Through Capra’s eyes, we imagine the hopes that our forefathers had one day dreamt for us. Using our voices to stand up for those that need our help.

| Original Score: A | Apr 23, 2024

Capra’s most astute use of Jean Arthur’s sly, sophisticated charms to temper a movie that would otherwise be a bit much.

| Feb 4, 2024

The Capra genius for creating unforgettable incident manifests itself in a dozen sequences in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

| Nov 9, 2022

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is bang-up entertainment -- if we were one to scatter around stars we'd give it four of them. It is swiftly paced and bright with humor to balance its more serious implications.

| Nov 9, 2022

This essentially plain, powerful presentation of an implicitly American story about a boy who got into Congress on a pass and stayed in to whip the gas house gang under their own rules is by any and all measures Mr. Capra's greatest picture.

| Nov 9, 2022

James Stewart and Claude Rains easily give their best performances to date. Edward Arnold is also impressive and he is probably at his best, too.

| Nov 9, 2022

This contender for Academy honors has warmth as well as wit, beguiling charm as well as pointed satire, and it rekindles a few patriotic ideals that have long slept un der the smothering blanket of political scandals and governmental misdeeds.

| Nov 9, 2022

Get set, folks, for a "rave" notice, for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington deserves no less than a bushel of raves.

| Nov 9, 2022

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is brilliantly amusing. It presents a pride of country amidst typically American self conscious laughter. Its flag waving is of the most subtle kind, because it makes you laugh.

| Nov 9, 2022

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington [is] a picture as hearty and jolly as Santa Claus, as rich in human juices as a turkey is in gravy. If there are any old chestnuts in the dressing they are made palatable by the Capra flavor. You'll relish the whole thing.

| Nov 9, 2022

When Mr. Smith goes to Washington, he takes Mr. Average American with him to learn both the good and the bad of what goes on there. The picture is a thought-provoker, done with a simplicity that is smoldering dynamite.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Nov 9, 2022

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington [is] a meaningful social commentary and a delightful bundle of entertainment despite its weaknesses. For that the credit goes to Capra, to Stewart and to Miss Arthur.

| Nov 9, 2022

Mr. Smith is one of the best shows of the year. More fun, even, than the Senate itself.

| Nov 9, 2022

I submit Mr. Smith Goes to Washington as the best bracer democracy has had in this land in many a moon.

| Nov 9, 2022

The film is very, very funny and offers a full share of high-grade romantic hokum for those who liked Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and the modified screen version of You Can't Take It With You.

| Nov 9, 2022

[Stewart] is more fiery in this performance than one is accustomed to expect... With Mr. Capra's expertness human touches are injected into the play which bring laughs one after the other like machine-gun fire or stir emotions to the depths.

| Nov 9, 2022

It is as bold a venture as the screen has launched in years; a pointed and direct attack on graft in the Senate. Although it is true 'Americana' it is a project we should praise delightedly, not merely for its purpose, but for its value as entertainment.

| Nov 9, 2022

It's the kind of stuff out of which Capra the Miracle Man makes entertainment. He makes you laugh and he makes you cry. And when it's all over you leave the theater chuckling and saying to yourself, Capra's done it again."

| Nov 9, 2022

Adroitly seasoned with the awful truth, it emerges sizzling from the oven of timeliness... Burned craws a-plenty there were in the nation's capital following the film's release and no wonder.

| Nov 9, 2022

Jimmy's staunch honesty, his fumbling integrity -- and his lovable naivete -- have salty contrasts. Jean Arthur Whips through the character of cynical secretary: she begins by wisecracking over Mr. Smith: ends by loving him.

| Nov 9, 2022