Other Titles • Meet John Doe • Frank Capra's 'Meet John Doe' (1941) • John Doe, Dynamite (1941) • Hier ist John Doe (1968)
Synopses for Meet John Doe (1941)
1.
A spunky journalist, fired by the paper's new owners, hatches a clever scheme to get her job back. On her last day of work, she "discovers" a letter written by a man lamenting the selfishness and injustice of the world--and announcing his plans to kill himself on Christmas Eve as a protest.
The fraudulent missive proves to be a terrific public relations stunt, creating an incredible wave of public support for the man while pushing the paper's readership to an all-time high. But now they need someone to play his role, and they find their reluctant hero in the form of a handsome, naive vagabond. The soft-spoken tramp wants only to make it back to baseball's big leagues, but the common folk love his homespun ways and he soon becomes a candidate for political office.
(15 votes)
2.
This classic is a moving, poignant depiction of faded glory. Gary Cooper portrays a former baseball player whose misfortunes have changed his life. Barbara Stanwyck, a new reporter, interviews "John Doe" (Cooper). Her report falls into the hands of a cooked politician who exploits "John Doe" by making him a good will ambassador in a phony political drive, leaving Cooper on the brink of suicide. This film represents director Frank Capra at his best.
(15 votes)
3.
As a parting shot, fired reporter Ann Mitchell prints a fake letter from unemployed "John Doe," who threatens suicide in protest of social ills. The paper is forced to rehire Ann and hires John Willoughby to impersonate "Doe." Ann and her bosses cynically milk the story for all it's worth, until the made-up "John Doe" philosophy starts a whole political movement. At last everyone, even Ann, takes her creation seriously...but publisher D.B. Norton has a secret plan.
(15 votes)
4.
Strong social commentary has Gary Cooper playing a penniless naive hobo who gets caught up in a newspaper publicity stunt when he threatens to publicly commit suicide to protest world conditions.
Inspired by the newspapers, the public sets out to change his mind. Barbara Stanwyck plays the newspaper-woman who first exploits him and with whom Cooper predictably falls in love.
(15 votes)
5.
121 Minutes, Black and White. Chapter stops. Mastered from the Original 35mm Nitrate Material. Over half a century since its initial release, Frank Capra's MEET JOHN DOE remains an incredibly powerful motion picture, thanks to not only Capra but to a great cast and a powerful narrative. But, despite its widespread popularity, Capra was never really satisfied with the ending, which he flet had been dictated by the fact that he and screenwriter Robert Riskin had written themselves into a corner. With its close parallel to the Christ tale, MEET JOHN DOE practically mandated that Gary Cooper give up his life to resurrect the "John Doe" movement for the sake of all the "little guys" who had put their faith in him. But, the audiences of 1941 wouldn't tolerate a Cooper suicide, and Capra eventually shot six endings before settling on the one seen here. But, the picture was so well received, the New York Critics--who had ignored all of what Capra regarded as his true classics--gave MEET JOHN DOE a coveted spot on their annual "Top Ten" listing. Go figure. With MEET JOHN DOE, Frank Capra was warning the complacent democracies of the perceived threat of Fascism to his adopted America from both without and within. His warnings initially went unheeded. But only a few months into the release of MEET JOHN DOE, Pearl Harbor had been bombed, America was united, Capra had rushed through the shooting of ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (which had begun December 1, 1941), and was in the Army overseeing the WHY WE FIGHT films, the most stunning series of documentaries ever produced.
(15 votes)
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