Watching this movie reminded me of my senior year government class. After taking this class and listening to lectures of the innerworkings of our government taught by a state delegate, I was politically invigorated. At the time, politics held such promise as a panacea for all that was wrong in the world. The year was 2000 and I voted in that year's Presidential election and every other lesser election since then. It was only recently, a scant nine years after, that I became bitter about the American political system and all the shenanigans and tomfoolery that went on. Even though being made a good 43 years before I was even born, Mr. Smith's journey through the political system embodies my feelings toward the institution as a whole. But then again, this blog is not about politics.
For those who haven't had the pleasure to enjoy the film, the titular character is enlisted to take the place of a departed United States senator. While he arrives bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (where does that saying even come from?), Mr. Smith (played wonderfully by James Stewart) soon discovers that Washington is more about caressing the press and mincing words than standing up for freedom and values. After almost being discharged from his position due to uncovering a potential scandal, Mr. Smith takes up and performs a spectacle on the floor of the Senate until the film concludes with the right person admitting guilt and the hero redeemed.
The first thing that jumped out with this movie is how applicable it is today. An inexperienced man is thrust into a position of high power who stumbles without the help of more senior colleagues and aids and candidly states that he will not "disgrace the office." Instead, from the onset, he seems to do just that with doctored articles from the corrupt press corp to blatantly false allegations from a fellow senator. In many ways, we can all relate to Smith as he begins a new position not knowing what to do, where to go, or whom to ask either of the previous questions. The awkwardness of his new job wears off however as he uncovers the real reason he was appointed to the position and his idealistic dream of helping his neighbors, his state, and his country are crushed at the will of 99 other men.
Mr. Smith is a great movie for many reasons, most of which involve the cast. Stewart is top-notch especially at his last ditch filibuster moment toward the close of the film. When the bundles of telegraphs are brought in to quiet the loquacious Senator, you feel desperation for the character although it never shows through Stewart's performance. Also, frequent mention on MST3k Claude Rains excels at his portrayal of Paine, sort of a dark Jedi master whose powers could easily swap from good to evil.
Not being as well versed in black-and-white films, I was struck by how often shadows were used in the film, not only for shot design but also to highlight important pieces of information like newspaper headlines or relevant statements from the Gettysburg Address. While it was effective as a story-telling technique, it was rather jarring to see a glowing piece of text standing out at you in an otherwise tense dramatic scene. Also jarring were some of the filmmaking techniques like the "Vasoline on the lens" look when Saunders starts falling in love with Smith, the jarring cuts to the same shot in the same scene (as it were a really badly produced student film), and the wipes for transitions between scenes. Again, these may have been mainstay at the time, but over 60 years removed they are rather bothersome.
All in all though, the performances and the story of this movie are in excellent form. At the time it seemed to ruffle a lot of feathers with its portrayal of Washington politics so I am surprised that it hasn't reached a new success with all of the jilted political goers such as myself. Even if that doesn't happen, it is good to know that this is a film truly worthy of all the acclaim.
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