100 Movies Every Catholic Should See #10: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Directed by Frank Capra. Written By Sidney Buchman. Starring James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains and Thomas Mitchell.

This film stands as one of the great American political epics in film history. And it stands as so not just because of the towering performances given by James Stewart and Claude Raines, or the powerful political drama, but also the poignant and timeless political lessons it gives us not just as Americans but as Catholics too.

The film opens when The United States is in a state of turmoil and malaise as she trudges through the Great Depression: in an unnamed state (one would assume the Midwest) one of its two senators passes away in the middle of the night, forcing the governor to have to appoint the replacement. The governor is then contacted by the remaining living senator, Joseph Paine (Claude Rains), and Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold), who runs the corrupt political machine that in turn virtually runs the state.