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Mr. Smith Goes To Washington - Page 2

© David Macdonald

Jimmy Stewart is entirely convincing in this part, which he has to be. Jeff Smith could easily have been a ridiculous role, but Stewart sees Smith's purity and decency - and naivety - and plays him with total humanity and respect. Smith genuinely believes in the idea of America, and is giddy like a schoolboy when he sees the monuments and other attractions of D.C., and is almost fundamentalist when he gives his speech about his planned boys' camp, and during his filibuster. But with that idealism and naivety comes anger and rage when things do not go his way, and Stewart's undeniable intensity is utilized on numerous occasions, especially during a scene in which he is mocked by the press on his arrival, and he, amazingly, physically assaults almost every reporter in town! Viewers seem to forget that the character of Smith is very much the naive fool; but the film understands that this is much a story about a boy in need of some cruel education just as much as it is about a jaded town in need of some old-fashioned common decency.

Claude Rains is his usual delightful self as Senator Payne. His typical mannerisms are key to the role. While all of the other political operators are one-note greedy scuzz-bags or equally one-note buffoons, Rains plays him as a kindly man who has let the system poison his soul, which makes his betrayal of Smith all the more shocking. During much of the movie, we sense that Payne is conflicted between his sense of loyalty to the son of an old friend and his need to retain his political reputation, and because we feel that this man actually does have a conscience, we are far more disappointed when he decides to merely protect his own skin.

Jean Harlow has the third major role, and her hard exterior softens when she realizes that Smith is not some phony, but a person with real principles. She stops seeing him as silly, and starts seeing him as someone who deserves better than Washington in general, and perhaps even better than her, in specifics. She is the one who reveals to Smith the real deal with Payne and his buddies, and who later supports him during the filibuster. Wisely, the script does not overplay the chemistry between these two; the politcal battle is a more pressing concern at this point, and love will have to wait.

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