If there was ever a movie tailor fitted to director Frank Capra, this is it. It has all the ingredients seen in Capra's more famous work. There is a populist message, a David and Goliath-like struggle, the goodness of the average man overcoming the greediness of those at the top, a sense of patriotism, a good dose of humor, exploring darker themes while still keeping a good natured corniness, it is all here. This movie is one that could have only been made by one director and if anyone else tried it would probably fail. Yet with Frank Capra in the director's chair this movie not only works but it is utterly delightful. Just as important to why this movie works was writer Robert Riskin. Though the two did not always see eye to eye Robert Riskin and Frank Capra were an incredible team and both of them did some of their best work with the other. After all this is the director-writer team that brought us Platinum Blonde (1931), Lady For a Day (1933), It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Lost Horizon (1937) and You Can't Take it With You (1938). Riskin provides some excellent and clever dialogue for this film that is simply unforgettable. This dialogue perfectly complements Frank Capra's vision for this film, while having much of Robert Riskin's personality. If you compare the dialogue for Frank Capra films written by Riskin and the ones not written by him, you can quickly find that their is a fast paced witty dialogue to these films absent from the others. Unfortunately after Meet John Doe the two would part ways, as they had a falling out due to Riskin wanting to work on other projects.
You could not come up with a better cast to play these characters no matter how hard you tried. Gary Cooper is one of the finest examples of Capra's all American everyman character and few have done it better. Barbra Stanwyck is at the top of her game playing a fast talking and tough character who underneath it all has a good natured idealism. This is the type of part she was born to play and she plays it too perfection. Walter Brennen still often times manages to steal the show as John's cynical and jaded sidekick. Even those in smaller roles are excellent, for instance I always love seeing Sterling Holloway and he doesn't fail to delight me here.
The only thing that doesn't quite work in this movie is the ending. There is a reason for this. Frank Capra could not think of an ending for this story. Tired of being criticized for his films being too upbeat and corny, Capra (along with writer Riskin) decided to push the main character to the end of his rope. The only problem with this is they could not think of a satisfying way to get him out of this. Production on the movie had to begin before an ending could be found. The ending you will see in the movie today was the fifth one done. Still unsure how to end the film, he sent different endings to early showings in Los Angles, San Francisco and Washington D.C. to see how audiences felt. Their response lead him to create a new ending, which is how the movie ends today. Capra later admitted that he wasn't satisfied with this ending either.
The following is a 1941 article from Hollywood magazine discussing the movie. If you have any trouble reading these pages click on them and use your touch screen to zoom in.
The following page from the Motion Picture Herald covers a couple of elaborate advertising campaigns for Meet John Doe. Again if you have trouble reading click on the page and use your touch screen to zoom in.
-Michael J. Ruhland
Resources Used
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/3827/Meet-John-Doe/articles.html
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