Rating: 
Summary: Pixilated, indeed!
Review: "Mr. Deeds," Capra's first patently idealistic fantasy (and the first of his Everyman-as-Superman trilogy that continues with "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "Meet John Doe") is also most the one closely akin to his conventional screwball comedies. All the "Capra Corn" staples are here but with a dash of whimsy and sarcasm. It will certainly win your heart.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm sure this was GREAT sixty some-odd years ago.
Review: ...But today I found it as bland as a glass of water, however not pure or refreshing. In fact reading a dull, damp B&W newspaper is just as entertaining and very similar. Classic or not I just found the remake with Adam Sandler & Winona Ryder very funny and fresh. So I wanted to see where it came from. My great grandma loved the original when she was my age.. I'm guessing. But being that the only B&W film I liked was "Psycho", I'm glad that they remade this film just for me.
Rating:
Summary: For he's a jolly good fellow....
Review: ...that nobody can deny, indeed. Gary Cooper is "super duper" (sorry, just couldn't resist :) ) as Longfellow Deeds, the Cinderella Man. This movie provided the inspiration for the song Cinderella Man from Rush's "A Farewell To Kings" album. One of Cooper's best performances, he is believable as the "country bumpkin" who teaches the city slickers of NYC valuable lessons in life.
Rating:
Summary: JEAN AND GARY
Review: A classic Frank Capra delight from 1936, MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN is a special treat for those who love fine old movies. It sounds rather crazy, and it is crazier than it sounds, but in its craziness lies much of its virtue; out of the fantastic, it creates something touching and moving as well as amusing. A SATURDAY EVENING POST - like story about a young man and his ideals. Gary plays Longfellow Deeds, a country lad who has never been outside his own little town. He inherits a vast fortune - $20 million - and goes to the city. Deed's Yankee wit serves him quite well in keeping his head above the plots and counterplots that swirl around him. Until he finds that dream girl (Jean Arthur) who has been deceiving him along with the others. That is the ideal whose loss he cannot bear, so he submits to a sanity hearing the outcome of which will determine whether or not he will kept his money. Deeds finds that Jean (as Babe Bennett) though deceiving him had truly loved him, whereupon his native Yankee wit revives and sweeps away his enemies..........
Rating:
Summary: Perfect-Pitch Capra/Riskin
Review: As hilarious as it is sweet & finally sage. Jean Arthur's newspaper lady is the prototype for decent [post]modern superwomen everywhere. Gary Cooper is Longfellow Deeds, the original innocent bumpkin dittyist, in spades. Mean Pauline, or someone like that, argued that performing as Deeds ruined Cooper for murderous swashbuckler roles. Thank heaven for small favors? Or as loyal minion Cobb, Kent to Longfellow's Lear, sez early: "Oh, if it's only poetry..." Indeed. Lucky us. See the Coen brothers ("The Hudsucker Proxy") for the skewball remake/update.
Rating:
Summary: Frank Capra Magic
Review: Classic Capra magic with Cooper proving once again. the art of subtle acting. The Capra themes are all in place...and watch quickly for Mayo Methot( Humphrey Bogarts wife at the time) and Charles Lane..who seems to have been in at least half of every hollywood film ever made. You too will be pixilated after viewing this one.
Rating:
Summary: classic film, still hits home for today's viewers
Review: Cooper is so down to earth, much like his role as Sgt York. Longfellow's downhome humor and view toward humanities desire for money and power plow directly to the heart of us all.
Rating: 
Summary: Mr. Capra Goes Overboard
Review: Director Frank Capra's work doesn't hold up as well today as some of his contemporaries' because of his habit of over-inflating his scripts. "Deeds" starts out wonderfully well when the tuba-playing small-town yeoman Gary Cooper inherits a fortune and heads for the big city to look into it. But Capra can't leave well enough alone and transforms the funny contrasts into a ridiculously overblown sanity hearing. Capra repeated the same missteps in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "Meet John Doe", straining for social commentary and ending up with pomposity. Still, I would recommend Deeds and those other two pictures for all the scenes Capra got right. Cooper serenading the townspeople by playing "Auld Lang Syne" on his tuba from the back of a departing train is a real classic.
Rating:
Summary: Why don't they make them like this anymore?
Review: Even after retiring from showbiz, Frank Capra remained a very popular director until his death in 1991. His films allowed the audience to symphatize with the characters because they had a common theme of ordinary, likable (And often, small town) people being placed in extraordinary situations. Also, the main characters don't think much of what has happened to them, at least at the moment. For example, after being told he has inherited $20 million, Longfellow Deeds in Capra's 1936 comedy "Mr. Deed's Goes to Town" remarks "What do I need that for". And he goes back to playing his tuba. Another example is on the train ride to his new estate in New York: When asked what he's thinking about, it isn't the responsibility or wealth on his mind, but rather "Who's going to be the new tuba player in the band back home". Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur are both superb as the two leads. In his career-making role as Longfellow Deeds, Cooper plays it well as a dimwitted yet charming small town man who inherits his uncle's wealth following his death (Or suicide? You decide. Hey, that rhymes!) Arthur plays newspaper writer Louise "Babe" Bennett, who goes undercover to write articles on Deeds. She is originally hired to basically uncover dirt on Longfellow, which she does. But she finds herself falling in love with him and soon feels ashamed with degrading him. Her shame comes too late, though, for due in large part to her writing, Deeds is charged with insanity and put on trial (That and he puts up his whole fortune to help out poor farmers). Now, he has to defend against an overwhelming amount of evidence. However, as learned during the trial, Deeds wasn't insane. He just did peculiar things like all humans. There are several very funny scenes in the movie. One example is when Deeds, after chasing Walter the butler out of his room, yells at Walter to discover that the sound makes an echo. Soon, he and the other servants are making loud sounds and hearing them echo. Another funny scene is when Deeds, for the first time in his life, gets drunk and, according to Walter, fed donuts to a horse and took off his clothes yelling "Back to nature". But we never see the actual scene. That's something about this movie that current directors should pick up on: Some situations can be better, or in this case funnier, if left to our imagination. Its probably because of hindsight: When we look back at embarrassing situations we were in, we think differently of them then when they happened. About the only compliant I had with "Mr. Deeds" was in the way this film portrays the rich class. It's said that a movie can be shown as the way a director views the world. Capra must have had some bad experiences with wealthier people. In here, basically all
the richest men in New York, lead by the only other living relative of Deeds, want part of Longfellow's money, though they are wealthy enough. This plot is similar to Capra's later "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", where a naive senator has to fight crooked politicians who want the land he has set aside for a boyscout's camp. And it's similar in ways to "It's a Wonderful Life", where the manager of a Savings and Loans building has to prevent a wealthy businessman from taking it over. I can't speak for all the rich men of the world, but I assume there must be a few good ones who aren't greedy and, if they are unselfish, they don't come from a small town. I also think that it took Deeds a little long to find out who Babe Bennett really was; A news story about him appears every morning following a date with her, yet he can't put the two together. But that doesn't mean I don't like the movie. Being the critic that I am, I need to be fair and balanced. I think the movie is even better for tackling such lighthearted, simple and universal beliefs liked kindness and acceptance. I haven't seen the remake with Adam Sandler. I have nothing wrong with Sandler: Though he regularly plays the same guy in his movies, some of them have been funny. But from what I see on T.V ads, this remake seems to agree with today's belief that money makes you a great and happy person. As we learn here, that isn't always so. Deeds was a great man before he got all that money because he had character, integrity, honesty and dignity (Until "Donut Gate", that is). But tell me, how happier was he with all those millions? Instead, his longing for his home and friends in Mandrake Falls grows. There, he really was wealthy.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't get any better than this!
Review: For all Great Movies in History, this movie speaks to me more than any other. This is the Movie that made me a Gary Cooper fan Immidiatly upon watching. Cooper delivered I believe the Most persuasivly humble, sensative and sometimes hostile "Everyman" on screen. Facial expressions in all and quiet mannerisms with a touch of "Homicidal tendacies". Frank Capra won a Best Director Oscar and Cooper attained his First of 5 Nominations from his Role as "....Deeds" Also Nominated for Best picture of 1936. Jean Arthur shows herself to be quite the capable Comedian. Quirky and a Cute.....she is Perfect! If you Liked her in Capra's "You can't take it with you" and "Mr Smith Goes to Washington".....In "Mr Deeds.." she adds very attractively to Capras tastes in Brains before Beauty actresses. What makes this Movie what I call My Most favorite Movie of all time..Combination...Acting (mainly Cooper) Capra's Directing and Script Writing. If you have seen any Frank Capra Movies and not this one,you are missing out. And if you have seen Gary Cooper and Not convinced of his Range and subtle genuineness on screen, this role was made with Coop in mind..Literaly! The Plus in buying this on DVD is the Feature with Frank Capra Jr commenting on his fathers work and adding some insight into this movie. I believe Not enough people has seen "Mr Deeds Goes to Town" therefor this is the reason why it is not as well known as other Classic Movie Gems. Other Must See Rare Gary Cooper Films..(my recomendation)..."The Cowboy and the Lady"....."Friendly Persuasion"...'Good Sam" "Bluebead's Eight Wife"..."Love in the Afternoon"
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