest, and a political movement begins.

It all snowballs as John Doe clubs spring up across the United States and the wealthy newspaper owner/ publisher D B Norton (Arnold) asks him to stand for US President.

On the deficit side, Capra’s movie is overlong, manipulatively sentimental and climaxes with a poor, disappointing ending. Nevertheless, the intelligent, feel-good tale, sympathetic direction and tremendous performances from the four stars and the distinguished support cast add up to a highly enjoyable film, one of Frank Capra’s classics.

Capra went into production without a clear idea of how the film should end. Four different endings were filmed and Capra tested the film in different areas of the US to decide which one to keep but they were all found unsatisfactory in previews. An audience member’s letter signed ‘John Doe’ suggested a fifth ending, which Capra liked and used.

Also in the cast are James Gleason, Spring Byington, Gene Lockhart, Rod LaRoque, Irving Bacon, Regis Toomey, Warren Hymer, Aldrich Bowker, Ann Doran, Sterling Holloway, J Farrell MacDonald, Pat Flaherty, Sarah Edwards, Stanley Andrews, Andrew Tombes, Pierre Watkin, Garry Owen, Charles Wilson, Gene Morgan, Edward Earle, Mike Frankovitch, Harry Holman and Bess Flowers.

Riskin felt that Capra was taking all the credit for their films, leading to several confrontations during the production of Meet John Doe. A story denied by Capra is that Riskin showed him 120 blank pages of script and said: ‘Put the famous Capra touch on that!’ Their association was dissolved after Meet John Doe and Riskin never willingly collaborated with Capra again.

Riskin’s screenplay came from the 1939 film treatment The Life and Death of John Doe written by Richard Connell and Robert Presnell Sr, the film’s sole Oscar nominee. Although nominated for Best Original Story, the treatment was based on Connell’s 1922 Century Magazine story A Reputation.

Riskin married Fay Wray in 1942.

The original camera negative deteriorated because of poor storage and was eventually destroyed. The film’s copyright was not renewed and it fell into the public domain in 1969.

Meet John Doe runs 132 minutes but TV may show the reissue print shortened to 123 minutes.

Capra liked working with Cooper on Mr Deeds Goes to Town (1936) so he was his only choice for John Doe and he wanted to work with Stanwyck.

The cast are Gary Cooper as John Doe / Long John Willoughby, Barbara Stanwyck as Ann Mitchell, Edward Arnold as D B Norton, Walter Brennan as The Colonel, Spring Byington as Mrs Mitchell, James Gleason as Henry Connell, Gene Lockhart as Mayor Lovett, Rod La Rocque as Ted Sheldon, Irving Bacon as Beanie, Regis Toomey as Bert Hansen, J. Farrell MacDonald as Sourpuss, Harry Holman as Mayor Hawkins, Warren Hymer as Angelface, Andrew Tombes as Spencer, Pierre Watkin as Hammett, Stanley Andrews as Western, Mitchell Lewis as Bennett, Charles Wilson as Charlie Dawson, Vaughan Glaser as Governor, Sterling Holloway as Dan, Harry Davenport as Former Bulletin Owner, and Garry Owen as Man Painting Names on Door.

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