Meet John Doe

1941 film directed by Frank Capra

Film · TMDB

7.3

As a parting shot, fired reporter Ann Mitchell prints a fake letter from unemployed "John Doe," who threatens suicide in protest of social ills. The paper is forced to rehire Ann and hires John Willoughby to impersonate "Doe." Ann and her bosses cynically milk the story for all it's worth, until the made-up "John Doe" philosophy starts a whole political movement.

Released: 1941-03-14123 minDir: Frank CapraDrama, Comedy, RomanceBox office: $2.0M

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Cast

Gary Cooper as Long John Willoughby
Barbara Stanwyck as Ann Mitchell
Edward Arnold as D.B. Norton
Walter Brennan as The Colonel
Spring Byington as Mme Mitchell
James Gleason as Henry Connell

~12 min read

Article

Meet John Doe (1941) Meet John Doe is a 1941 American comedy-drama film directed and produced by Frank Capra, written by Robert Riskin, and starring Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan, Spring Byington, James Gleason, and Gene Lockhart. The film is about a "grassroots" political campaign created unwittingly by a newspaper columnist with the involvement of a hired homeless man and pursued by the paper's wealthy owner.

The film became a box-office success and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story; it was ranked No. 49 in AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Cheers. It was the first of two features Capra made for Warner Bros. Pictures after he left Columbia Pictures, the other being Arsenic and Old Lace (1944).