Gary Cooper Double Feature: A Farewell To Arms/Meet John Doe

The first of the double features, Meet John Doe, is Capra's classic ode to the common man. This Social commentary/comedy-drama stars Gary Cooper as one of the millions of unemployed workers, only he's been picked as the 'typical America', John Doe, by a newspaper publisher. Cooper is soon built into the symbol of the average man by the high-pressure campaign of the news tycoon with the help of an attractive reporter. But Cooper finds that he's being used to further the publisher's power-seeking political ambitions and rebels. What happens then makes for one of the truly engrossing conclusions to any of Capra's masterpieces. As always, filmmaker Capra brings his points across skillfully and entertainingly, with the help of a solid script and excellent performances throughout. One of the true screen classics

The second feature, A Farewell To Arms, is the masterpiece by Ernest Hemingway adapted beautifully to the screen with Gary Cooper, in one of his first major roles as the young ambulance driver serving amid the chaos of the First World War. Helen Hayes is lovely as Catherine, a British nurse with whom Frederic (Cooper) falls in love while serving on the brutal Italian front. Hemingway's indictment of war, and tale of bittersweet romance, emerges as a powerful and moving film that remains not only a literary classic, but a film classic as well.