Meet John Doe [VHS]

"I've been lonely and hungry for something practically all my life."Long John WilloughbyThis Frank Capra film, unlike others he had made, leaned more towards drama than humor. Though there is humor, and many charming moments involving Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, the tone of the Robert Riskin screenplay, based on a story by Richard Connell and Robert Presnell, has more serious implications than Capra's other films. For that reason, and perhaps because the prints of this film are not as good as the others, "Meet John Doe" sometimes gets unfairly dismissed when Capra's films are discussed. This was the meat in what many call "Capracorn."Barbara Stanwyck is Ann Mitchell, a reporter soon to be unemployed when her paper is gobbled up by D.B. Norton (Edward Arnold). Desparate to keep the thirty dollar a week salary that keeps her two young sisters and her mom (Spring Byington) afloat, she begs editor Henry Connell (James Gleason) for her job back, but her plea falls on deaf ears. She exits with a column that's a real doozy, pretending she has received a letter from a "John Doe" who, because of the injustice in the world, the state of civilization, and the downtrodden, plans to kill himself at Christmas.A groundswell of support for John Doe gets Ann her job back, but now she and boss Connell must find a "John Doe." In walks Long John Willoughby (Gary Cooper), a hungry baseball player with a bad wing. He and his pal, Colonel (Walter Brennan), are just hungry enough to play along. Colonel has reservations from the get-go, however, afraid that Long Johm will become a helot--a guy with a bank account.Long John just wants to earn enough to get the arm he injured pitching a 19 inning game fixed by Bonesetter Brown, but his shy affection for Ann keeps him around long enough to make a radio speech, written from words in her father's diary. His speach spreads the John Doe movement all across the country. It is the crusty Colonel who sees the train wreck coming, however, and takes off.Clubs start up everywhere, only the "little" people allowed to join. People start treating their neighbors with kindness, showing the spirit of Christmas on a day-to-day basis. D.B. Norton, however, has political aspirations, and sees a way to twist the movement to fit his ambitions. It is Henry Connell who clues in Long John on what is about to happen, letting the air out of his balloon and shattering his smitten image of Ann, with her chestnut hair and great legs.What follows, as the country discovers John Doe was a fake, will lead Long John to a rooftop overlooking the city on a snowy Christmas night.Stanwyck is wonderful here, as Ann slowly comes to realize she has found a man like her father but may have helped to destroy him. Cooper is memorable as Long John Willoughby, a shy ball player who realizes he has come to stand for more than he ever could have on the pitching mound. Brennan is his usual great character, looking out for Long John as much as he can.There are some warm and sentimental moments between Cooper's Long John and Stanwyck's Ann mixed in with the social drama, and some charm as well. Cooper's scene with Ann's mom, whose help he needs to ask her daughter to marry him, has a sweetness to it that is long gone from today's films. And the baseball scene in a hotel room, when they play pretend ball, is a classic.This is a wonderful film about the little guy that sometimes gets analyzed too much. All Capra was trying to do, was remind people that the first John Doe came a long time ago, and people still weren't listening. This is a film that works best if you forget it is a Frank Capra picture, and just enjoy it on its own merits. It can then be placed proudly beside the director's other classics on your movie shelf.

NOTE: The original camera negative of this movie was allowed to deteriorate and then destroyed, so it is difficult to find a decent print. There are 2 streaming versions offered here, the one with the shorter description is by far the best one (other should be removed). See the Wikipedia page of this film for full print/restoration info before you purchase a DVD!If Frank Capra was said to have iconized America and created the basic tropes of the 20th century, then this film was the very personification of it. That is nothing to base an objective evaluation of this film as a film, as classic film 'art', however. I grew up on old movies, as TV played them non-stop then, but not this one, due to the lack of a decent print, thus this was my first viewing. So I wasn't entirely unacquainted with the warm fuzzy lure of Capra or classic movies from my childhood, and their false version of America, from which we still suffer. This movie's message and plot were amazingly, creepily modern. And also modern in that it was an exercise in corporate movie making, yep, even at this early date. We have an idealized vision of Hollywood as making movies for art's sake, back in the supposed "good old days", when great directors ruled over all (duh, but it was the time of the "studio system", which was ultimate corporate control). Capra wasn't one of them, unless your art only involved scenes from It's a Wonderful Life. I am not saying that there weren't some great movies made then, which could not, would not be made today, but this wasn't one of them.Capra invented "feel good cinema". Mixed in with the message here were such tried and true focus group tropes as cute dog, funny stooges, Walter Brennan (played the same reassuring Greek Chorus), hysterical/fainting woman with nothing on her mind as important as romance, smart+beautiful=sexy (but nothing else) female, God (as in Christianity), and baseball (this was a Gary Cooper movie, after all). I hope hope hope the inane, unoriginal soundtrack was meant as satire for a satire, but fear it was just part of the uber mass appeal the studio was going for. All of these things served to distract, lengthen, and water down the message, which was essentially a good one (well, the one about the victimized small guy, PACS and fake grass roots; not so the others). This was not the only classic movie to have suffered from corporate producing and lack of tight editing. We must re-evaluate even our most beloved classics, 80yrs hence, in a new, supposedly more enlightened century. Capra's view of America was terribly narrow and cruel. His America was all white, poverty had a physical deformity (even during the Depression), and heaven was a tree lined, small town street in a white neighborhood. Few cultures have been as shallowly distilled as Capra's America. Small wonder that he was chosen to make WWII propaganda films! Perhaps this was also one? 1941... All the bullet points were checked.The stereotypes didn't end there. From the female journalist (in a newsroom of all men) who couldn't merely be interested in reporting (she fell insanely, hysterically in love with her subject, as we all do), to the poor victims of the Great Depression, all portrayed as deformed, lesser than humans (except Gary Cooper, of course, who *chose* to be a bum, so it was OK, and where physical beauty (his) meant/means success), to the unreal white-washed picket fence world where people of color were just a distant memory, neatly tucked away in their side of town. Like AIDS, poverty only became a real issue when it affected white mainstream society (OMG, the rich, too!) during the Depression. And, to be completely fair, I have to mention the obese, white male corporate overlord/politician stereotype. Have a cigar!This movie was WAY too long and to say that it was edited badly would be a gross understatement. It's like Capra thought every shot he did was worthy of being included. The acting was mostly overwrought (esp Stanwyck's, for whom fawning infatuation was never a strong suit). She was both well and badly cast. Well for the only female journalist in the newsroom who outsmarted her new boss (see smart but sexy reductive formula above). Bad for a stereotypical female, which she never was, and I have to think she did a lot of teeth gritting during this production. Her hysterical pleading and crazed love declarations at the end were just Bad Acting 101. She didn't look engaged or real, even if the acting style of the day was taken into account. But that was also how females were portrayed at the time (and for many decades after). Cooper was...well, standard Cooper. But here he was at his least charismatic and most wooden. He was supposed to be Every Man, but he was actually No Man We Cared About. Just looking his usual humbly uncomfortable self wasn't enough. Journalist Stanwyck (NOT love struck Stanwyck) and the corporate evildoers (on both sides) stole the show.As another reviewer sort of said, the corporate overlords here controlled the message about the corporate overlords. I can understand this movie was a hit in 1941, but in 2018? Sure, if you naively fall for every device, as we surely did then, in the quest for an American vision worth fighting WWII for, you'll be smitten. But being the willing mark of the film industry never made anyone anything but a consumer and movies nothing but a commodity.

there is no extras, and the quality of this version is simply awful - try and find a upgraded version if you can - people should see this movie seeing as how the world is presently - it should make you think again for sure!!!

There's no point in writing a review of the movie itself, others have explained just how great this film is. Just beware of buying the Elstree Hill Entertainment version. The transfer to DVD is terrible. The picture quality and sound are appalling.

This is a very poor Public Domain version fo the film. Looks like a third generation copy and is all but unwatchable. Avoid. This review refers to the unbranded DVD with catalogue number GMVS 1143.

This disc is awful quality, unclear fuzzy images make it uncomfortable viewing. I am hoping the new copy, of course not from this release dvd company, is a clear print and I can finally get to see Meet John Doe.

Excellent acting by Stanwyck