Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Comedy, Drama • 2h 9m
Director: Frank Capra
Cast: James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, Guy Kibbee, Thomas Mitchell, Eugene Pallette, Beulah Bondi, H.B. Warner, Harry Carey, Astrid Allwyn, Ruth Donnelly, Grant Mitchell, Porter Hall, Pierre Watkin, Charles Lane, William Demarest, Dick Elliott, Billy Watson, Delmar Watson, John Russell, Harry Watson, Garry Watson, Larry Simms, H.V. Kaltenborn, Russell Simpson, Frances Gifford, Colin James Mackey, Wilson Benge, Dickie Jones, Erville Alderson, Frank Puglia, Maurice Cass, Stanley Andrews, Al Bridge, Edwin August, Edmund Cobb, Sam Ash, Harry A. Bailey, Stanley Mack, Brooks Benedict, Wade Boteler, Dorothy Comingore, Chester Conklin, Gino Corrado, Ann Doran, Robert Emmett Keane, Matt McHugh, Kathryn Bates, Frank Austin, William Arnold, Tommy Baker, Robert Sterling, Dub Taylor, George Chandler, Fred 'Snowflake' Toones, Jack Carson, Tommy Bupp, Dora Clement, Bert Moorhouse, Harry C. Bradley, Lynton Brent, Ed Brewer, Harlan Briggs, Harry Burkhardt, Frederick Burton, Georgia Caine, Burr Caruth, Allan Cavan, Eddy Chandler, Davison Clark, Richard Clucas, Shirley Coates, Eddie Coke, Hal Cooke, Alec Craig, Anne Cornwall, George Cooper, Georgie Cooper, Nick Copeland, Vernon Dent, Maurice Costello, Beatrice Curtis, Lew Davis, Dulcie Day, Wally Dean, Harry Depp, Byron Foulger, Helen Jerome Eddy, Douglas Evans, Joe Devlin, Clyde Dilson, John Dilson, Neal Dodd, Lester Dorr, Robert Dudley, Edward Earle, Jack Egan, Eddie Fetherston, Mabel Forrest, Gladys Gale, Jack Gardner, Mary Gordon, June Gittelson, Lorna Gray, Harry Hayden, Louis Jean Heydt, John Ince, Frank Jaquet, Philo McCullough, Wright Kramer, Henry Hebert, Fred Hoose, Richard Kipling, Roger Haliday, Wilfred Hari, Philip Hurlic, Olaf Hytten, Lloyd Ingraham, Mitchell Ingraham, Dick Jensen, John Lester Johnson, Eddie Kane, Donald Kerr, Milton Kibbee, Joe King, Evalyn Knapp, Paul Kruger, Bobby Larson, Billy Lechner, Jackie Lowe, P.H. Levy, Vera Lewis, Jack Lindquist, George Lloyd, Arthur Loft, Jack Low, Jimmie Lucas, Mary MacLaren, Hank Mann, Margaret Mann, Eric Mayne, Ralph McCullough, George McKay, Lafe McKee, Ben Taggart, Field Norton, Wilfred Lucas, Sammy McKim, James McNamara, William Newell, Robert Middlemass, James Millican, Howard M. Mitchell, Charles R. Moore, Gene Morgan, Ray Nichols, Alex Novinsky, Frank O'Connor, Frank Otto, Joe Palma, Spencer Quinn, Tom Quinn, Ed Randolph, Charles Regan, Jack Rice, Wyndham Standing, Ferris Taylor, Jack Richardson, Walter Soderling, Harry Stafford, Victor Travis, Carl Stockdale, Bob Walker, Henry Roquemore, Craig Stevens, Paul Stanton, Johnny Russell, Walter Sande, Frank M. Thomas, Harry Strang, Harry Tenbrook, Dave Willock, Lloyd Whitlock, John Tyrrell, Frederick Vroom, Charles Sullivan, Arthur Thalasso, Edward Thomas, Laura Treadwell, Layne Tom Jr., Myonne Walsh, Billy Wayne, Max Waizmann, John Ward, Jane Loofbourrow, Blanche Payson, Emma Tansey, Bess Wade, Florence Wix, Eleanor Wood, Jesse Graves, Gus Glassmire, Larry Steers, Landers Stevens, William Worthington, Edward Biby, Count Stefenelli, David Wade, Frank McLure
About the film
After the death of a United States Senator, idealistic Jefferson Smith is appointed as his replacement in Washington. Soon, the naive and earnest new senator has to battle political corruption.
- Featured Lists
- National Film Registry
Year of Induction: 1989
- TSPDT
- 2026: #6392025: #6922024: #6792023: #7542022: #754
- Alternative Titles
- Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Director: Richard Brooks
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: Elaine May
Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray > MoC > Olive Films. From nicolas:
The master is good but it’s not that big an upgrade from the Olive Films disc and Vinegar Syndrome’ encode has some blocky highlights. A shame that they didn’t hire David Mackenzie here.
Cinématographe has unnecessary noise gating not present on the previous releases.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K / Capelight 4K
1.66:1: Criterion 4K but low pass filtered
Comparison between the 4Ks, Criterion on the AR choice
Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible
Director: Dennis Hopper
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Flicker Alley 4K confirmed for 2027 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24404584&postcount=1
MoC audio is better https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=225532&page=3
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.
DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
WB 4K
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
An undeniably significant improvement from the BD yet still severely flawed. See DFIC's review.
Director: Frank Capra
Director: Frank Capra
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
1986 Columbia VHS
Director: Frank Capra
1991 Republic Pictures LaserDisc
Sony Frank Capra Boxset 4K Blu-ray
Director: David Lean
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
The 5.1 on Sony 4K Blu-ray is from the 1989 70mm mix. The original is 4-track. not on the disc.
Original Stereo mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray
5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray, Sony Blu-ray
Dolby Atmos remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray
Original Stereo mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray
5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray, Sony Blu-ray
Dolby Atmos remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray
Director: Satoshi Kon
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Director: Ben Stiller
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Director: Luc Besson
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · fanrestore.com (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray vs 2017 Sony 4K Blu-ray (20th annivesary) vs 2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray (Luc Besson Box Set). The first two have totally different texture.
StudioCanal: More natural looking. Better defined grain. The white balance is rather yellow/orange. Some say it is closer to the original theatrical release.
2017 Sony: More vibrant and impactful. The white balance is rather neutral. While color noise and grain can look busy because it had been sharpened and had micro-contrast boosted.
2025 Sony: Supposedly an improved version of the 2017 release? Shows around 20mbps-higher overall video bitrate. caps
2007 Sony Blu-ray or LaserDisc AC3? (TBC) https://fanrestore.com/thread-7303.html
The Atmos on the Sony release is reportedly better than StudioCanal's.
Disc info of the box set discs. This film have recieved multiple encode/versions in different regions over the years. The 2017 Germany4K Blu-ray is encoded differently than the 2017 Sony but not better. Also, the same can be said to 2024 France Gaumont 4K Blu-ray while comparing to the 2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray omits all the extras from previous releases, being barebones.
Director: John Carpenter
Sony 4K Blu-ray or Carlotta 4K Blu-ray (FiM encode)
Sony 4K Blu-ray and France Carlotta 4K Blu-ray (FiM encode) are similar
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