Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

73Worth an evening.

He wants the land in farmers' hands, and the film takes the side of that naivete.

The review

For once I let Capra have the naive man. A small-town man inherits a fortune, and the city tries to eat it. He wants to give the land to farmers who will work it. Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur. A solid hit, not San Francisco's rental. A house can watch it. The size of the crowd is the least useful thing about it.

The naivete is the side the film takes. The farmers are the point, not the wit of the reporters. Simple goodness is a cheap costume in plenty of pictures. Here the test is whether the land goes to people who will work it. Stay for the farmers. The city is only the mouth that wants the fortune.

Journal

Keep Mr. Deeds Goes to Town in the record.

No house has filed a sentence for this yet.

Live Historic number 73. Yours can differ.

The glance

Household is the thin one.

Is a marriage, a parent, or a child a real life here, or just a prop?

This phone is set for a grown person, just me. Change the ages.

The eight

8
Industry
He wants the land for farmers who will work it, so their labor is the test.
4
Household
A small-town man, not a marriage or a child, is the life the city tries to eat.
7
Piety
His plain conscience won't let him keep a fortune the city is ready to consume.
7
Courage
He risks the fortune he inherited by meaning to give it to farmers who will work.
8
Republic
The fortune is owed to farmers who will work it, not to the sharpest talkers.
8
Temperance
He puts the fortune down; the city is the hunger the film will not feed.
7
Truth
The film sides with his naivete, and the promise is land for people who will work.
9
Stewardship
What he means to leave is land for farmers who will work it, not a city feast.

Where to watch

Finding the page.

Live Historic · Mr. Deeds Goes to Town · 73IMDb

Live HistoricSee what matters.

Film · Prime Video · 1995

Pass it on

Babe

73Worth an evening.

Keep it. Vocation is not breed. Kindness gets the sheep to move.

The review

Farmer Hoggett is a quiet man who bets his reputation on a pig. That bet is the film's courage, and it is not loud. Babe's method, asking rather than biting, is a picture of authority that does not need humiliation. The sheep are not props. The cat is a snob and the film knows it. There is a darkness under the charm, the way a farm is actually a place where animals die, and the story does not fully hide it.

A child can watch this and understand competence as a form of love. When Hoggett says the kind sentence to the pig, the room should be quiet. That sentence is worth more than a speech about believing in yourself.

Journal

Keep Babe in the record.

No house has filed a sentence for this yet.

Live Historic number 73. Yours can differ.

The glance

Piety is the thin one.

Can conscience actually stop someone, or is reverence only in the shot so it can be mocked?

This phone is set for a grown person, just me. Change the ages.

Consider this

It's a Wonderful Life

85 instead of 73

It's a Wonderful Life is still a drama film, and it scores 85 instead of 73. What you gain is piety: Prayer is not a joke here.