Meet John Doe (1941)

Director:

Frank Capra

Writers:

Richard Connell (story) and
Robert Presnell Sr. (story) ...

Release Date:

3 May 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

A man needing money agrees to impersonate a nonexistent person who said he'd be committing suicide as a protest, and a political movement begins.

Plot Keywords:

Unemployment | Politics | Loss Of Job | Convention | Plot

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Gary Cooper	...	John Doe / Long John Willoughby
Barbara Stanwyck	...	Ann Mitchell
Edward Arnold	...	D. B. Norton
Walter Brennan	...	The Colonel
Spring Byington	...	Mrs. Mitchell
James Gleason	...	Henry Connell (managing editor,'The New Bulletin')
Gene Lockhart	...	Mayor Lovett
Rod La Rocque	...	Ted Sheldon (Norton's nephew)
Irving Bacon	...	Beany
Regis Toomey	...	Bert Hansen (soda jerk)
J. Farrell MacDonald	...	Sourpuss Smithers
Warren Hymer	...	Angelface (bodyguard)
Harry Holman	...	Mayor Hawkins
Andrew Tombes	...	Spencer of 'Daily Chronicle'
Pierre Watkin	...	Hammett (political boss)

Also Known As:

Frank Capra's 'Meet John Doe' (USA) (complete title)
John Doe, Dynamite (UK)

Runtime:

USA:122 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:Btl | Brazil:14

Company:

Frank Capra Productions

Trivia:

Director Frank Capra tested the film in different areas of the US with four different endings to determine which one to keep. In one, John Willoughby commits suicide. In another, Ann Mitchell persuades him not to leap from City Hall. Inspired by a letter signed "John Doe," Capra filmed a fifth and final ending in which Mitchell talks some sense into Willoughby and then faints into his arms.

Goofs:

Continuity: The collar of John Doe's coat is alternately up and down between shots when Ann is persuading him not to jump off the roof.

Quotes:

Henry Connel: Lighthouses, John. Lighthouses in a foggy world.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Shawshank: The Redeeming Feature (2001) (TV)

Soundtrack:

TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME

Pollyanna eh?

This film offers a standing rebuke to critics who use the term "Capracorn". None of Capra's films are as blindly optimistic as is often argued, but this one is a pitch-black jeremiad against manipulation by the media. The mob scene at the "John Doe" convention is one of the powerful scenes ever filmed. Stanwyck is incredible as reporter Anne Mitchell. She is one of the great actresses of the century, and she always did her best work Capra, whose female characters are generally more compelling to the women we get in the movies of our "liberated" era. Cooper is fantastic as a truly "average" guy who is "awakened" by his experience with the John Doe movement, and Edward Arnold is absolutely terrifying in the role of Fascist D.B. Norton. This film is even more relevant today than when it was made, and I would argue that it should be viewed in high schools across the continent. Capra is asking his viewers to think critically of EVERYTHING they hear on the radio or see in papers or hear from elites, and amen to that!