Mr Smith Goes to Washington [DVD] [2001]

In Frank Capra's bright, funny and beautifully paced satire Mr Smith Goes to Washington political heavyweights decide that Jefferson Smith (James Stewart), an obscure scoutmaster in a small town, would be the perfect dupe to fill a vacant US Senate chair. Surely this naïve bumpkin can be easily controlled by the senior senator (Claude Rains) from his state, a respectable yet corrupted career politician. Capra fills the film with Smith's wide-eyed wonder at the glories of Washington, all of which ring false for his cynical secretary (Jean Arthur) who doesn't believe for a minute this rube could be for real. But he is. Capra was repeating the formula of a previous film, Mr Deeds Goes to Town, but this one is even sharper. Stewart and Arthur are brilliant, and the former cowboy-star Harry Carey lends a warm presence to the role of the vice-president. Mr Smith Goes to Washington is Capra's ode to the power of innocence--an idea so potent that present-day audiences may find themselves wishing for a new Mr Smith in the halls of power. The 1939 US Congress was none too thrilled about the film's depiction of their august body, denouncing it as a caricature; but even today, Capra's jibes about vested interests and political machines look as accurate as ever. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com

DVD Special Features:

Featurette: Frank Capra Jr. Remembers
Theatrical Trailer
Feature Length Commentary by Frank Capra Jr.
Vintage Advertising Gallery
Filmographies
Multiple Language Choice: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish.
Multiple Subtitle Choice: English, French, German, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Hindi, Turkish, Danish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Dutch, Norwegian, Portugese, Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, Italian.

James Stewart takes on the powers-that-be in our nation's capitol in Frank Capra's timeless classic. Nominated for eleven 1939 Oscars(r), including best picture.

James Stewart, Jean Arthur and Claude Rains star in this award-winning 1929 classic about an idealistic, small-town senator who heads to Washington and suddenly finds himself single-handedly battling ruthless politicians out to destroy him.