MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON: AS RELEVANT TODAY AS IN 1939

A famous expression says, "the more things change, the more they stay the same". Very true, and in the case of Frank Capra's classic black and white film starring Jimmy Stewart, things haven't changed that much in the nations capitol since 1939.

A lot of things have changed in the 60 years plus since this film was originally made, but human nature and the battle between the forces of good and evil continues.

Jimmy Stewart is the personification of good and youthful innocence as newly appointed senator Jefferson Smith, who must now fill the seat of his predecessor who has unexpectedly died in office. Powerful inside forces believe the new and inexperienced senator will be easily manipulated to do their bidding.

Stewart, immediately upon arriving in Washington, is star-struck by the monuments and trappings of the city and it's history, and at first has no idea of the corruption and powerful interests that are at work all around him.

Jean Arthur is Stewart's capable and Washington savvy assistant Clarissa Saunders, who at first relates to Stewart's naivete with a time-worn cynicism, but soon warms to his boyish charm.

Edward Arnold is Jim Taylor, the high-powered political boss of a corrupt machine that will ultimately become Goliath to Stewart's David. In actuality, the biblical figure most appropriate to describe Taylor would be the devil himself when we see him as the tempter, promising political prestige, power and job security in a figurative exchange for the soul.

Claude Raines is the esteemed senator Joseph Payne, the boyhood idol of Jefferson Smith. Disillusionment awaits, and soon Smith's eyes open to the dark forces at work in Washington when his idea for a national boys camp conflicts with a government funded land grab and graft. He soon learns just how powerful these forces can be when he is falsely accused of wrongdoing and a powerful frame-up is constructed to ruin him.

On the verge of being expelled from the Senate and feeling beaten, Jean Arthur; now falling in love with him, comes to his side and gives him the courage to fight on against the lies.

Rallying to let the truth out and be heard against the powers that want to destroy him, Stewart with the aid of the Washington wise Arthur, craftily use the constitutional rules of the senate to filibuster his case.

Frank Capra is the master storyteller, and this is arguably his finest work. The same can be said about Stewart, although "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE" was his favorite film from his long and distinguished career.

Frank Capra's emotional climactic moment is powerful and representative of his style and idealistic vision of America. While the style, fashions and trappings of 1939 are long past, this films greatness and lessons are still valid in 2000. Only the supremely cynical will be disappointed.