Autumnsong: 25 Days of Christmas | Meet John Doe, 1941

Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) is a journalist, one who’s just being laid off her newspaper job and told to write one final column before she pack up her things and leave. Infuriated, Ann prints a letter from a fictional unemployed “John Doe”, a “disgusted citizen” who’s lost all hope in the world and threatens to commit suicide by jumping off the roof of city hall on Christmas Eve.

The letter causes a sensation among readers and the paper is flooded with letters and calls from people requested that “John Doe” be offered a job. The mayor and governor are also flooded with calls. Readership multiplies over a few days… Other newspapers suspect a fraudstart investigating the matter and the whole thing is blown out of proportion:

“Don't you know there are nine jobs waiting for this guy? Twenty-two families want to board him free? Five women want to marry him, and the Mayor's practically ready to adopt him?”

The editor of the paper, Henry Connel is determined to find John Doe, and he calls Mitchell back so she can help them find this John Doe and end the commotion. It is only then that Mitchell admits to have invented the John Doe in the letter.

But Mitchell has a clever idea about how to use this story to boost the paper’s sales by exploiting the fictional John Doe, and because of that idea, the editor is persuaded to hire her back. She wants to write a daily yarn between then and Christmas when he’s supposed to jump, exploring his boyhood, his schooling, his first job, his persona as a wide-eyed youngster facing a chaotic world. The problems of the average man, of all the John Does in the world, passing by this particular John Doe’s meeting with discouragement, his desired to be heard and finally, his ideals crumbling and his decision to commit suicide. People will start talking about it, they’ll buy the paper and follow the case!

All they have to do is hire someone to play John Doe…

They don’t even have to look very hard for their guy. Dozens of men have come to the newspaper, looking for a job after one had been advertised for John Doe. And among these men is John Willoughby (Gary Cooper), a starving former baseball player from the lower leagues who needs money to repairs injured arm. John takes the deal. He is hired to play John Doe…

Ann runs the show. She understands her character, John Doe, and it’s she who keeps the photographers from taking pictures of John when he first arrives. John is starving, he faints in the news office, he is unshaven and dishevelled. This is not the John Doe she’s writing about. The man she created is killing himself on purpose! And when he is properly dressed for the pictures it’s Ann who manages to get him in a proper stance for the photo.

It doesn’t take long before the people want to hear John Doe and arrangements are made for him to speak in the radio. Ann writes the speech of course, and it’s brilliant. She realizes that people are tired of complaining political speeches and the text takes another direction entirely. She writes about the importance of the John Doe’s of the world, and all of the ways in which the common man can make a difference. She writes about how neighbor can help neighbor in tough times, and there’s a clear message of fraternity and hope in the speech. It’s a very powerful moment.

"I'm gonna talk about us, the average guys, the John Does. If anybody should ask you what the average John Doe is like, you couldn't tell him because he's a million and one things. He's Mr. Big and Mr. Small. He's simple and he's wise. He's inherently honest, but he's got a streak of larceny in his heart. He seldom walks up to a public telephone without shoving his finger into the slot to see if somebody left a nickel there. He's the man the ads are written for. He's the fella everybody sells things to. He's Joe Doakes,[8] the world's greatest stooge and the world's greatest strength. Yes, sir. Yessir, we're a great family, the John Does. We're the meek who are, er, supposed to inherit the earth. You'll find us everywhere. We raise the crops, we dig the mines, work the factories,keep the books, fly the planes and drive the busses! And when a cop yells: "Stand back there, you!" He means us, the John Does!

We've existed since time began. We built the pyramids, we saw Christ crucified, pulled the oars for Roman emperors, sailed the boats for Columbus, retreated from Moscow with Napoleon and froze with Washington at Valley Forge!
(…)
I know a lot of you are saying "What can I do? I'm just a little punk. I don't count." Well, you're dead wrong! The little punks have always counted because in the long run the character of a country is the sum total of the character of its little punks.
(…)
Your neighbor! He's a terribly important guy, that guy next door! You're gonna need him and he's gonna need you . . . so look him up! If he's sick, call on him! If he's hungry, feed him! If he's out of a job, find him one! To most of you, your neighbor is a stranger, a guy with a barking dog, and a high fence around him.
Yes, sir, my friends, the meek can only inherit the earth when the John Does start loving their neighbors. You'd better start right now. Don't wait till the game is called on account of darkness! Wake up, John Doe! You're the hope of the world!”

That speech generates a wave of change as ordinary people start forming John Doe clubs all over the country. Neighbors extend the hand of friendship to neighbor, helping each other to find jobs, gathering to chat or simply to say ‘hello’ to one another, carrying out the principles John talked about in his radio speech. The message grows and reaches millions of people…

The conflict in the movie starts when the owner of the newspaper wants to use John Doe’s popularity to support a grassroots political campain. It shouldn’t be a problem except that John, John Willoughby, although he accepted the deal to pretend to have written the letter, is not a dishonest man. He has principles.

This movie is remarkable. The moment of John’s speech in the radio is really wonderful, makes a chill go down your spine as you hear it. And although the movie is not overflowing with Christmas trees, reindeers and carols, the message of fraternity and hope of the John Doe movement is very much in accordance with the Christmas spirit, with what actually makes Christmas what it is.

It’s predictable that a romance should bloom between Ann and John, but the way in which it happens is never silly or obvious. It progresses slowly and there is a fair share of insecurity and mistakes on both sides.

Barbara Stanwyck is wonderful as she always is and Gary Cooper is… wow. This is the first gary Cooper film I ever saw, and the way he plays John is just great. He is not a perfect hero, an artificial character without faults, quite the contrary. He does take the deal after all, he wants to bail some times, he even tries to run away. But when it counts he takes a stand. And that is another theme of the movie, this need to stand by your believe, to have something to fight for. John stands for his principles. And ultimately he is willing to do whatever it takes for them, which creates one of the most breathtaking endings in all of the films of this year’s Christmas marathon.