I expected to enjoy this Robert Riskin written moral comedic-drama, especially with number one good-guy James Stewart in the lead, but somehow the movie fails to satisfy. Contriving a plot out of Stewart's discovery of a small-town USA which uncannily and perfectly mirrors American public opinion hardly seems an exciting or credible proposition to hang a movie on, never mind Stewart's big-city, small-time pollster's belief that it will make him a millionaire too.
From there the film awkwardly pitches big business against ordinary citizens and children against adults in a frankly confusing and awkward plot that takes some swallowing and seems almost communistic in its point of view. It doesn't help that Stewart for once is cast as an ambitious guy on the make but wouldn't you know it, the love of moral champion, local newspaper editor Jane Wyman and his affiliation with the local kids' basketball team turn his head around and between them they resolve everything and live happily ever after.
Perhaps in Capra's hands, the film might have taken off and inspired the feel-good vibe I was anticipating. It didn't help that there was little chemistry between the leads (especially when you hear the callous way Stewart's Rip Smith character runs Wyman down in a telephone call to a colleague) and that there were just too darn many eccentric supporting characters too. The direction too was stiff and stilted, never worse than when the film is brought to a juddering halt by two long verses of the awful school song which everyone sings out heartily while Stewart, the outsider, looks on in some discomfort.
It's not often I mark down a film from the Tinsel Town Golden Age, especially one starring Stewart, but this sadly doesn't rank among his best and is one I'll not remember in my memory for very long.
From there the film awkwardly pitches big business against ordinary citizens and children against adults in a frankly confusing and awkward plot that takes some swallowing and seems almost communistic in its point of view. It doesn't help that Stewart for once is cast as an ambitious guy on the make but wouldn't you know it, the love of moral champion, local newspaper editor Jane Wyman and his affiliation with the local kids' basketball team turn his head around and between them they resolve everything and live happily ever after.
Perhaps in Capra's hands, the film might have taken off and inspired the feel-good vibe I was anticipating. It didn't help that there was little chemistry between the leads (especially when you hear the callous way Stewart's Rip Smith character runs Wyman down in a telephone call to a colleague) and that there were just too darn many eccentric supporting characters too. The direction too was stiff and stilted, never worse than when the film is brought to a juddering halt by two long verses of the awful school song which everyone sings out heartily while Stewart, the outsider, looks on in some discomfort.
It's not often I mark down a film from the Tinsel Town Golden Age, especially one starring Stewart, but this sadly doesn't rank among his best and is one I'll not remember in my memory for very long.