Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington insert movie poster image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Producer-director Frank Capra and Columbia Pictures delivered Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to movie audiences in 1939. James Stewart plays the idealistic junior senator, with Jean Arthur, Claude Rains and Edward Arnold along for the bumpy campaign.

Lewis R. Foster’s The Gentleman from Montana

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is based on the story “The Gentleman from Montana” by Lewis R. Foster (1898-1974). Originally a newspaperman, Foster had moved to Hollywood in the 1920s to work as a gag man for Hal Roach Studios. After directing several Laurel & Hardy shorts, Foster graduated to feature films and television, working prolifically as both a writer and director.

Foster’s story treatment, alternately called “The Gentleman from Montana” and “The Gentleman from Wyoming,” was originally purchased by Columbia Pictures as a starring vehicle for Ralph Bellamy and as a possible sequel to the 1936 film comedy Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. When Gary Cooper, the title character in the aforementioned picture, proved unavailable, James Stewart was brought in from MGM under the working title Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Sidney Buchman penned the screenplay, with Frank Capra producing and directing. Dimitri Tiomkin created the original music score and Joseph Walker served as cinematographer.

James Stewart Stars in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

James Stewart (Jefferson Smith), Jean Arthur (Clarissa Sanders) and Claude Rains (Senator Joseph Harrison Paine) head the cast. Other players include Edward Arnold (Jim Taylor), Guy Kibbee (Gov. Hubert “Happy” Hopper), Thomas Mitchell (Diz Moore), Beulah Bondi (Ma Smith), Eugene Pallette (Chick McGann), H.B. Warner (Senator Agnew), Harry Carey (Henry), Astrid Allwyn (Susan Paine), Ruth Donnelly (Emma Hopper), Charles Lane (Nosey), William Demarest (Bill Griffith) and Jack Carson (Sweeney Farrell).

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Filmed in Hollywood

Budgeted at $1.9 million, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was filmed from April to July 1939. The movie was shot primarily on the Columbia Pictures lot in Hollywood, where a full-replica of the United States Senate chamber was constructed. Backdrop scenery employed included various Washington, D.C., landmarks: Union Station, the Capitol Building, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Supreme Court Building and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

Serving as Frank Capra’s technical adviser was James D. Preston, former superintendent of the Senate press gallery. Preston proved invaluable in recreating the august U.S. Senate chamber.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: A Capitol Movie

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington opens with bad news: United States Senator Samuel Foley has unexpectedly died. After consulting with media magnate/political boss Jim Taylor, the spineless Governor Hubert Hopper appoints Foley’s successor, Jefferson Smith, the popular head of the state’s Boy Ranger youth organization. Smith is a political newcomer and something of a country bumpkin, viewed by his backers as a “safe” choice and one they can easily manipulate.

The idealistic Senator Smith comes to the nation’s capital, wowed by the various historical landmarks and naively demonstrating his bird calls for an amused press. But when the freshman senator accidentally catches wind of a questionable dam project back home involving Terry Canyon, he develops a streak of independence, running afoul of his political backers.

Now the target of a vicious smear campaign, the embattled Senator Smith is ready to quit and return home to the Boy Rangers. But old Washington hand Clarissa Saunders urges him to fight back, with Smith challenging the powerful Boss Taylor and his well-oiled political machine.

Taking to the Senate floor, the energetic Smith engages in an exhausting 23-hour filibuster in an attempt to right the wheels of democracy. “Either I’m dead right, or I’m crazy!” he argues his conscience.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Release and Reviews

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington premiered at Washington, D.C.’s Constitution Hall on October 17, 1939.

“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is typically Capra, punchy, human and absorbing…” reported Variety in a special trade industry preview at Los Angeles’ Pantages Theater (10/3/39).

“Mr. Smith is one of the best shows of the year. More fun, even, than the Senate itself,” observed Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times (10/20/39).

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Academy Awards, Trivia, Movie Memorabilia, DVD

• Eleven Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Stewart), Best Supporting Actor (Carey, Rains), Best Music Scoring, Best Film Editing (Gene Havlick, Al Clark), Best Art Direction (Lionel Banks), Best Story (Foster, won), Best Sound (John P. Livadary), Best Screenplay.
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington drew the ire of several establishment newspapers, most notably Colonel Robert R. McCormick’s conservative Chicago Tribune. Joining in the chorus of boos were several outraged congressman and Senate Majority Leader Alben Barkley, who called the film “grotesque.” Montana Senator Burton Wheeler, seated next to Frank Capra at the premiere, was so offended that he walked out midway through the picture.
• Senator Smith’s home state is never identified, but it is located out west.
• Auction results for original Mr. Smith movie memorabilia, courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries, Dallas, Texas: one sheet poster rare style A ($15,535), insert poster ($3,585), half sheet poster autographed by Jimmy Stewart ($7,170), title lobby card ($1,792.50), window card ($1,195), 8×10 b/w publicity still picturing Frank Capra on the set ($119.50), midget window card ($1,015.75).
• On DVD: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Special Edition (Columbia/Tristar, 2000).

“You think I’m licked. You all think I’m licked. Well, I’m not licked, and I’m gonna stay right here and fight for this lost cause even if this room gets filled with lies likes these…” James Stewart tells his Senate colleagues.

Boy, is he in the wrong place…