Edward Arnold

One day in Desert Hole, New Mexico, bumbling train station attendant Homer Flagg impulsively hops a passing train, hoping it will take him to an exciting new life in New York. Instead, Homer is chased off the train by an MP and jumps into an abandoned automobile near the tracks. Oblivious to a sign on the front grille identifying the car as radioactive, Homer drives off toward the Los Alamos nuclear test site and ends up at a gas station. When Homer finally notices the sign, he faints, and the next day, his imminent death from radiation poisoning is announced in newspapers across the country. In New York, Morning Chronicle reporter Wally Cook convinces her wary publisher, Oliver Stone, that Homer's terminal illness would be great fodder for a series of articles and talks him into inviting Homer to spend his last days in New York at the paper's expense. Homer, meanwhile, learns from his incompetent doctor, Steve Harris, that he was misdiagnosed and is not dying after all. Homer is unhappy about the news, as the railroad was about to give him $300 to go to New York, and reluctantly returns to the depot. There, Homer meets Wally as she is disembarking, and when she tells him about The Chronicle's offer, cannot bring himself to admit he is healthy. Homer races to Steve's office and begs him not to send his amended medical report to the railroad, but Steve refuses until Wally shows up and enchants him. Steve then insists on accompanying Homer to New York, and on the plane there, knocks Homer out with some pills and flirts shamelessly with an unreceptive Wally. In New York, Homer receives a hero's welcome and is put up at the Park Ritz Hotel, where he begins ordering room service, a new wardrobe and other expensive amenities. Steve cautions Homer to act sick, but Homer has a difficult time suppressing his excitement during highly publicized appearances at Yankee Stadium and the Wonderland Ballroom. There, while Steve tries to romance Wally, Homer dances a wild jitterbug after a waiter slips him some vodka and champagne, then collapses on the floor. The next day, at the hotel, Steve ministers to a hungover Homer, whose guilt at deceiving Wally and the world is starting to take its toll. To please Steve, Homer agrees to tell Wally that Steve loves her and wants to marry her, even though he is in love with her, too. When Wally shows up and admits to Homer that she is going to talk to the governor about erecting a statue in his honor, Homer protests that he is unworthy. Seeing his opportunity, Homer then tells Wally how much Steve loves her, but Wally insists that she loves Homer and wants to marry him. Swept up in the moment, Homer agrees and later rejects Steve's angry suggestion that he tell Wally the truth to ensure that she is marrying him for love. Just before the ceremony, however, Homer overhears Wally confess to Steve that she actually loves him but wants to make Homer's last days happy. At the altar, Homer refuses to say "I do" and runs back to the hotel to pack. When Wally, Oliver and the mayor demand to see him, Homer hangs from a chandelier and pretends he is a fighter pilot, hoping to convince them that he has gone insane. His act works, but Wally is so filled with pity that she talks Oliver into paying to have the top radiation sickness experts flown to New York. Wally distracts Steve, who has stipulated that only he be allowed to treat Homer, long enough to kidnap Homer and take him to the hospital where the foreign doctors are to examine him. To prevent the examination, Steve tries to knock Homer out, but is himself knocked out. When the unconscious Steve is mistaken for Homer and wheeled in to be X-rayed, Homer dons different disguises and impersonates each of the three doctors separately in an attempt to fool them into diagnosing radiation sickness. The doctors deduce Homer's scheme, however, and inform Oliver that he is as healthy as a horse. Unaware they have been exposed, Steve comes up with the idea to publicly "cure" Homer, and the two begin to celebrate their cleverness. Wally arrives unexpectedly at the hotel, however, and reveals that she is on to them. Though relieved that Homer is well, Wally demands that he fake committing suicide, then slip out of town. As directed by Wally, Homer leaves a suicide note in his hotel room and goes with Steve and a camera-wielding Wally to "drown" himself in the river. The note is soon found by some Boy Rangers, who notify the fire department and Oliver. Determined to see Wally's scheme succeed, the mayor, Oliver and his "sluggers" race to the river to cajole the frightened Homer into jumping before the fire department arrives to save him. Homer instead falls into the river, crashing through his rescue rowboat. The rowboat sinks, and later, after Homer's grand public funeral, Homer and Steve, who has married Wally, undertake the jobs assigned to them by the mayor--street cleaning.

Woman gets involved with a crook trying to reform. Miriam Wilkins, teen-age daughter of Senator Wilkins, starts a Society for the Rehabilitation of Criminals and, without the approval or knowledge of the Senator, elects him to the position of honorary president. After a new gardener, Baxter, turns out to be a notorious ex-convict who was sentenced to prison by Senator Wilkins when he was a judge, and is about to be fired, his daughter points out it would be an unwise decision considering the position her father held on her society. Further complications arise involving a fuss-budget banker, Albert, a former suitor of Miriam's older married sister, plus some domestic misunderstandings between Baxter and his wife, and the older sister and her husband. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

When reporter ANN MITCHELL (Barbara Stanwyck) is laid off by managing editor HENRY CONNELL (James Gleason) because of streamlining, she begs to stay on since she's supporting her MOTHER (Spring Byington) and TWO SISTERS (Tina Thayer and Carlotta Jelm), but it's no use. Angry, she gathers up her belongings but then, as a parting shot, types up a fake letter from "John Doe" stating that he's so downtrodden by the unfairness of things that he intends jumping off the building on Christmas Eve. The paper prints the letter and it causes a sensation. Everyone relates to and wants to help John Doe. Connell, desperate to get hold of the original letter is shocked when Ann tells him there was no letter. Connell, angry, is ready to print a retraction but Ann suggests that they hire a "fake John Doe" to embody the pathos of the letter. She gets her job back along with a lucrative fee and contract. Several desperate MEN line up claiming to have written the letter, so Ann and Connell must now pick the one. When handsome JOHN WILLOUGHBY (Gary Cooper) walks in, Ann's clearly smitten. A likable, quiet baseball pitcher who's fallen on bad times, John's the one who will become "John Doe." Although he seems too honest to lie, Ann believes he's desperate enough. They create a fake letter, put him up at a fancy hotel with bodyguards, making him sign an agreement. Also in tow (much to Connell's chagrin) is THE COLONEL (Walter Brennan), a confirmed vagabond, distrustful of society, who warns John that he's falling into a trap of privilege. Next come publicity photos, which are directed by Ann to get the correct "angry protest" look. With headlines proclaiming his anger at the unfairness of the world, John becomes an increasing media sensation, courtesy of hyperbolic headlines concocted by Connell. Meanwhile, the GOVERNOR (Vaughn Glaser) suspects John Doe is a myth but mistakenly feels it was concocted by publisher B. D. NORTON (Edward Arnold) to discredit him. Ann convinces Norton to play it for what it's worth. Norton offers her money to write radio speeches to sell Doe. He also wants her to work directly with him and not Connell. Ann goes to work, typing up a storm but nothing comes to mind. Ann's Mother (Spring Byington) suggests that she write something upbeat and simple, using the values of Ann's late father as an inspiration. By now, John has begun realizing that his baseball career might not get started again if the John Doe business is revealed as a phony. Nonetheless, John reads his first manufactured upbeat speech, written by Ann, to a packed house. Ann coaches him to be sincere, suggesting that she's fallen in love with John Doe. The speech, broadcast on the radio, stirs the people with its "love-thy-neighbor" style message. CROWDS love him but John can't get away fast enough. He and the Colonel retreat to riding the rails in a boxcar and flee. B. D. Norton, thinking he was great, wants him located. When a DINER WAITER (Sterling Holloway) recognizes him, John's hope for a return to normalcy is squelched by sudden CROWDS, eager to meet him. Ann and Norton locate him. John isn't happy about it. When Norton offers him a lecture tour, he refuses it angrily. When the common PEOPLE who have a "John Doe" club talk to him, however, he softens when hearing how he's touched them. Now, John's torn. His itinerant pal, The Colonel, thinks he's been "hooked" and, disgusted, walks out on him. Norton arranges the lecture tour. John speaks in state after state, addressing the many national clubs in his name. Connell tells Norton, however, that he's curious why Norton is spending so much money on the tour. In the meantime, Ann, knowing that John now likes her, feels increasingly like the heel she feels she is. She feels even worse when John relates a tender dream that he had about her and talks to her about how he relates to the lonely, hungry people to whom he's been speaking. Norton gives Ann a fur coat and a gift. He then tells her that he wants John Doe to announce a new "third political party," which, it's clear to Ann, was Norton's plan all along. Norton wants to be the presidential candidate for that party, which will be less for the people than it is for those like Norton - big business types. John visits Ann's Mother, telling her he'd like to marry Ann. Her gentle advice is just to ask. While John talks with Connell, the editor, who's had a few drinks, blurts that Norton has a dark agenda. John feels hurt and used, as he'd felt the whole John Doe was legitimate, not a tool for Norton's political ambitions. Connell also tells John how well paid Ann is to write the speeches and would do anything for money. Angry, John walk in on Norton and Ann at a lavish dinner party he's having in his mansion. John overhears Norton's political plotting as well as his toast to Ann for having aided him. Ann sees that John is listening. John asks Ann if indeed she wrote Norton's speech and she admits it. John then confronts Norton and all at his party. John threatens to thwart his efforts. Norton accuses John of being the fake, not him. Norton threatens to reveal such if he talks. Aghast that Norton would kill the John Doe movement to protect his own interests, John is furious with all of them. He tells them off with passion, impressing Ann and the STAFF, who overhear. John feels that the movement is far too powerful for Norton and his cronies to stop. Norton wants John stopped before he can blow the whistle at the huge gathering that has now formed at a public arena. Ann catches up with John, trying to explain, telling him that she didn't know what Norton and his people were doing. John doesn't believe her and won't allow her to accompany him in his cab. John shows up at the event as a huge CROWD stands in the rain singing the National Anthem. A PRIEST introduces John. Before he can speak, Norton has published a report that John Doe is a fake. Norton's TROOPERS storm the event as John tries to get the mob's attention and speak. With John subdued, Norton takes the mike and accuses him of being a fraud. As John tries to speak, the Troopers cut the mike cords. Ann listens on the radio as the mob becomes unruly. John returns to his place beneath a bridge with The Colonel. Newspapers herald his faker. Clubs disband. John feels disgraced. He's tortured by memories of the sweet, simple people that he feels he now let down. Christmas Eve comes, the appointed time that John Doe was to take his life by leaping from the building. Some of his FOLLOWERS are convinced he'll jump, so they head for the roof, as does Ann. Indeed, John shows up, a letter in his hand addressed to the admirers he feels he let down. He's about to jump when Norton steps from the shadows with this MEN, telling him that if he jumps the mayor has been instructed to remove his ID, and thus his suicide will be for nothing. But John tells him he's already mailed a copy of the letter elsewhere. John's glad they're here. He tells Norton that the movement that they killed will be born all over again. Ann shows up as he's about to jump, begging him not to do it. She insists they can start it over again together; his followers agree. John and Ann walk away, and Connell gets in the last word with a thwarted Norton.

A naive idealist fights the corrupt political machine that engineered his appointment to the U.S. Senate.

The son of a snobbish Wall Street banker becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family not realizing that his father is trying to force her family from their home for a real estate development. Stenographer Alice Sycamore is in love with her boss Tony Kirby, who is the vice-president of the powerful company owned by his greedy father Anthony P. Kirby. Kirby Sr. is dealing a monopoly in the trade of weapons, and needs to buy one last house in a 12-block area owned by Alice's grandfather, Martin Vanderhof. However, Martin is the patriarch of an anarchic and eccentric family where the members do not care for money but for having fun and making friends. When Tony proposes to Alice, she states that it would be mandatory to introduce her simple and lunatic family to the snobbish Kirbys, and Tony decides to visit Alice with his parents one day before the scheduled get-together. There is an inevitable clash of classes and lifestyles: the Kirbys spurn the Sycamores and Alice breaks with Tony, changing the lives of the Kirby family. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Tony Kirby Jr., vice president of Kirby and Company, and his stenographer Alice Sycamore are in love with each other and want to get married. They both realize that a major problem in doing so is the incompatibility of their respective families. Tony's father, the company's owner and president Anthony P. Kirby, is a cutthroat businessman who doesn't care who he steps on to earn the almighty dollar, the amount of which being how he measures his worth and the worth of others. Tony's mother is a pretentious snob. Both his parents openly but quietly disapprove of the union. Alice's extended family, on the other hand, are an eccentric lot. They all have a "do whatever you want to do because you like doing it" mentality, which was initially fostered by the family patriarch, Alice's maternal grandfather, Martin Vanderhof, in whose house they all live. With the exception of Alice, they are somewhat blissfully unaware that their lives are unconventional. However, their attitude of openness and inclusion has reaped them the rewards of a multitude of unconditional friends, some who live with them solely because they came one day, liked what they saw, were welcomed with open arms, and have never left. Tony and Alice want to deal with the incompatibility issue head-on, although they both take differing paths in how to deal with it. Another problem is that A.P. Kirby is working on the biggest deal of his career - cornering the munitions market, especially lucrative in the lead up to probable war--that requires a massive land acquisition, which includes Grandpa Vanderhof's house, but he refuses to sell. Grandpa is unaware of who wants to buy his house, while A.P. is unaware that Grandpa is the one hold-out who could ruin his entire plan. —Huggo Anthony P Kirby is a wealthy banker. In order to clinch his next deal, his company, Kirby and Company, is buying up all the properties in a neighborhood. Everyone has sold, except one. Martin Vanderhof won't budge, not for any offer. He is happy where he is, living with his daughter, son-in-law, two granddaughters, grandson-in-law and a few other people in a community largely free of life's pressures. Mr Kirby's son Tony, is a new-appointed Vice President of Kirby and Company and is in love with his secretary, Alice Sycamore, Mr Vanderhof's granddaughter. Their relationship, and the property issue, puts the two families, the Kirbys and Vanderhofs, on a collision course. It's more than a clash of families but a clash of outlooks, ideals and what's important in life. —grantss Sweet-natured Alice Sycamore falls for banker's son Tony Kirby. But when she invites her snooty prospective in-laws to dinner to give their blessing to the marriage, Alice's peculiar extended family--including philosophical grandfather Martin Vanderhof, hapless fledgling ballerina sister Essie and fireworks enthusiast father Paul--might be too eccentric for the staid Kirbys. —Jwelch5742