"Mr Smith Goes to Washington"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the directoring history of Frank Capra, a classic movie director in the 1920s and 1930s. It looks at criticism of Capra's style, but also how his unique genre of 'feel-good' movies was widely accepted by the masses. The paper focuses on his movie "Mr Smith Goes to Washington".

From the Paper:

"Frank Capra has been dismissed as a movie director because his films are too feel-good. The plots which he favored were, to use his phrase as quoted in Daniel D. Fineman's article on Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, "'Capra-corny'" (1130). This remark shows that Capra took pleasure in his image of being a director of sentimental films. His films, however, as more than mere sentimental sappiness. One reason for this is the superb acting he coaxed from the cast of his movies. But there is another reason, as well, as to why Capra's films avoid being mere maudlin: there is an element of social criticism in them. This is particularly true for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Although the storyline certainly is sentimental, and there is the predictable happy ending of the honest David triumphing over the corrupt Goliath, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is an indictment of the Goliath that was twentieth-century politics, complete with its political machines involved in graft."

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