I first saw this "old movie" a couple weeks after Watergate, the resignation of President Nixon in disgrace, and his pardoning of his impeachable co-conspiracies by his successor, then-President Ford. Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater was asked by Time Magazine what could be done to prevent such a crisis and abuse of power from happening in the future and he answered in his usual over-the-top-but-accurate way: "Stop printing money."
(Yeah, that would slow things down a bit)
All of this was in the immediate past when I first saw this movie from 1939—that being the distant past—and I came away with the impression that it could have been made yesterday.
It sure felt the same. The noble ideals writ large and etched deep and played out by men bloviating and "gaming the system," taking bribes (and certainly "influence") from monied sources. These days, senators and representatives spend a big chunk of their day in a phone-room making calls for donations, like they were minimum-wage collection-agency workers. At the time Frank Capra made Mr. Smith, they may not—I repeat, at that time—have had the contempt for the voting public that the current crop of politicians have...of short-term-memory, easily influenced rubes all too easy to be convinced by a Big Lie or maybe just a Big Spin and who can't be bothered to vote (if they haven't been gerrymandered or suppressed out of their vote), much less to whom attention is paid.
Maybe they were the same...at the movie's premiere in Washington D.C. there were a lot of walk-outs by incensed politicians and there was much kvetching. Here is how the Senate web-site paints it:
Most of the senators attending the premiere responded with good humor to
the Hollywood treatment, with its realistic reproduction of the Senate
Chamber. Several, however, were not amused. Majority Leader Alben
Barkley described the film as "silly and stupid," adding that it made
the Senate look like "a bunch of crooks." Years later, producer Frank
Capra alleged that several senators had actually tried to buy up the
film to prevent its release.
Wikipedia goes into more detail (with citations):
The film premiered in Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., on October 17, 1939, sponsored by the National Press Club, an event to which 4,000 guests were invited, including 45 senators.[12] Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was attacked by the Washington press, and politicians in the U.S. Congress, as anti-American and pro-Communist for its portrayal of corruption in the American government.[17]
While Capra claims in his autobiography that some senators walked out
of the premiere, contemporary press accounts are unclear about whether
this occurred or not, or whether senators yelled back at the screen
during the film.[18]
It is known that Alben W. Barkley, a Democrat and the Senate Majority Leader, called the film "silly and stupid", and said it "makes the Senate look like a bunch of crooks".[19] He also remarked that the film was "a grotesque distortion" of the Senate, "as grotesque as anything ever seen! Imagine the Vice President of the United States winking at a pretty girl in the gallery in order to encourage a filibuster!" Barkley thought the film "showed the Senate as the biggest aggregation of nincompoops on record!"[19]
Pete Harrison, a respected journalist and publisher of the motion picture trade journal Harrison's Reports, suggested that the Senate pass a bill allowing theater owners to refuse to show films that "were not in the best interest of our country". That did not happen, but one of the ways that some senators attempted to retaliate for the damage they felt the film had done to the reputation of their institution was by pushing the passage of the Neely Anti-Block Booking Bill, which eventually led to the breakup of the studio-owned theater chains in the late 1940s. Columbia responded by distributing a program which put forward the film's patriotism and support of democracy and publicized the film's many positive reviews.[20]
Other objections were voiced as well. Joseph P. Kennedy, the American Ambassador to Great Britain, wrote to Capra and Columbia head Harry Cohn to say that he feared the film would damage "America's prestige in Europe", and because of this urged that it be withdrawn from European release. Capra and Cohn responded, citing the film's review, which mollified Kennedy to the extent that he never followed up, although he privately still had doubts about the film.[21]
The film was banned in Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, and in Franco's Spain. In the Soviet Union, the film was released to cinemas in December 1950 as The Senator. According to Capra, the film was also dubbed in certain European countries to alter the message of the film so it conformed with official ideology.
When a ban on American films was imposed in German occupied France in 1942, some theaters chose to show Mr. Smith Goes to Washington as the last movie before the ban went into effect. One theater owner in Paris reportedly screened the film nonstop for 30 days after the ban was announced.[22]
So, for those on the inside, there was a lot to hate. For people who didn't have their reputations on the line, the film's message was more positive—despite a corrupt representation and a duplicitous press, the ideals of a government "of the people, by the people, for the people" working to "form a more perfect Union" was still a good idea, a revolutionary idea, and...an evolutionary idea...rejecting the Divine Right of Kings (or Tyrants) and putting the power of governing into the hands of the governed...as Jefferson Smith explains in his "babblings."
It is known that Alben W. Barkley, a Democrat and the Senate Majority Leader, called the film "silly and stupid", and said it "makes the Senate look like a bunch of crooks".[19] He also remarked that the film was "a grotesque distortion" of the Senate, "as grotesque as anything ever seen! Imagine the Vice President of the United States winking at a pretty girl in the gallery in order to encourage a filibuster!" Barkley thought the film "showed the Senate as the biggest aggregation of nincompoops on record!"[19]
Pete Harrison, a respected journalist and publisher of the motion picture trade journal Harrison's Reports, suggested that the Senate pass a bill allowing theater owners to refuse to show films that "were not in the best interest of our country". That did not happen, but one of the ways that some senators attempted to retaliate for the damage they felt the film had done to the reputation of their institution was by pushing the passage of the Neely Anti-Block Booking Bill, which eventually led to the breakup of the studio-owned theater chains in the late 1940s. Columbia responded by distributing a program which put forward the film's patriotism and support of democracy and publicized the film's many positive reviews.[20]
Other objections were voiced as well. Joseph P. Kennedy, the American Ambassador to Great Britain, wrote to Capra and Columbia head Harry Cohn to say that he feared the film would damage "America's prestige in Europe", and because of this urged that it be withdrawn from European release. Capra and Cohn responded, citing the film's review, which mollified Kennedy to the extent that he never followed up, although he privately still had doubts about the film.[21]
The film was banned in Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, and in Franco's Spain. In the Soviet Union, the film was released to cinemas in December 1950 as The Senator. According to Capra, the film was also dubbed in certain European countries to alter the message of the film so it conformed with official ideology.
When a ban on American films was imposed in German occupied France in 1942, some theaters chose to show Mr. Smith Goes to Washington as the last movie before the ban went into effect. One theater owner in Paris reportedly screened the film nonstop for 30 days after the ban was announced.[22]
So, for those on the inside, there was a lot to hate. For people who didn't have their reputations on the line, the film's message was more positive—despite a corrupt representation and a duplicitous press, the ideals of a government "of the people, by the people, for the people" working to "form a more perfect Union" was still a good idea, a revolutionary idea, and...an evolutionary idea...rejecting the Divine Right of Kings (or Tyrants) and putting the power of governing into the hands of the governed...as Jefferson Smith explains in his "babblings."
But, it's an experiment and one that can still fail. When he exited the Continental Congress, Benjamin Franklin was asked by Elizabeth Willing Powel "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?"
I'm going to keep that in mind this entire election year, despite the babblings of ones such have been displayed in the last three weeks of "Scenes". Or the babblings I see on the other screens of my life. Remember the spirit of the law, not the transient arguments trying to despoil or subvert that spirit.
"And I feel fine."
The Set-Up: When the Senator from the great state of...somewhere, U.S.A. dies, that state's governor goes against the recommendation of his party machine and appoints Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) to Senator pro tem—on the advice of his children—and his idealism runs afoul of the political machine running his state. With the help of his predecessor's aide, Saunders (Jean Arthur)—don't ask what her first name is—he uses Parliamentary Procedure (in the form of a filibuster) to hold up the vote on his expulsion and the appropriations bill he's discovered contains graft benefiting his states political machine.
He's been talking for for over seven hours.
Action.
Note: The majority of the scripted section is from Sidney Buchman's script, but there's a lot of talk that's been excised from it, emphasizing highlights and maintaining the pace of the film. Additionally, there have been sections (call them "interruptions") included to break up the speechifying and keep the film breezing along. Additionally, Jimmy Stewart simplified some of his dialogue (that got too highfalutin') in the drawn-out portions of the script. Those I've merely replaced. Deletions are crossed out. Additions are in green.
A close view of JEFFERSON shows a slight strain after these
seven or eight hours of continuous talk. His collar is undone,
his beard has started to sprout. His eyes go back to his
book, and he continues his reading.
A BROADCASTING STUDIO appears, revealing H. V. KALTENBORN at
the microphone.
The floor of the SENATE is seen again.
TAYLOR Now, wait a minute!
TAYLOR FLUNKEE 2 Yessir
OPERATOR Jackson City calling...
TAYLOR Well, hold him!
JEFFERSON If you think I'm
going back there and tell those boys in my state and and say:
(He breaks off, and
starts a different
tune, apologetically)
Words by Sydney Buchman, Lewis R. Foster, and Myles Connolly
Pictures by Joseph Walker and Frank Capra
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Our scene begins at 01:45 into this clip
Just look for H.V. Kaltenborn!
Just look for H.V. Kaltenborn!
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