Last night Kelly and I watched the film Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. This is one of those classics you need to watch at least once in your life (94% at Rotten Tomatoes), so I’m glad I can finally check this one off the list. It was overall a fine movie worth watching. Jimmy Stewart was great as expected. I’ve always thought of myself as loving Stewart as an actor, although to be honest this might be the second movie I’ve actually seen him in. I guess he’s just that good in It’s A Wonderful Life and I’ve seen it that many times (holiday movies are like that).
I caught two allusions to Don Quixote. I’m wondering what the significance of these allusions were and if I missed any more of them. The first was straightforward, a character (I can’t remember who unfortunately) referred to Stewart’s character Jeff Smith as Don Quixote when he is first arriving to Washington. The second, which really caught my attention given the first reference, was when another character told Smith he was fighting windmills (like Quixote). I know Don Quixote is one of the most classic stories of all time but I don’t remember it that well because I read it in Spanish, not English (no kidding).
The supporting case alongside Stewart’s outstanding performance was solid throughout, especially Claude Rains as the senior Senator in Smith’s state. Rains played out the various shades of grey in his character well. This was important to the film as his character was one of very few in the film to actually have moral ambiguities to them. Smith is the white knight while Edward Arnold’s Jim Taylor is the evil cronyist industrialist. I enjoyed seeing Thomas Mitchell (who plays Stewart’s uncle Billy Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life) fill out a comedic role as reporter Diz Moore in the film.
I don’t have many movie chops when it comes to discussing elements such as camerawork and pacing, but again, I really enjoyed the film. It’s a classic good versus evil story, so there’s not much to compel you besides Stewart’s earnestness and Rain’s performance, but there’s a lot to like. I got a chuckle out of the time capsule elements to the movie, such as the Boy Rangers which Smith leads.