Meet John Doe - 1941

[Coopsgirl]

This film costarred Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Brennan, Edward Arnold, and James Gleason. This was Gary's first film released in 1941, the biggest year of his career. In March of '41 he was on the cover of Time Magazine with an article inside about the film. Many in the movie world speculated he would get an Oscar nomination for this one. Instead he got the nod and the win for his second release of the year, Sergeant York.

This film is in the public domain and available in many different dvd versions. However the best print is the one shown on TCM.

[Coopsgirl]

Screencaps:

[maggiejones]

Love this sepia tone picture. The whole film is beautiful, Intense & Sad. Both Gary & Barbara's performance's are awsome. Love the youtube clip to the song Angels in the room.

[Coopsgirl]

That is a nice pic.

[Coopsgirl]

[maggiejones]

Another lovely picture. Barbara looks different in some of the still photograph's, very fresh faced and a lot younger. I enjoy watching her in these early films but not so much when she had matured and in her later films.

[Coopsgirl]

Babs would have been 34 in this one. She's one of my very faves and I like her all the way through her career. Her precode stuff is fun and I like her as the tough older broad too.

[Coopsgirl]

[Coopsgirl]

[bellapisces]

TCM aired it yesterday. I still find the final scene so... poignant. When "John Doe" is talking to Norton and his cronies, and you can see the tears in his eyes. That's some of Gary Cooper's best acting.

[Coopsgirl]

This along with High Noon and Pride of the Yankees, is my fave of his films and one of my fave films overall. I watched it yesterday too and that last part always gets me. Especially when Babs says 'please God, help me' as she's hanging onto him. It seems so genuine b/c she was such a great actress and it just puts a lump in my throat. He's trying not to even look at her b/c he knows it will lessen his resolve.

I wish this one had come out a different year b/c I know he could have won an Oscar for it. The scene where he's giving the first radio speech is phenomenal. That scene made me a fan for life b/c I was just blown away by how awesome his talent was. He starts out anxious and very nervous. As he begins to get a positive reaction from the crowd we see him subtely change and he becomes much more confident. By the end however his demeanor has changed again as the content of the speech has affected him and he's very sincere and moved. It's a beautiful thing to watch b/c it seems so real and not at all liked a very practiced performance. I defy anyone to say he wasn't a good actor or that he "just played himself" after watching that scene.

[mariastwin]

I have a script (book) from McFarland Publishing (I believe) of MEET JOHN DOE. It contains all four endings and is quite interesting to read. I think I got it sometime in the 90s.

I wish someone would do a biobibliography of Gary Cooper. I have the ones on James Stewart, Henry Fonda and Ronald Colman. They are very expensive (my Stewart one was $79, but now I see it lists for over $100). A Cooper one would be worth every penny.

I do have a Literary Calvalcade (1974 or 1975) from when I was in High School English with the script for High Noon. We, as a class, had to read the script from High Noon (which to the rest of the class was a chore and a bore) but one of the few times I actually couldn't wait to come to that class. I ended up with about ten copies of that ...

[Coopsgirl]

[Marina]

[Coopsgirl]

That's a great pic! ;D