Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, based on story by Lewis Foster, directed by Frank Capra, with James Stewart

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, based on story by Lewis Foster, directed by Frank Capra, with James Stewart

9 out of 10

-          A look at this classic Through a Glass Brightly, trying to learn about the Signature Strengths of the protagonists

-          1939 was the year of Gone with the Wind

-          Therefore, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington did not have such a big chance at winning Awards at the Oscar Ceremony

-          Out the formidable 10 nominations, it only won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Story

-          But the cast, led by the outstanding James Stewart, supported by Claude Rains and other great actors was exceptional

-          Excellent was the direction of Frank Capra and all the other members of the team involved in the production

-          This is an all-time classic

-          As William Goldman writes in his chef d’oeuvre Adventures in the Screen Trade, this was a Golden Era

-           These were years when State of the Art works did not even get nominated, forget about winning big awards…

-          As opposed to now, when cartoon based films get a nod at the prestigious ceremonies, albeit in technical categories…

-          Most recently, Jodie Foster talked about the negative, disastrous actually, impact that these blockbusters have on good films

-          Bill Maher also jokes on his show Real Time on HBO on the issue of the “summer movies” that are now covering all the year

-          There was a time, he says, when the films that involve no brain activity on the part of the audience where for the summer only

-          Now they are on screens all the time…well, he did not use these words, but the message was clear

-          Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is in the category of intellectual motion pictures that have a message

-          The hero is a role model that has all the Signature Strengths imaginable and actually is the Superman!

-          He is the epitome of Justice, Wisdom and Knowledge- even if he seems naïve to start with- Temperance, Transcendence, Humanity and Courage

-          Jefferson Smith aka James Stewart is sent to Washington by the governor of his state as a puppet

-          A group of corrupt businessmen and politicians think that Mr. Smith will just play as they sing in the American Senate

-           But this is a Curious, Open Minded, Persistent, Integrous, Kind man that excels also at Citizenship!!

-          Therefore, when he learns that there is something very rotten, not in the State of Denmark, but in his home state, he acts.

-           Jefferson Smith is attacked on all fronts and all the senators backs his enemies, withdrawing from the Senate

-          The hero shows the other strong points he has:

-          Vitality- he has to filibuster for more than 24 hours!- Bravery, Modesty, Social Intelligence, Love, Hope and Gratitude among others

-           Senator Joseph Paine aka Claude Rains, a man that Jefferson Smith had worshipped is one of the villains- at least up to a point

-          This Paine is corrupt and in cahoots with Jim Taylor

-          They both stand to benefit from the approval of a bill, that has a provision regarding a dam that would make them rich

-          Without knowing, Mr. Smith proposes a Boy Scouts Camp right where the project of the dam had been initiated

-          When they see their perspective of making illegal millions is endangered, the crooks start a huge fight

-          Newspapers start publishing defamatory materials on Smith and they accuse him of the schemes they had concocted

-           For a long time, this looks like a helpless war, with one fighting all the others, a political machine with tremendous power

-          But this is the Ubermensch we are talking about

-          His Creativity, Perspective, Fairness, Leadership are formidable!!

Resplendent film!