MovieChat Forums > Meet John Doe (1941) Discussion > MY PERSONAL ENDING to MEET JOHN DOE...

MY PERSONAL ENDING to MEET JOHN DOE...

posted 14 years ago by cattard-1
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To be honest, I actually hate it when other people give their opinion on how they would have preferred a film to end - however MEET JOHN DOE's ending seems to be problematic with a lot of people (including Capra himself). There is such a brilliant build up towards the roof scene that it's hard for it not to end up being disappointing.

I would have liked it if when John Doe goes to the roof, he finds everyone there actually WANTING him to jump. They would all fight and argue between them while waiting for him to top himself. Ann Mitchell (the Barbara Stanwyck character) is so self centered and ambitious that her falling in love with John Doe rings false to me. I believe that a person like her would actually have loved to have him kill himself so she could have a better story to write.

Having said that, I would have preferred to have it that while everyone is fighting amongst themselves and hoping John Does jumps off the roof, The Colonel (Walter Brennon) tells John Doe that it's time he just leave (as he has done throughout the movie) and John Doe finally listens to him after realising that killing himself for this pack of selfish dogs is simply not worth it. The two of them leave the roof without even being noticed. When the others stop fighting, they notice that John Doe is not there anymore and start looking over the ledge to see if he had jumped. When they realise that he hasn't, everyone agrees that John Doe was nothing but a coward all along. Ann Mitchell would be disappointed at losing her story while D.B. Norton regrets losing all the votes he could have gained through the John Doe movement had it worked out the way he planned.

Last shot could be John Doe and the Colonel out fishing and a passerby asks Long John Willoughby if he is John Doe. The person making the enquiry would say that he never bought into the John Doe philosophy of "love thy neighbour" and states that it's "every man for himself in this world" and "dog eat dog". John Doe and the Colonel simply stare bewildered by such cynicism. After expressing his beliefs, the new aquaintance asks John when he intends to kill himself and John Doe would answer "I was thinking about round Easter".

Capra and scriptwriter Robert Riskin have built up the John Doe character into a Chris figure. Yet, it has to be noted that Christ's philosophy of "brotherly love" (which would be good in a perfect world, however this is not a perfect world" came from within himself. John Doe on the other hand was only preaching and saying what was written for him by Ann Mitchell and doing so because he had fallen in love with her.

At the time of the film's release, the world was at war. America was to enter soon after the Peal Harbour attacks. People were dying at a large scale which we haven't seen before or since. People were being exterminated in concentration camps. Countries were having the hell bombed out of them. Atom bombs would soon be dropping on Japan. Today, almost seventy years later, we are still no better - the 9/11 attacks and the wars in Afganistan and Iraq (to name just a few examples) bear witness to this. So the hopeful (almost happy) ending of the Capra film reads false. This brings to mind what the great Jean Renoir had to say about his film Le Grande Illusion when he claimed that in 1937 he made a film called Le Grande Illusion in which he called for world peace and two years later World War II broke out, thus stating that no film can change the world no matter how good the intentions. Four years after the release of that French masterpiece, Capra would have been better off giving us a realistic reflection of the world we live in than offering the fairytale fantasy which he ended up doing.

Anyway, these are my thoughts and ideas (most of you might disagree).

I'd like to hear your thoughts and how would you have ended this film if you were in Capra's shoes.

[–] ljspin 14 years ago

You don't think that Ann Mitchell could have changed? I think it is possible.

Capra shows us two sides of Ann. At the newspaper we see the cynical, tough-as-nails, anything-for-a-story reporter. At home with her mother and little sisters, however, we see a different Ann, and part of her ruthlessness is due to the fact that she is the sole support of her family.

Remember, too, that the speeches she writes for John are taken from her father's diary. By reading and copying those words, she connects with her father in a way she never had, and in hearing John speak those words, is it impossible that she begins to believe in them? After all, John begins to believe in those words and in the message of the John Doe Clubs. He could have walked away with the Colonel before he got too involved; the Colonel tried to get him to do so. John must have believed in what he was saying, or else he would never have made the decision to redeem the John Doe message by killing himself. If he would have listened to the Colonel and walked away, even at the last minute, wouldn't he be one of the hypocrites that the cynical Colonel was always talking about?

Come to think about it, John did try to walk away from it all. Remember, he and the Colonel stepped into the drugstore of a small town for something to eat and he was recognized, and the townspeople told him how his words had influenced them to look after their neighbors. It was after this experience that Long John went back to being John Doe. Now, was it the adulation of the townspeople that drew him back, or the responsibility that he felt for influencing these people through his speeches? I think it is the latter. Just look at his discomfort when the townspeople thank and praise him. If he was attracted by the fame, he would not have felt embarrassed.

I've strayed from my topic: Ann Mitchell. I believe Ann changed; that her professional toughness crumbled when it came in contact with the John Doe message. As an actor and drama teacher, I always look for a change in the characters I play. Ann Mitchell definitely goes through a change in the course of the movie.

Sorry to have rambled so.
Spin

[–] cattard-1 14 years ago

.

I have just re-read what I wrote a while ago on how I would have ended MEET JOHN DOE and I'll be the first admit that it's the most idiotic thing I've ever read on IMDB. Therefore I apologise for all the drivel to which I am responsible for.

ljspin does have a point which I respect, Ann Mitchell could have changed.

I'll still feel (like lots of film buffs/critics that it is a disappointing ending to an otherwise brilliant film.

Cheers.

.