AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

weezeralfalfa Directed by William Wyler, this is a light comedy and drama about the quest for taking accurate polls that involves only a small defined population as being an accurate representative of the whole country. The trick is to find that localized population, and hope it stays that way for some years. Thus, it should ideally be conservative in its growth and change in demographics, or so Jimmy Stewart's character thought.It has its comedic moments, such as the chaotic time when it becomes the destination for many outsiders, who want to move there or give their opinions there. The ups and downs in the relationship between Jimmy Stewart, as the chief pollster and Jane Wyman, head of the movement to make Grandview grow, is amusing. But, to me, the funniest bit is the informal competition between Stewart and Jane in reciting "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (Stewart), and "The Song of Hiawatha"(Jane), simultaneously, to each other. That took some talent!The Middletown sociological study which inspired this screenplay was conducted during the 1920s and '30s, by Robert and Helen Lynd. They searched for and found a town with demographics for the Caucasian residents only, similar to the mean for the US as a whole. About 5% of the population was African Americans, who were excluded. It appears that the study in this screenplay also excluded African Americans, Latinos and Asians, as none were seen among the residents or visitors. Thus, neither the original study nor the polls taken in this screenplay necessarily provided an accurate sample of Americans as a whole. This is even more true today, when African Americans, Latinos and Asians make up about 35% of the population. The 2016 presidential election showed that the great divide between small town plus rural areas, on the one hand, and large cities plus their large suburbs, on the other, was the most significant factor in determining whether Republicans or Democrats carried a region or state. Thus, to conduct a reasonably accurate poll on the presidential candidates would require a minimum of inclusion of representatives of these two populations in their proportion in the US as a whole. Also, in the case of presidential elections, one would have to estimate the number of probable voters in each of these categories for each state, because the number of electors/voters is slightly greater for small population states than for large ones. Thus, although Hilary Clinton won the overall popular vote by a very slim margin, Donald Trump won the electoral vote by a substantial margin, partly because the Democrat votes were more concentrated in the big population states, especially California.Interestingly, after the town people realized that their opinions were being tracked as representative of an ideal town for taking polls, they were asked whether they thought a woman could function satisfactorily as president. 79% responded 'yes'. This was considered an outrageous result. As history has shown, in reality, the nation was far from considering the possibility of a woman president.I don't understand why people confused Grandview as a representative town for taking polls with Grandview as an ideal town to live in or near. This confusion of attributes is what precipitated the chaos after a news report labeled Grandview as the ideal(not typical) American town.See this film in B&W at YouTube.

howiemac First the good news: an unusual and sometimes-interesting plot, with some very entertaining and funny moments along the way. But, although it tries to emulate Capra, this movie does not come even close to Frank Capra's light and expert touch. Jimmy Stewart performs to his usual high standard, and there are some great supporting character performances, but I found Wyman disappointing and unlikeable as his (totally unnecessary and badly handled) romantic interest. The film was too long, and the direction too ham-fisted to keep my attention consistently: I could not have watched it all the way through, were it not for regular relief from the comic asides with which the drudgery was peppered. Also, the film has dated badly, and one aspect in particular disgusted me: the conceit that that this town was a perfect representation of US-wide views, when there is not one black or Hispanic character in it. Such a gross misrepresentation would not be tolerated nowadays, and for this reason alone this film should be condemned to the dustbin of history, some fine character acting notwithstanding.

mark.waltz James Stewart is back as Mr. Smith, but this time he isn't that naive country bumpkin who became a Senator and went to Washington. Here, he's a cynical New York idea man whose recent business (collecting public opinion) has failed. Smith gets the idea of going to Granview, a medium sized town whose statistics perfectly match the national average. Wanting to find out what makes this town tick and stay so quaint, Stewart and his cohorts (Donald Meek and Ned Sparks) go there where they upset the apple cart by convincing the town council that they don't need to go along with newspaper editor Jane Wyman's plans to expand the town and bring in new business. Wyman plants a negative story about Stewart in the paper, and their confrontation turns to attraction and leads to romance. Stewart keeps the truth about his true identity to himself, and when the story breaks, Grandview is all of a sudden a mecca for people looking for Ideal Town U.S.A. But as fast as interest explodes, it declines, making the people of Grandview come off as fools and desperate for a way not to be categorized as a national joke.Robert Riskin, who spent years as Frank Capra's writer for such classics as "Mr. Deeds" and "Mr. Smith", is away from Capracorn here, and instead has William Wellman (director of 1937's "A Star is Born") in charge. Producing as well as writing, Riskin utilizes all of the tricks that made Capra's corny tales so popular, but comes up with a concept so convoluted and irritating that it ends up being an overly chatty mess. Still, he has a great cast of Hollywood's best character actors to work with, and two extremely popular stars in Stewart and Wyman, fresh from Oscar Nominated work in "It's a Wonderful Life" and "The Yearling", respectively. Crusty Ned Sparks, who must have been the offspring of a dill pickle and an overripe lemon, is the Walter Matthau of his era, and always funny. The appropriately named Donald Meek is a Wallace Shawn ("The Princess Bride", "My Dinner With Andre") look-alike. These were possibly the last appearances of both, and even with the film's mediocrity, a great swan song for them.The problem with the film is that it doesn't seem to know when to quit, which towards the end makes the film come off as pretentious and quite obnoxious. Stewart, the epitome of the "every man", got a disappointing follow-up to "Wonderful Life", while Wyman is never totally likable as the driven editor. There are some amusing moments, and it is touching to see Stewart reaching out to the teenagers of the town, but when all is said and done, "Magic Town" ends up as one of the biggest duds of the 40's.

secondtake Magic Town (1947)Just after his legendary (or now legendary) performance in "It's a Wonderful Life," James Stewart plays another regular guy who wants to cut his way through life differently. The director here is William Wellman, a seasoned everyday director, lacking maybe the initiative and originality of the great directors, but working with good materials.There are a couple things at work here beyond the plot of a pollster looking for a shortcut to success. The first is how a small American town is used to talk about America itself, an idealized (and homogenous) cross section of what is best about the country. In a way, Grandview is a bit like Bedford Falls of "It's a Wonderful Life." It's an ideal people wanted to re-establish after the war, the sunny counterpart to the film noir side of Hollywood. Another thing is Stewart himself, who has so much personality and regular guy magic, he makes the movie, regardless of the rest of it.The rest of it is wonderful enough--Jane Wyman (Ronald Reagan's first wife--they were still married for this film) as the leading lady and inevitable love interest, and realistic counterpart to Stewart's dreamer. And there is a whole slew of established contract players who are character actors and journeymen of the type that populated Hollywood still back then.This is no searing classic, for sure, but it's endlessly funny, warm, and cheerful. By the end you'll be cheering for the good guys but you'll also (I assume) be moaning at the ridiculous optimism of it all. It's a feel-good story that feels a little too good. All the same, it feels good. Fun.