Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Theatrical release poster
Directed byFrank Capra
Screenplay by
Based on"The Gentleman from Montana"
(unpub. story)[1]
by Lewis R. Foster[2]
Produced byFrank Capra
(uncredited)
Starring
Narrated byColin James Mackey
(uncredited)
CinematographyJoseph Walker
Edited by
Music byDimitri Tiomkin
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release dates
  • October 17, 1939 (1939-10-17) (Washington, DC, premiere)
Running time
125–126 or 130 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.5 million
Box office$9 million[3]
The film's trailer

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 American lighthearted political satire film directed by Frank Capra, starring Jean Arthur and James Stewart, and featuring Claude Rains and Edward Arnold. The film is about a naive, newly appointed United States senator who fights against government corruption, and was written by Sidney Buchman, based on Lewis R. Foster's unpublished story "The Gentleman from Montana".[4] It was loosely based on the life of Montana US Senator Burton Wheeler, who underwent a similar experience when he was investigating the Warren Harding administration.[5][6]

The film was controversial in the US when it was first released, with attacks from many politicians claiming that it brought Washington into disrepute, but it was very successful at both the domestic and international box offices, and it made Stewart a major star.[7]

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor, winning Best Original Story.[8] Considered to be one of the greatest films of all time, the film was selected by the Library of Congress as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1989, for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[9][10]

  1. ^ a b c Mr. Smith Goes to Washington at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  2. ^ McNamer, Deidre (January 7, 2007). "They Came From Montana". The New York Times.
  3. ^ "Box Office Information for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". The Numbers. Retrieved: April 12, 2012.
  4. ^ "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) - Notes". AFI. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  5. ^ "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington By Robert Sklar "The A List: The National Society of Film Critics' 100 Essential Films," 2002" (PDF). www.loc.gov.
  6. ^ "Mr Smith and the New Deal: pro or con? (Michael P. Rogin and Kathleen Moran, "Mr. Capra Goes to Washington," Representations 84, In Memory of Michael Rogin (Autumn, 2003), pp. 213-248 [219-20])". University of Missouri–St. Louis.
  7. ^ Brenner, Paul. "Overview". Allmovie. Retrieved: June 26, 2009.
  8. ^ Nugent, Frank (October 20, 1939) "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)". The New York Times. Retrieved: June 26, 2009.
  9. ^ "ENTERTAINMENT: Film Registry Picks First 25 Movies". Los Angeles Times. Washington, D.C. September 19, 1989. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  10. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved May 6, 2020.