Meet John Doe/A Farewell to Arms (1941)

195 minute double feature film DVD.

Recommended purchase

Great movies. The dvds are in excellent condition. Fast delivery. Very excited about this purchase. Thanks for the great service. June 12, 2008

Gary Cooper Classics

These two films starring Gary Cooper make for great viewing. Both are true screen classics.

A FAREWELL TO ARMS


"I'm afraid of the rain because sometimes I see me dead in it. And sometimes I see you dead in it." -- Helen Hayes


Frank Borzage had a romanticism and sensitivity to his silent work matched by none, and when sound came along he continued to put a delicate touch on films that required something more than just direction. With Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" he brought this romantic tragedy to the screen with a dark and foreboding glow. Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes portray the doomed couple battling for moments of happiness while bombs explode everywhere around them.

Cooper is Frederic, an American driving in the Italian Ambulance Core who meets and falls in love with lovely Katherine (Helen Hayes). She is a nurse and both are simply trying to outlast the reality of war, any romantic notions crushed long ago by the parade of damaged young men. Borzage uses Charles Lang's photography to frame their old-fashioned romance against images of the first war which engulfed the entire globe. Rather than a grand film about war, however, Borzage makes his point by creating a warm and intimate glow to a romance filled with sweet moments of love, yet surrounded with doom.

Through a timid kiss on a public street, a gift of a shared St. Anthony necklace to guard her sweetheart from harm, Katherine's romantically embellished description of her shabby hotel room when writing her love, and a marriage ceremony on a hospital bed where they pretend they can smell orange blossoms on the wind, Borzage creates something timeless while at the same time showing that true love once meant something. When Frederic comes back after their first time together, the viewer knows long before he gets there it is because he needs to let her know it really meant something to him.

Adolphe Menjou is Frederic's misguided party pal who can't understand and tries to interfere, then has a change of heart and helps them reunite under dangerous circumstances. For those who haven't seen it, I won't ruin the experience with too many details. The final shot of doves shot against the heavens has much the same effect as Borzage's "Three Comrades." This old-fashioned and tender film is an early sound masterpiece anyone with a romantic heart will enjoy.


MEET JOHN DOE


"I've been lonely and hungry for something practically all my life."
Long John Willoughby

This Frank Capra film, unlike others he had made, leaned more towards drama than humor. Though there is humor, and many charming moments involving Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, the tone of the Robert Riskin screenplay has more serious implications than Capra's other films. For that reason, and perhaps because the prints of this film are not as good as the others, "Meet John Doe" sometimes gets unfairly dismissed when Capra's films are discussed. This was the meat in what many call "Capracorn."

Barbara Stanwyck is Ann Mitchell, a reporter whose paper is gobbled up by D.B. Norton (Edward Arnold). Desperate to keep the job which keeps her mom (Spring Byington) and two young daughters afloat, she writes a column pretending she has received a letter from a "John Doe" who, because of the injustice in the world, the state of civilization, and the downtrodden, plans to kill himself at Christmas.

A groundswell of support for John Doe gets Ann her job back, but now she and boss Connell (James Gleason) must find a "John Doe." In walks Long John Willoughby (Gary Cooper), a hungry baseball player with a bad wing. He and his pal, Colonel (Walter Brennan), are just hungry enough to play along. Colonel has reservations from the get-go, however, afraid that Long John will become a helot--a guy with a bank account.

Long John just wants to earn enough to get the arm he injured pitching a 19 inning game fixed by Bonesetter Brown, but his shy affection for Ann keeps him around long enough to make a radio speech, written from words in her father's diary. His speach spreads the John Doe movement all across the country. It is the crusty Colonel who sees the train wreck coming, however, and takes off.

Clubs start up everywhere, only the "little" people allowed to join. People start treating their neighbors with kindness, showing the spirit of Christmas on a day-to-day basis. D.B. Norton, however, has political aspirations, and sees a way to twist the movement to fit his ambitions. It is Henry Connell who clues in Long John on what is about to happen, letting the air out of his balloon and shattering his smitten image of Ann, with her chestnut hair and great legs. What follows, as the country discovers John Doe was a fake, will lead Long John to a rooftop overlooking the city on a snowy Christmas night.

Stanwyck is wonderful here, as Ann slowly comes to realize she has found a man like her father but may have helped to destroy him. Cooper is memorable as Long John Willoughby, a shy ball player who realizes he has come to stand for more than he ever could have on the pitching mound. Brennan is his usual great character, looking out for Long John as much as he can.

There are some warm and sentimental moments between Cooper's Long John and Stanwyck's Ann mixed in with the social drama, and some charm as well. Cooper's scene with Ann's mom, whose help he needs to ask her daughter to marry him, has a sweetness to it that is long gone from today's films. And the baseball scene in a hotel room, when they play pretend ball, is a classic.

This is a wonderful film about the little guy that sometimes gets analyzed too much. All Capra was trying to do, was remind people that the first John Doe came a long time ago, and people still weren't listening. A couple of terrific films to own. May 23, 2008

REMASTERED IN - 2006

Marengo Films remastered these two prints in 2006. We have found new film collectors and swapped prints and the new software is much better than it was in 2001 when we originally put this double feature out... We spent much of 2006 re-mastering a fair number of our DVD's and this is one.

I believe you will find both of these prints highly satisfactory and in fact we believe they are the VERY BEST ON THE MARKET.

We appreciate your business.

Best regards,

Marengo Films August 13, 2007

Digitally Remastered and as good as new!

Judging by earlier reviews, the DVD that was given to me is obviously a new edition by Marengo Films: digitally remastered and with a different cover picture than the one currently displayed here. This one deserves a 5-star rating both for its excellent picture and sound quality, and for the two marvellous and unforgettable cinema classics. "A Farewell to Arms" from 1932 is based on the Ernest Hemingway novel and is a tragic love story set in Italy during World War I with nice sets and some good and unusual camera work at times. The love affair between the American ambulance driver (Cooper) and a nurse cannot run smoothly due to the war and Cooper's interfering friend, but get your tissues out for the ending! The second Gary Cooper feature, "Meet John Doe" from 1941 is quite different, as is Cooper's character, John Doe, who goes through various emotions and reveals deeper layers of character as the story unfolds. What starts out as a reporter's last desperate attempt to keep her job ends up being a nationwide movement to motivate people to care about one's neighbour and give the average person a voice and power (hence 'John Doe'). Of course, there's always a baddie who wants to take advantage of this people-power, while John Doe struggles with himself, his identity and his feelings for the fiery lady reporter (played nicely by Barbara Stanwyck). I really got a lot out of this movie as well, and I highly recommend this DVD to any general movie fan and especially of classics like these. Just make sure it's the digitally remastered edition: written across the bottom in yellow letters on a red label. November 21, 2004

QUALITY IS...O.K.

There wasn't alot of hiss on either movie. The image quality is nothing to write home about. It's just good enough to keep you from straining your eyes. August 17, 2004

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