Now, in our 10th year of the “Trump Era,” I often consider how I once lived in a very real fantasy.
My fantasy was that we lived in a strong democratic republic that was almost invulnerable.
I believed that most voters wanted the best possible person as U.S. President.
I never guessed that any Congress (Republican or Democrat-led) would stand by, while a President tore down the East Wing of the White House.
Part of my belief in these “illusions” was fostered by the Indiana education system, and by seeing vintage American films, especially idealistic films like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and It’s a Wonderful Life.
Both of these classic films starred the iconic actor James “Jimmy” Stewart.
James Stewart didn’t always play the iconic “everyman” American.
In Vertigo, he played Scottie Ferguson, a mentally-fragile retired police detective.
He played Elwood P. Dowd (a wealthy drunk who sees a giant rabbit following him about), in Harvey.
However, in three of the five films that won Stewart Oscar nominations (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It’s a Wonderful Life, and Anatomy of a Murder) he played men who thought seriously about right and wrong.
During the last few years, I’ve read a few books that enlightened me about the history of this nation.
I read Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, and learned (among other things) that one of the reasons why Trump rose to power is that a share of white Americans desire sovereignty over non-whites.
In Rachel Maddow’s Prequel, and William Willrich’s American Anarchy, I learned that the U.S. Government talked of equality, but sometimes played another game entirely.
By reading these books, I learned that alongside the belief in “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” there’s also been a belief in class structure.
Those who believe in class structure think that it’s the inheritance of some people to have political power over others.
In the first part of his career (before interrupting his acting career to serve during World War II), James Stewart played a naive man (Jeffrey Smith), who’s appointed to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy, in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
What Smith doesn’t realize (when he takes the position), is that he’s expected to merely act as a puppet for greedy politicians.
He chooses to fight against corruption.
As a result of this choice, Smith’s reputation is destroyed by his supposed mentor, and he’s nearly expelled from Congress.
After serving in WWII, Stewart’s first postwar film was It’s a Wonderful Life.
In this 1946 film, Stewart played George Bailey, a man nearly driven to suicide because of a run on his savings bank, and the sad belief that his life has no value.
After time-traveling with an angel, Bailey recognizes that his life did make a difference.
Sicilian-born director Frank Capra directed both Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and It’s a Wonderful Life.
Capra was a member of the Republican party.
Oddly enough, his films were often criticized for being “too liberal,” and possibly Communistic.
(I was quite surprised to learn that Frank Capra was a Republican; I had assumed that he was a F.D.R. Democrat, like my Sicilian-American Dad.)
In Capra’s later years, he became a more dedicated Roman Catholic, and a self-described pacifist.
About ten years after filming It’s a Wonderful Life, Stewart played aviation hero Charles Lindbergh in the Billy Wilder-directed film The Spirit of St. Louis.
Practically speaking, Jimmy Stewart was a bit too old to play Lindbergh, since Lindbergh was only 25 when he made the first solo transatlantic flight from New York to Paris.
Nevertheless, Stewart captured Lindbergh’s bravery and determination in Wilder’s film, and Stewart was able to contribute as knowledge as a pilot.
Billy Wilder (the German-American director), received seven Academy Awards during his long career.
Besides directing over 25 films, he co-created the Committee for the First Amendment (1947), in support of the Hollywood Ten.
When the Screen Directors Guild voted whether or not the film industry should take oaths of allegiance to the U.S. Government, only he and John Huston opposed this action.
In 1959, James Stewart played small-town Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler in the Otto Preminger film Anatomy of a Murder.
Biegler does his best to defend an army lieutenant who claims that he was driven by blind rage to kill a man who raped his wife.
The vision of America in Anatomy of a Murder is much darker than that in most Stewart films.
Life is sordid in Anatomy of a Murder, and people lie.
Justice does not triumph.
Some people don’t choose to pay their debts.
Austrian-American director Otto Preminger (a director known for dealing with controversial subjects) directed Anatomy of a Murder.
His film The Moon is Blue (1953)* was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency for using “indecent” words like “virgin” and “mistress.”
Anatomy of a Murder was also criticized for its’ frank dialogue, and for mentioning “panties.”
Around the same time, Stewart filmed Anatomy of a Murder, he played straight arrow Agent John “Chip” Hardesty in The FBI Story.
In this documentary-style drama, Hardesty fights against Communist spies, bank robbers, the Ku Klux Klan, and organized crime.
The FBI Story was made with the cooperation of Director J. Edgar Hoover, and it shows!
According to the Trivia data, on the IMDb website, Hoover forced director Mervyn LeRoy to reshoot scenes, make script changes, and to re-edit the film, so as to better showcase Hoover’s FBI.
Like his friend Frank Capra, James Stewart was a conservative Republican.
However, he often worked harmoniously with directors, and other actors, whose political views were much more liberal than his own (like Henry Fonda).
Both Stewart and Fonda were known for embodying the “common man.”
Both actors rarely played evil men.
In the time before Trump, there was no conflict between idealism, and our political parties.
*The Moon is Blue can’t really be called a sex comedy, but it was a very controversial film for the times. It starred David Niven, William Holden, and Maggie McNamara.
