Meet John Doe

Director Frank Capra didn't want anyone to play John Doe except Gary Cooper, who agreed to the part without reading a script for two reasons: he had enjoyed working with Capra on Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), and he wanted to work with Barbara Stanwyck.

After "John Doe" intrudes on D. B. Norton's dinner party and tells him off, Norton calls his newspaper and orders a special edition which will reveal Doe as a fraud. Doe takes a cab from Norton's house directly to the convention hall. Within minutes of his arrival there, a horde of newsboys appear with copies of the newspaper. It would be impossible to print an extra edition in such a short period of time. Correction: There isn't a plot hole, because D.B. Norton isn't saying nor implying that the newspaper will be printed from them on. He stated, before Ann is running after John Doe's in the Rain, "that he was prepared for this" and this does imply that the papers were already prepared, printed before. D.B. was a very rich man, callous, evil man. He foresaw all the problems in his investments.

Also available in a computer-colorized version.

Featured in The 54th Annual Academy Awards (1982)