'Mr. Deeds Goes to Town' (1936) Quiz

Answer: Mandrake Falls

Before we get to Mandrake Falls, the opening scene shows a car careering off a bend, followed by a series of newspaper headlines such as "CIVIC LEADER KILLED IN AUTO ACCIDENT!" and "DISCLOSURE OF BANKER'S WILL AWAITED". After it becomes clear that Longfellow Deeds (played by Gary Cooper) is the heir to the deceased banker's fortune, the film then cuts to Mandrake Falls, a small town in Vermont in which the pace of life is slower than in the big city.

Answer: He writes poems for greetings cards.

While many city folk may find his poems overly sentimental, Deeds enjoys writing them and the residents of Mandrake Falls seem to like them too. We first get a sample of his poetry on a sign at the railway station, that reads:

"Welcome to Mandrake Falls
Where the scenery enthralls
Where no hardship e'er befalls
Welcome to Mandrake Falls"

Deeds is named after one of the greats of American poetry, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Answer: His lawyer

As he was earning money from Deeds' uncle, Cedar decides to search out Deeds to keep himself on the payroll. When he arrives in Mandrake Falls, Cedar and his entourage have a series of experiences that remind them they are no longer in the big city. When they reach the train station and speak to the stationmaster, he directly answers their questions instead of inferring the meaning that they were trying to convey.

When they are finally taken to find Deeds, another character asks them if they'd like a glass of lemonade and they are confused as to why people don't have the sense of urgency that they themselves have.

Answer: Mary Dawson

While there are many things he doesn't like about the big city, one thing that Deeds does hope to do while he's there is find a 'lady in distress' and fall in love with her. Taking advantage of his sentimental personality, journalist Louise "Babe" Bennett (played by Jean Arthur) collapses in front of him claiming that she is exhausted from searching for a job all day long. While Deeds is supposed to be protected from the media by his cynical publicist Cornelius Cobb, Bennett manages to win both of their confidences with her portrayal of Mary Dawson. She uses her position to write exclusive stories about Longfellow for the newspaper, where she is trying to get a promotion.

Jean Arthur, Margaret Seddon and Ruth Donnelly are all actresses that appear in the film.

Answer: Cinderella Man

Bennett does not portray Deeds kindly, and makes him out to be a complete fool. She writes stories about how he fed doughnuts to a horse while drunk on a night out, and how he punched one of the leading literary figures of the day who mocked his poetry.

However, after spending a lot of time with Deeds, Bennett starts to feel sorry for him and eventually starts to fall for him, saying "that guy's either the dumbest, stupidest or the most imbecilic idiot in the world or else he's the grandest thing alive".

While she initially found it easy to mock him, she learns from Deeds that there are other ways to live one's life than the cut-throat way in which she leads hers.

Answer: Farmers

Having fallen in love with Deeds, Bennett quits her job at the newspaper as she can't continue to write about him. She resolves to tell him of her deceit over lunch, but Cobb gets there first, telling Deeds "That dame took you for a sleigh ride that New York will laugh about for years". Distraught and embarrassed, Deeds decides to go back to Mandrake Falls.

As he is leaving he is confronted by a farmer who has lost everything during the Depression. As the money has brought nothing but trouble to Deeds, he decides to build a huge farming district that will home as many destitute farmers and their families as possible. What a nice guy!

Answer: Pixilated

John Cedar is determined that Deeds shouldn't give the money away, as, if he does, then he will no longer be able to pay Cedar. In order to try and wrestle the money from Deeds, Cedar brings a case against him claiming his insanity. He cites many of the newspaper reports written by Louise Bennett and claims that they don't show the actions of a 'sane man'.

In an attempt to prove that Deeds' alleged insanity has been ongoing for some time, Cedar brings two ladies, Jane and Amy Faulkner, from Mandrake Falls to testify against him.

They describe Deeds as 'pixilated', suggests that he is crazy or eccentric. However, when later questioned the Faulkners reveal "Why, everybody in Mandrake Falls is pixilated - except us.", showing that the testimony that they provided was meaningless.

Answer: Tuba

Deeds decides to represent himself in the court case and declines the offer of a lawyer. However, he is initially unwilling to fight his own case, depressed at how ridiculous the whole situation is and how broken the system seems. Not able to take his defeatism, Bennett decides to intervene and professes her love for him, describing how she came to know him very well over a period of months. Buoyed by her intervention, Deeds eventually decides to fight his corner.

Answer: Doodle

Deeds claims that "everybody does silly things to help them think", and that his 'thing' just happens to be playing the tuba. In addition to pointing out that Dr. Von Hallor likes doodling, Deeds labels the judge an 'o-filler', as he likes to colour in the letter 'o' in printed documents, and describes how other people are 'knuckle crackers' or 'nose twitchers'.

The word 'doodle' was coined by the screenwriter Robert Riskin.

Answer: Frank Capra

Frank Capra was one the big names of the Golden Age of Hollywood, winning three awards for Best Director, including for 'Mr. Deeds Goes to Town'. Capra wanted to make a sequel to the film with the same leads, Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur, but this project turned into the 1939 film 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington', starring James Stewart.

Despite being born in Italy, Capra felt deep patriotism for his adopted country, quitting his presidency of the Screen Directors Guild a mere four days after the Pearl Harbour attack so that he was able to serve in the military.