An innocent tuba player and greeting-card poet from Mandrake Fall, Vermont inherits 20 million during the Great Depression and is lured to New York City by his uncle’s conniving attorney named Cedar. Longfellow Deeds is played by Gary Cooper, who finds himself vulnerable to a female reporter, who masquerades as a damsel in distress (Mary Dawson) to learn more about Deeds for a story. Cedar starts to work on Deeds to attain power of attorney to cover up his mishandling of his client’s money. Deeds sees through this, but falls in love with the undercover reporter and ultimately sinks into despair after learning who she really is. Meanwhile other relatives come together to take part in Deeds fortune, including Cedar and his wife. They file in court that Deeds is insane and can’t oversee his money. However, Deeds speaks up after learning that Mary really loves. The judge dismisses the case and Deeds decides to use his fortune to help the homeless. He donated farms to families to live on if they would work the land.

~ Corine Gatti