Mr. Smith Goes To Washington

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.

Cast of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington:

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

Ninotchka

This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1990.
The tagline "Garbo laughs!" came before the screenplay was written; the film was built around that single, now legendary, slogan.

Greta Garbo did not wear any makeup for her scenes where she is the stern envoy.

According to published newspaper reports in the spring of 1939, Spencer Tracy was a leading contender for the role of Leon. William Powell, Robert Montgomery, and Cary Grant were also considered for the part.

Greta Garbo had her misgivings about appearing in a comedy and was particularly nervous about the drunk scene, which she considered to be highly vulgar.

The movie was banned in the Soviet Union and its satellite states.

Curiously enough, this was the very movie Arnold Schwarzenegger studied when he was trying to find his character for Red Heat (1988). The exercise - emulate Greta Garbo - was recommended to him by his director Walter Hill.

Ernst Lubitsch only signed on as director after George Cukor decamped for Gone With The Wind(1939). As part of his deal for directing, MGM agreed to make The Shop Around The Corner(1940) for Lubitsch afterwards.

Ernst Lubitsch disliked Gottfried Reinhardt (I)S.N. Behrman's original screenplay, so he commissioned a rewrite from Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett and Walter Reisch. Lubitsch himself made some significant uncredited contributions to the screenplay.

Although Greta Garbo's famous hat in the film was made by her regular costumier Adrian, it was actually based on a sketch by Garbo herself.

This was one of Ernst Lubitsch's personal favorite films. His other favorites were The Shop Around The Corner (1940) and Trouble in Paradise (1932).

The cast of Ninotchka:

Greta Garbo as Nina Ivanovna Yakushova, aka Ninotchka
Melvyn Douglas as Comte Léon d'Algout
Ina Claire as Grand Duchess Swana
Sig Ruman as Michael Simonavich Iranoff
Felix Bressart as Buljanoff
Alexander Granach as Kopalski
Bela Lugosi as Commissar Razinin
Tamara Shayne as Anna, Ninotchka's roommate in Moscow
Rolfe Sedan as Hotel Manager
Gregory Gaye as Rakonin
Edwin Maxwell as Mercier
Richard Carle as Gaston

Babes In Arms

The Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart songs "My Funny Valentine", "I Wish I Were in Love Again", "Way Out West", and "Johnny One Note" are songs from the original Broadway musical, but were eventually unused in the final film. "The Lady Is a Tramp" is used as part of the underscore in a dinner scene between Mickey Rooney and June Preisser.

MGM Studio's biggest money grosser of 1939, surpassing The Wizard of Oz (1939) for that production year.

The Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland-Busby Berkeley full-throttle production number, "God's Country" (music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg), had been introduced on Broadway by Jack Whiting and The Five Reillys in the 1937 musical, "Hooray for What!" MGM bought the screen rights to the show, which never was filmed.

The parody sequence, "My Day," featuring Mickey Rooney as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Judy Garland as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, was removed from the negative after the president's death on April 12, 1945. The routine, for many years thought to be lost, was rediscovered on 16-millimeter film and now can be viewed on Warner Home Video's DVD, "The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection."

In two of her MGM musicals, Judy Garland preformed the classic rouser, "Broadway Rhythm" (music by Nacio Herb Brown, lyrics by Arthur Freed): in this film, as part of the Rodger Edens-created "Opera Vs. Jazz" routine, also featuring Betty Jaynes; and the last tune in a medley which closed Presenting Lily Mars (1943), the ditty used as a showcase for Judy to dance with Charles Walters (who went uncredited for choreographing and performing in the finale), and for the star to sing with the MGM Studio Chorus, backed by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra.

Although Judy Garland re-created for Decca a contemporary version of the exuberant classic, "I'm Just Wild About Harry" (music and lyrics by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake), the first U.S. release would not appear until 1984 when MCA produced a Garland LP collection called "From the Decca Vaults." This cut was issued again as part of a Judy CD box set entitled "The Complete Decca Masters (Plus).
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The Broadway musical production of "Babes in Arms" opened at the Shubert Theater in New York on April 14, 1937 and ran for 289 performances. It had a large cast that included Mitzi Green, Dan Dailey, Alfred Drake, Ray McDonald, and the Nicholas Brothers.

The cast of Babes In Arms:

Mickey Rooney as Mickey Moran
Judy Garland as Patsy Barton
Charles Winninger as Joe Moran
Guy Kibbee as Judge John Black
June Preisser as Rosalie Essex
Grace Hayes as Florrie Moran
Betty Jaynes as Molly Moran
Douglas McPhail as Don Brice
Rand Brooks as Jeff Steele
Leni Lynn as Dody Martin
Cliff Edwards in a clip from The Hollywood Revue of 1929 of the song Singin' in the Rain
Charles King in a clip from The Broadway Melody
Margaret Hamilton as Martha
Lelah Tyler as Mrs. Brice

Wuthering Heights

In the final sequence, the spirits of Heathcliff and Cathy are seen walking their favorite pathway. This was added after filming was complete, and because Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon had already moved on to other projects, doubles had to be used.

The Mitchell Camera Corporation selected Gregg Toland and this picture to be the first to use their new Mitchell BNC camera. This camera model would become the studio standard.

Vivien Leigh wanted to play the lead role, alongside her then lover and future husband Laurence Olivier, but studio executives decided the role should go to Merle Oberon. They later offered Leigh the part of Isabelle Linton, but she declined and Geraldine Fitzgerald was cast.

The movie covers roughly the first 16 of the book's 34 chapters.

Samuel Godlwyn later claimed that this was his favorite production.

In a departure from the novel, there is an afterlife scene in which we see Heathcliff and Cathy walking hand in hand, visiting their favorite place, Penistone Crag. Wyler hated the scene and didn't want to do it but Samuel Goldwyn vetoed him on that score. Goldwyn subsequently claimed, "I made "Wuthering Heights", Wyler only directed it."

Laurence Olivier found himself becoming increasingly annoyed with William Wyler's exhausting style of film-making. After yet another take, he is said to have exclaimed, "For God's sake, I did it sitting down. I did it with a smile. I did it with a smirk. I did it scratching my ear. I did it with my back to the camera. How do you want me to do it?" Wyler's retort was, "I want it better."

Ronald Colman, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Robert Newton were all considered for the part of Heathcliff.

Los Angeles - April 5, 1939: Samuel Goldwyn has withdrawn "Wuthering Heights" from the entire province of Quebec. Quebec censors demanded deletions because certain sequences dealt with divorce and infidelity, situations long frowned upon by the Quebeck board. Goldwyn refused to make the cuts. Whether the picture will play in other provinces is not known.

Montreal, Quebec, Canada-April 6, 1939: "Wuthering Heights" may be shown in Quebec Province if certain excisions are made, Arthur Laramee, censor chairman said yesterday. He denied that the film had been formally banned.

Real heather was imported from England and re-planted in California to help simulate the look of the moors.

The film was not a big financial success when first released. It had to be re-released years later to earn a profit.

The film only depicts sixteen of the novel's thirty-four chapters and is set in 19th century instead of 1771-1801.

Producer Samuel Godlwyn felt that script was too dark for a romance movie, so he asked several writers to do a rewrite on the script, including a young John Huston, who said that the script needed no rewrite, it was perfect as it was.

Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier apparently detested each other. Legend has it that when William Wyler yelled "Cut!" after a particularly romantic scene, Oberon shouted back to her director about her co-star "Tell him to stop spitting at me!"

Both of the leading players began work on the film miserable at having to leave their loved ones back in England. Olivier was missing his fiancée Vivien Leigh and Oberon had only recently fallen in love with film producer Alexander Korda.

Cast of Wuthering Heights:

Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff
Merle Oberon as Catherine Earnshaw Linton
David Niven as Edgar Linton
Flora Robson as Ellen Dean
Donald Crisp as Dr. Kenneth
Geraldine Fitzgerald as Isabella Linton
Leo G. Carroll as Joseph
Hugh Williams as Hindley Earnshaw

Intermezzo: A Love Story

David O. Selznick bribed Leslie Howard into accepting the role of Ashley in Gone With The Wind (1939) by giving him the right to co-produce this film.

In a published memo, David O. Selznick stated the title "Intermezzo" was not used because he feared the obscurity of the word would confuse audiences.

First American film of 'Ingrid Bergman'.

Toscha Seidel dubbed the violin playing of Leslie Howard, while Norma Boleslawksi dubbed the piano playing of both Ingrid Bergman and John Halliday

When Selznick fired the cinematographer Harry Stradling Sr. and hired the great Gregg Toland to take over the photography of Selznick's remake of the 1936 Swedish version of "Intermezzo", he asked Toland how it was possible that Bergman looked so beautiful in the original European production and so ghastly in his Hollywood version. Toland replied, "In Sweden they don't make her wear all that makeup." Selznick immediately ordered retakes with the "natural look" which so dazzled the world a year later when he loaned her out to Warner Bros. for their production "Casablanca".

In both her first American film (Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939)) and her last feature film, (Hostsonaten (1978)), Ingrid Bergman played a concert pianist.

Cast of Intermezzo: A Love Story:

Leslie Howard
Ingrid Bergman
Edna Best
John Halliday
Cecil Kellaway

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The only movie screened at the very first Cannes Film Festival (the remainder of the festival was canceled when Adolf Hitler's Nazi forces invaded Poland on 1 September 1939).

Charles Laughton's makeup took two-and-a-half hours to apply each day.
The film required the use of 2,500 wigs.

At a cost of $1.8 million, this was one of the most expensive films ever made by RKO Pictures. The Notre Dame replica alone cost $250,000.

Irving Thalberg first presented the project to Charles Laughton in 1934. But plans didn't materialize until Laughton signed with RKO and chose this film as his first assignment at that studio.

Having worked with her in London, Charles Laughton insisted that 'Maureen O'Hara' would be the perfect Esmeralda for the film.

RKO specifically wanted to outdo the 1923 silent version of the story, so a vigorous campaign that spared no expense was undertaken. Much attention was given to advance publicity; no pictures of Charles Laughton in full Quasimodo makeup and costume were allowed to be seen so that a first-time viewing would be a guaranteed shock. Also, the studio hired (at Laughton's request) leading makeup artist Perc Westmore to supervise makeup. Unfortunately, Westmore and Laughton had heated quarrels before a final image for Quasimodo was agreed upon.

This was noted Shakespearean actor-manager Walter Hampden's first sound film.

This was RKO's last release for 1939 (and second costliest in its history, next to Gunga Din (1939)). Although it premiered about the same time as Gone With The Wind (1939), it held its own at the box office, grossing an impressive $3.155 million.

Pandro S. Berman offered Basil Rathbone a principal part in this film but Universal refused to release him.

'Edmund O'Brien''s movie debut.

American Film Institute Catalog of Feature Films 1931-1939 includes Gail Patrick and Laura Hope Crews among the uncredited players, without role designations. Neither actress appears in the film in any role of prominence, which their status in the industry at that time would have dictated. It's possible, however, they participated anonymously as extras, just for the experience, as many of their contemporaries often did.

Sound from King Kong (1933) is used in the film: when Esmeralda is being tortured, some of her screams we hear belong to Fay Wray. Also, when Quasimodo is defending the cathedral, some of the screams of the wounded attackers belong to the sailors from King Kong; and when Frollo falls to his death, his scream belongs to one of the sailors as well.

Two actors in the film play two different roles, one credited, one not. Thomas Mitchell plays Clopin (credited) and also plays the deaf judge that sentences Quasimodo to the pillory. George Tobias plays the beggar who wants to hang Gringoire (credited as "Beggar"), and also plays one of the workmen in the cathedral who sees Quasimodo ringing the bells in his joy of Esmeralda.

Cast of The Hunchback Of Notre Dame:

Charles Laughton as Quasimodo
Cedric Hardwicke as Claude Frollo
Thomas Mitchell as Clopin Trouillefou
Maureen O'Hara as Esmeralda
Edmond O'Brien as Pierre Gringoire
Alan Marshal as Captain Phoebus
Walter Hampden as Archdeacon
Harry Davenport as King Louis XI
Katharine Alexander as Madame de Lys
George Zucco as Procurator
Fritz Leiber as Old Nobleman
Etienne Girardot as Doctor
Helene Whitney as Fleur de Lys
Minna Gombell as Queen of Beggars
Arthur Hohl as Olivier
Curt Bois as Student
George Tobias as Beggar
Rod LaRacque as Phillippe
Spencer Charters as Court Clerk
Kathryn Adams as Fleur's Companion
Diane Hunter as Fleur's Companion
Sig Arno as Tailor

Dark Victory

Originally there was to have been a final scene where Judith Traherne's horse wins the Grand National, reducing Michael O'Leary (Humphrey Bogart) to tears. Preview audiences found it anticlimactic and it was cut.

Based on a play that opened at the Plymouth Theatre in New York on Nov. 9, 1934 and ran for 51 performances.

Bette Davis said that this was her favorite role to play.

Offscreen, Bette Davis suffered a nervous breakdown during filming as a result of her crumbling marriage to Harmon Nelson. This didn't prevent her from embarking on an affair with co-star George Brent.

On Broadway, Tallulah Bankhead originated the role of Judith Traherne.

Bette Davis pestered Warner Brothers to buy the rights to the story, thinking it a great vehicle for her. WB studio chief Jack L. Warner fought against it, arguing that no one wanted to see someone go blind. Of course, the film went on to become one of the studio's biggest successes of that year.

David O. Selznick had originally purchased the screen rights but gave up production plans so he could concentrate all his energies on Gone With The Wind (1939).

This was Bette Davis' third Oscar nomination in five years, and her second of five consecutive nominations.

The second of Bette Davis collaborations with director Edmund Goulding. They had previously worked together on That Certain Woman (1937) and would do so again on The Old Maid (1939) and The Great Lie (1941).

Gloria Swanson had tried and failed to get the movie made a few years earlier.

This was Bette Davis' biggest moneymaker up to that point in her career.

Bette Davis claims that Edmund Goulding worked on the script and added the character of Judith's best friend Ann so that Judith would never have to complain about her tragedy.

In 1938, Barbara Stanwyck and Melvyn Douglas starred in a Lux Radio Theatre version of the play, and in 1939 Bette Davis and Spencer Tracy starred in another radio version of the story.

In an interview with Dick Cavett in 1971, Bette Davis said that the movie took four weeks to shoot.

Greta Garbo was the original choice for Judith Traherne.

Cast of Dark Victory:

Bette Davis as Judith Traherne
George Brent as Dr. Frederick Steele
Geraldine Fitzgerald as Ann King
Humphrey Bogart as Michael O'Leary
Henry Travers as Dr. Parsons
Ronald Reagan as Alec Hamm
Cora Witherspoon as Carrie