Bitterly denounced by Washington insiders angry at its allegations of corruption, yet banned by fascist states in Europe who were afraid it showed that democracy works.
To make his voice hoarse for the filibuster scene, James Stewart dried out his throat with bicarbonate of soda. However, both Frank Capra and Stewart revealed in interviews that his throat was periodically swabbed with mercuric chloride.
The Washington press corps were highly indignant at the way they were portrayed in the film. Consequently a great deal of the initial reviews from the capitol were very negative. One of their chief objections was that the film made them all out to be drinking too much.
Frank Capra received many letters over the years from individuals who were inspired by the film to take up politics.
One of the real senators from Montana walked out of the screening he attended in disgust.
Ranked #5 on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time (2006).
In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #26 Greatest Movie of All Time.
In 1942, when a ban on American films was imposed in German-occupied France, the title theaters chose Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939) for their last movie before the ban went into effect. One Paris theater reportedly screened the film nonstop for thirty days prior to the ban.
The novel on which the movie was based was titled "The Gentleman from Montana", but the state is not specified in the movie
The film was banned in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Soviet Russia and Falangist Spain. According to Frank Capra, the film was also dubbed in certain European countries to alter the message of the film so it conformed with official ideology.
James Stewart knew this was the role of a lifetime, one that could place him near the top of the Hollywood heap. Jean Arthur later remembered his mood at the time: "He was so serious when he was working on that picture, he used to get up at five o'clock in the morning and drive himself to the studio. He was so terrified something was going to happen to him, he wouldn't go faster."
In Take Her, She's Mine (1963), James Stewart's character laments that people have confused him with "that, uh, actor, ever since Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939) came out."
Frank Capra and his crew went to Washington, DC, to film background material and to study the Senate chamber, which was replicated, full scale, in precise detail on the Columbia lot. James D. Preston, who was Capra's technical advisor for the Senate set and political protocol, was a former superintendent of the Senate press gallery.
The screenplay was originally purchased by Columbia as a vehicle for Ralph Bellamy, with Harold Wilson slated to produce. Once Frank Capra became the director, the project, planned as a sequel to Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936), was entitled "Mr. Deeds Goes to Washington", and was to star Gary Cooper, reprising his role as Longfellow Deeds. Cooper was unavailable for the role, however, and James Stewart was borrowed from MGM. "I knew he would make a hell of a Mr. Smith," Capra said. "He looked like the country kid, the idealist. It was very close to him."
Information in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library indicates that in January 1938, both Paramount and MGM submitted copies of Lewis R. Foster's story to the PCA for approval. Responding to a Paramount official, PCA Director Joseph Breen cautioned, "We would urge most earnestly that you take serious counsel before embarking on the production of any motion picture based on this story. It looks to us like one that might well be loaded with dynamite, both for the motion picture industry and for the country at large." Breen especially objected to "the generally unflattering portrayal of our system of government, which might well lead to such a picture being considered, both here and more particularly abroad, as a covert attack on the democratic form of government." Breen warned Columbia that the picture needed to emphasize that "the Senate is made up of a group of fine, upstanding citizens, who labor long and tirelessly for the best interests of the nation," as opposed to "Senator Joseph Paine" and his cohorts. After the script had been rewritten, Breen wrote a letter to Will H. Hays in which he stated, "It is a grand yarn that will do a great deal of good for all those who see it and, in my judgment, it is particularly fortunate that this kind of story is to be made at this time. Out of all Senator Jeff's difficulties there has been evolved the importance of a democracy and there is splendidly emphasized the rich and glorious heritage which is ours and which comes when you have a government 'of the people, by the people, and for the people.'"
In his autobiography, Frank Capra states that after the film's general release, he and Harry Cohn received a cablegram from Joseph P. Kennedy, the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, saying that the film would damage "America's prestige in Europe" and should therefore be withdrawn from European distribution. In response, they mailed favorable reviews of the film to Kennedy and, while in a letter to Capra. Kennedy stated that he maintained doubts about the film, he did not pursue the matter any further.
According to the New York Times, "the Boy Scouts of America objected to having any part in Mr. Capra's reform movement," and Capra therefore had to use the fictitious name of the Boy Rangers.
In 1941 Columbia was sued by Louis Ullman and Norman Houston, both of whom claimed that this film was plagiarized from their respective written works. Screenwriter Lewis R. Foster testified that he wrote the story specifically for Gary Cooper, and director Frank Capra testified that he had seen only the synopsis of Foster's story and had intended to use it as a sequel to "Mr. Deeds Goes to Washington" (1936). Columbia won the case.
The scenes where James Stewart wanders around in amazement at the Washington monuments were "stolen", since the US Parks Service had denied the studio permission to film near them.
Neither the Republican nor Democratic parties are ever mentioned in the film.
One reason Frank Capra made this film was to help him get over the loss of his infant son, who had died following complications from a tonsillectomy. Initially Capra wanted to make a film about Frederic Chopin, but Columbia head Harry Cohn nixed that on the grounds that it would be too expensive. Capra and Cohn were constantly at loggerheads over budgets, despite Capra being Columbia's most successful director with - at the time - two Oscars under his belt.
Jean Arthur's left side was considered her best side, so the sets had to be constructed in a way that whenever she entered, she would be photographed on that side.
This was reportedly Jean Arthur's favorite film of her own.
Jean Arthur's did not get along with James Stewart during filming, possibly because she had wanted her Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) co-star Gary Cooper to be cast as Mr Smith. Arthur thought Stewart was being deliberately a bit too cute for his own good and that Cooper was more masculine and had a stronger screen presence.
This film is one of five times that Beulah Bondi portrayed James Stewart's mother. The others are: It's A Wonderful Life (1946), Of Human Hearts (1938) and Vivacious Lady (1938), and once on his television series, "The Jimmy Stewart Show" (1971).
Because H.V. Kaltenborn is credited onscreen in the opening cast, but not in the comprehensive end cast, IMDb policy dictates the opening cast be listed first and the rest of the credited cast filled in with the end credits.
Edmund Mortimer is in studio records/casting call lists playing "Senator Agnew," but that role was played by H.B. Warner; Mortimer is not seen in the movie.
The song "Auld Lang Syne" is sung towards the beginning of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" at the banquet honoring Jimmy Stewart's appointment to the Senate. The same song is sung at the end of It's A Wondeful Life (1946) when the townspeople have come to Jimmy Stewart's rescue.
The film premiere was sponsored by the National Press Club in Washington D.C.'s Constitution Hall and the 4,000+ person crowd included congressmen, supreme court justices, and Cabinet Officers. Frank Capra was seated next to Montana Senator Burton Wheeler who was one of many public officials who disliked the negative representation of Washingtonian politics and left the theater midway through in a huff. Capra described the aftermath as "the worst shellacking of my professional life".
The Boy Scouts of America did not allow their brand to be used from the film, so Jefferson Smith got changed from being a Boy Scout leader to being a "Boy Ranger" leader.
The set for the Senate chamber was constructed on two newly built adjoining stages at Columbia, stage 8 and 9. The set was built almost to scale, and was at that time, the largest set built on a Columbia sound stage.
>>> WARNING: Here Be Spoilers <<<>
SPOILER: Originally, the ending was much, much longer. It included scenes such as Mr. Smith going back to his home state and given a parade (with Saunders); the Taylor machine being crushed; Smith on a motorcycle and stopping to see Senator Paine; forgiving him and everyone going to see Smith's mother. It was cut after a preview audience's response. Some of the footage can be seen in the theatrical trailer.
James Stewart Jefferson Smith
Jean Arthur Clarissa Saunders
Claude Rains Senator Joseph Harrison Paine
Edward Arnold Jim Taylor
Guy Kibbee Governor Hubert "Happy" Hopper
Thomas Mitchell Diz Moore
Eugene Pallette Chick McGann
Beulah Bondi Ma Smith
H.B. Warner Senator Agnew
Harry Carey President of the Senate
Astrid Allwyn Susan Paine
Henry Fonda wore specially made boots that made him appear taller.
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