Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Frank Capra’s “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”

Thematic Elements: 

Frank Capra’s “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” is a film that puts an average American patriot in the heart of Washington and then watches him become disillusioned with the American governmental system. When bright-eyed Mr. Smith first gets to Washington, he is in awe of the capital buildings, the statues, and monuments of Washington DC. Capra presents Smith as an idealist and patriot, who believes in our current system of democracy and knows its proud history. He arrives in this seemingly majestic city with the intention of participating in a fair democracy where he can fight for the constituents he represents. His first stumble along his journey is the bad press he gets when he arrives. The newspapers make fun of him and call him derogatory and defaming titles. He learns through one of the newspaper writers that it is common understanding that him being appointed to the Senate is merely as a puppet meant to do the bidding of his party. After all, the amount of knowledge he possesses about how the Washington political system currently works amounts to next to nothing. The members of the press tell Smith that it is their job to tell the truth and be as harsh as possible. His next stumble comes when Clarissa informs him of the steps that need to happen in order to get his bill through the Senate – she tells him that the Senate basically creates a run-around for bills that eventually end up going nowhere. This is where Smith’s original assumptions about governmental functions begins to break down, however he does not lose his ambition and continues to press forward. Much like his father before him, Smith is a fighter of lost causes and believes in standing up for the little man, as he and Senator Paine discuss. His next hiccup occurs when Senator Paine tells the Senate president that the land that Smith wants to build a boy’s camp on in his bill is owned by Smith, for which he will solely profit off of if his bill is passed (which the audience and Smith know this is a lie in so far as Senator Paine wants the bill he proposed to pass in order to allow a dam to be built on that land for the sake of his capitalist partner). Smith’s next stumble comes when he is filibustering on the Senate floor to stop Senator Paine’s bill from being passed. As Smith is filibustering, Jim Taylor (Senator Paine’s business partner) is using all the vast funds at his disposal to advertise in Montana propaganda against Smith. Senator Paine comes into the senate with mail full of Montanans’ letters to Smith telling him to stop the filibuster. It is in this moment that Smith realizes the full scale of corruption in the United States government. Press is owned and operated by large corporations, the Washington machine is built as a mechanism to disallow new bills from being passed, members of the Senate are paid and puppeted by corrupt business owners, persuasion of the American population is as simple as paying them off, and even men whom you held great respect for and whom worked tirelessly to fight for the little man can be utterly corrupted by the machinations that the United State political system has to offer. Even though Senator Paine admits to his corruption and throws himself to the Senate, the system is nevertheless utterly broken. Smith represent a shining example of hope that decent and hardworking people can come and beat the system, that the power of liberty has its day and that lost causes are still worth fighting for. However, Capra still shows us just how difficult and impossible it is to fight against the corruption of your own government but reminds us that it is still something worth fighting for.

Camerawork: 

Montage – An example of great montage that gets utilized in this film is the scene in which Smith is sightseeing all the famous political venues. Capra cuts the montage together showing various images of Smith visiting various monuments with images of the American flag, an eagle, and patriotic language such as the word ‘liberty’ on one of the monuments. This montage effect is meant to set the foundation for the initial understanding held by Smith that Washington DC is a symbol of liberty and democracy, of which he has great reverence for. Capra builds this initial foundation to let us watch it fall apart as the film unfolds. This blast of visual patriotic images reflects the ideals that Smith holds as we the viewer watch him as he is in awe of them. This directly contrasts with how others in Washington treat these patriotic venues with a complete lack of interest. This contrast between Smith’s reverence and everyone else’s lack of reverence points directly to the corrupted nature of Washington politics and the system’s complete lack of viability in upholding these long-held values.

Whip Pan – The whip pan was not a very popular camera movement during this era of filmmaking. However, Capra is one of the only directors who uses it throughout his œuvre, albeit sparingly. One example of his whip pan comes when Smith reads the newspaper making fun of him on the senate floor. The camera is at a slightly low angle looking up at Smith reading it – Smith turns to look at the press box – when he does, the camera whip pans to show the press box and whip pans quickly back once Smith has turned his head back to the newspaper. The effect of the whip pan in this situation is to quickly draw in the viewer’s mind the newspaper and the group of men who write them. Capra could have used a slow pan to do the same thing, however the whip pan illustrates a more reactionary connection between two things. It also helps us focus in on what Smith is looking at in connection to the story he is reading. This quick and effective connection that Capra makes creates a bigger picture in the mind of the audience involving the power of the press and how it is directly connected with the Washington machine.

Light and Shadow – Capra is not a director who likes to play with light and shadow very often. The lighting does not usually play into a Capra story as intricately as other filmmakers’ films. However, one example of light and shadow that was utilized in this film calls into notion the oncoming noir movement of the 1940s. In the scene in which Jim Taylor is chastising Happy Hopper for allowing a debate amongst the people of who to elect to the senate, the light at the bottom center frame is shining on Happy only and creates a darkened shadow at the top right of the frame covering Jim Taylor. This use of shadow creates a visual image of Jim Taylor sinister corruption as he tries to manipulate governmental functions.  

Light Shimmer – Capra is known for his continued use of his light shimmer effect throughout his films.  Capra’s light shimmer effect usually signifies the characters of the story experiencing some internal peace or internal sense of beauty. It is as if it is conveying the light that is shining under the surface of people or settings. Capra uses this effect in the scene in which Smith is explaining to Clarissa just how amazing the vastness and beauty of America really is, with its plains and natural and beautiful locations. Clarissa who has been in Washington DC all of her life has never seen nature the way Smith has, but as he is talking about it, she becomes enamored with the notion. It is in this moment that she realizes the way her life has been lacking and has come face to face with an unchangeable truth and peace that Smith is referring to. This shimmering light that radiates off her is meant to convey to the view the inner majesty and moment of change and love that she is experiencing in that moment.

Close-Up – The best use of the close-up shot by Capra in this film is not a person as it normally would be, but rather a hat!  I believe the best use of the close-up is the scene in which Senator Paine is introducing Smith to his daughter, Chick. As Smith beings to try and talk to her, Capra cuts to a close up of the hat that Smith takes off his head and fiddles in his hands. The camera stays on the hat for about 30 or 45 seconds before Smith is too nervous to continue talking and abruptly and clumsily leaves. Capra could have just shown the two of the trying to engage in conversation from their waists up. However, Capra chooses a much more efficient way to let the viewer understand and feel the nervousness and anxiety that Smith feels when speaking to Chick. The viewer watches as Smith nervously plays with his hat in his hand, switching it between hands, attempting to try and put it back on his head, and even dropping it on the floor and picking it back up. The direct close-up of the hat is not meant to say anything at all about the hat, but rather is meant to focus the viewer’s attention on the clumsy and nervous way in which the hat is being maneuvered. Capra cuts straight to the internal feeling of Smith by eliminating him and Chick from the frame completely – only focusing on the hat. The intense focus creates the same nervous energy in the viewer that Smith feels – as Capra cuts right through subtly and goes straight for a bolt of feeling and understanding that is immediately palpable to the audience. This feeling and understanding is necessary later when Senator Paine sends his daughter to distract Smith by taking him around town as Paine introduces a bill Smith would oppose on the Senate floor. As Smith picks up the phone and talks to Chick, the anxiety we felt in the previous close-up comes rushing back to us – the visual cue hitting us directly and reminding us of the emotional state and vulnerability of Smith without ever explaining a thing.  

Best Shot: 

One of the best shots in the film is when Mr. Smith is sightseeing throughout Washington DC. He comes up to the statue of Lincoln and stares in awe. Capra views this through a far away wide shot, fitting both Smith and Lincoln in the frame, however pitting Smith between two columns. The visual shows Lincoln, the quintessential symbol of American democracy, large in the frame as Smith views these ideals very large in his mind. However, Smith himself is very small in the frame as Capra illustrates that the newfound Senator is now extremely small and insignificant to the scale of the American political government. Not only that, he is trapped by the two columns in the frame, trapping his small visage with nowhere to move, trapping him in the frame – in the same way that Smith is trapped by political machinations of the government he now serves. This single shot presents an idea of government being too big for one man alone, a problem that Smith tries to overcome throughout the rest of the film.