Incredibly FLAWED Logic

Ann Mitchell was fired by the new owner of her newspaper. She wrote the "John Doe Letter" as part of her final column. She knew it would create a controversy and that was her goal. She needed a job. Either Henry Connell, the new boss, would hire her back, or she would expose the fraud for, and be given a job by another newspaper. It was all a ploy to keep her job.

Ann's idea to save her job was to write a series of articles from the present until John Doe's suicide on Christmas Eve. While she could have written fictious letters -- she already wrote one -- the public would demand proof. The newspaper was then require to hire someone to play the part of John Doe, a role that fell to the injured baseball player "Long John" Willoughby. Did Ann really think out this plan? Was she prepared to write the series of articles that she proposes? No to both questions. When John Doe was called to prove his existance and give a radio broadcast, Ann was stumped. A people just coming out of a depression and watching the world descend into war would not want to hear a message of despair and suicide. Instead, Ann turns to her father's journal and writes a speech that gives a voice to the anonymous John Doe she created.

There WAS character development. Long John Willoughby took this position as just a job. It was that radio speech that scared him. He was not to be just a face to a name; he was becoming a figurehead, leader of the people. He was uncomfortable and ran away right after the speech. Yes, he came back, but only because he saw what his speech meant to people. He CHANGED from a man willing to become John Doe for a job to a man willing to die for the John Doe message. Since you did not finish the film, I will spoil it and tell you that John Willoughby decides to prove the truth of the John Doe message by fulfilling the suicide threat. His character changes as the film unfolds.

Ann Mitchell started the whole John Doe thing as a way to keep her job -- she was supporting not only herself, but also her mother and sisters. She, too, changes as the John Doe message spreads. Since you stopped watching it, you missed the dinner given by D.B. Norton after he appropriated the John Doe Clubs as his way to political power. He gives a dinner and gives Ann a gift of jewelry for her contribution to his cause. It is when she realizes that she sold her father's beliefs for the proverbial thirty pieces of silver. Ann's character changes as the film unfolds.

John Willoughby, Ann Mitchell, Henry Connell, even D.B. Norton change throughout the film. One cannot watch 1/2 of a movie and claim to know that there is no character development. Watch the whole film and think about it before making a sweeping statement.

Isn't that part of the point? Cram a message down the throats of the masses and watch them swallow it. I agree, the message delivered in the speech does conflict with what was known about the fictional John Doe. Does the average person reflect on this and see the incongruency? No. They just swallow it as the average people in the film did. This is why everybody believes it. The unwashed masses believe anything.

As for why John Doe's message changes it was because, at each moment, Stanwyck's character's purpose changes. Another poster sums all that up nicely.

"Capra's character lacked continuity and consistency. Rather than concentrating on "which of the four endings to use," he should have focused more on character and script development."


The original poster doesn't see character development because the character was not consistant? I guess this poster hasn't moved past Rambo type movies yet.