In protest at the corruption and hypocrisy he sees all around him an unemployed man calling himself John Doe has written to the New Bulletin newspaper pledging to throw himself from the top of City Hall on Christmas Eve. Written by a discharged journalist as a publicity stunt and as a parting shot at the paper's new editor the premise of the letter unexpectedly fires the imagination of the bulletin's readers and the wider American public. Its real author Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) is rehired and now needs to find someone to play the part of the fictional John... Doe... Meet John Doe is often held to be part of a thematic trilogy that includes Mister Deeds Goes To Town and Mister Smith Goes To Washington. It explores a recurring notion in Capra's work that of the universal everyman exploited by a corrupt and powerful establishment. The film's reflections on corporate control of both the media and of ordinary people's lives is still as resonant as ever. [show more]
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Classic social drama directed by Frank Capra. After penning a letter of protest at the corruption and hypocrisy of the day and threatening to throw himself off the roof of City Hall, 'John Doe' becomes a national hero. Doe is in fact Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck), who was fired from her job on the paper and wrote the letter as a parting shot to the editor. Mitchell is re-hired - but needs to find someone to play 'John Doe'. She manages to persuade Long John Willoughby (Gary Cooper), a penniless former baseball star, into representing the common man in a national goodwill drive. He eventually exposes the political chicanery, but only at the cost of branding himself a fake.
In this Frank Capra film, Gary Cooper plays Long John Willoughby, an unemployed man who is duped into becoming an American symbol by D.B. Norton (Edward Arnold), an unscrupulous newspaper tycoon. When Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) is fired by Norton, she sends a fake suicide note to the publisher signed by "John Doe." The letter is picked up by the public as a rallying point, since "Mr. Doe" claimed to be so distraught by the problems of society that he would end his life. But Norton uses the publicity as part of a secret plan. Capra's endearing classic also stars the great character actors Walter Brennan and James Gleason.
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