Meet John Doe Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Meet John Doe Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 17, 2024

Frank Capra is often cited as having championed the so-called Everyman in his projects, and yet arguably really only a handful of his films actually feature an "everyday sort of guy" as the focal character, with It's a Wonderful Life probably leading the pack in terms of long lasting impact. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington are probably also in this same general category, though it's salient to note that in the first case the central "Everyman" inherits a fortune and in the second he's a United States Senator. But Meet John Doe's very title would seem to highlight its emphasis on a "regular Joe" (and/or John) used to be being pretty much invisible who is suddenly thrust into the limelight against his better judgment, becoming a symbol for a movement he doesn't really want to be associated with, let alone lead.

If you're like many of us in major metropolitan areas, you may have experienced your local newspaper undergoing pretty significant changes over the past several years, especially with the advent of the internet, to the point that many major metropolitan areas don't even have a traditional "paper" anymore, and only an online edition. Meet John Doe might suggest that these relatively recent travails in the journalism industry were nothing new, as the film starts with a gaggle of employees at The Bulletin getting their pink slips, including columnist Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck). Ann decides to go out with a veritable bang, and quickly writes a fake letter to the editor supposedly from some hangdog man identifying himself as John Doe and who relates a sad tale of being unemployed for years, leading to his decision to publicly commit suicide on Christmas Eve (what was it with Capra and nightmarish events taking place around Christmastime?).

When the letter strikes an unexpected chord with the reading audience, Ann is quickly rehired and tasked with "finding" John Doe, which leads her to injured former ball player John Willoughby (Gary Cooper), who himself is tasked with pretending to be the John Doe who continues to be featured in Ann's writing and who ostensibly espouses a "philosophy" that encourages the "unseen masses" to be appreciated by the powers that be. It's a typically Capra-esque (and or Robert Riskin-esque) formulation, put here to good use in skewering both the mendacity of the publishing world as well as a wild and wooly political element that echoes some of the dialectic portrayed in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Even for a Capra "Everyman" film, this is an usually cynical take on midcentury (or thereabouts) society in the United States, and it's rather provocative at times, if perhaps also slightly quaint feeling to even more cynical modern day sensibilities. As is often the case with Capra films, the supporting cast is an amazing amalgamation of character actors from that period, including Edward Arnold and Walter Brennan (reunited from Come and Get It), Gene Lockhart, James Gleason, and a sweet quasi- cameo by Sterling Holloway.

Meet John Doe Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Meet John Doe is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of ClassicFlix with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. A prefatory text card offers the following information:

Meet John Doe is primarily sourced from the best available material preserved at the Library of Congress: a 35mm nitrate print. Additional 35mm nitrate material from the British Film Institute was used to fill in missing or severely damaged sections.*

Previously only available in soft, lackluster SD presentations, ClassicFlix performed a major restoration on Doe spending over 400 man hours removing millions of instances of dirt, mitigating flicker and persistent scratches, correcting severe warping and performing image stabilization - all to give Frank Capra's beloved everyman drama an unparalleled home video presentation in HD.

Some historically minded types may know that this film, like It's a Wonderful Life, kind of unbelievably passed into the public domain, but unlike Capra's 1946 opus, it wasn't "rescued" in the same way (those interested might want to research the rather fascinating history of what happened to It's a Wonderful Life in terms of its public domain status). This state of affairs may or may not have contributed to the almost appallingly damaged source element(s) ClassicFlix was forced to work with, and this is another heroic effort from ClassicFlix when comparing "before" and "after" results. As shown in the restoration demonstration included on this disc as a supplement, the source is almost incredibly washed out, with near continuous damage in the form of scratches, nicks and unstable frames. Is this new presentation flawless? No, and it probably couldn't be unless considerably more time and expense were granted, and persnickety types will still see clear signs of age related wear and tear, along with variances in clarity and grain resolution, but on the whole this offers substantially improved contrast and some appealing detail levels. There is still certainly softness in some shots and passing moments that look more on the dupe side than others, but I'd simply suggest those picking nits start with the restoration demonstration on this disc. My score is 3.75.

*The presentation starts with the British censor card.

Meet John Doe Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Meet John Doe features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track that reveals a bit of boxiness and stridency in some of the fun "Americana" cues utilized by Dimitri Tiomkin's score, but which otherwise offers capable support for dialogue. Sound effects like the jackhammer in the opening montage reverberate with decent force, and while dialogue scenes can have some audible background hiss, all spoken material is delivered without any major issues. Optional English subtitles are available.

Meet John Doe Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Restoration Comparison (HD; 3:52) reveals just how badly damaged the source elements for this transfer were and what a really remarkable improvement was achieved.

Additionally, trailers for other ClassicFlix titles are included, and as usual the disc boots to one of those trailers.

Meet John Doe Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In the trivia department, Capra featured an Everywoman in Lady for a Day, which he later remade as his last feature film Pocketful of Miracles, both of which should probably be included in my brief list above. But Meet John Doe may well be the paradigm of this particular nook and/or cranny of Capra's filmography, and for those only acquainted with the probably much better remembered It's a Wonderful Life, this should be another involving viewing experience. ClassicFlix has done exemplary work with its restoration, though there are still various age related issues on display. Recommended.