ALTHOUGH JOHN DOE IS REALLY A BASEBALL MOVIE...:

The Bishop's Wife (1947). Cary Grant is the omnicompetent urbane angel who's come to Earth to save a bumbling bishop (David Niven) from his obsession with building a costly cathedral, which has alienated him from his friends, his parishioners, and his wife, played by Loretta Young in what I think is her single best role on film. The graceful performances by Grant, Niven, and Young, plus Monty Woolley as a bumptious professor of ancient history and Elsa Lanchester as the bishop's mousy maid, raise what might have been a limp version of It's A Wonderful Life to the level of cinematic art.

Meet John Doe (1941). No Christmas movie list is complete without a Frank Capra film, and in this one we again get the treat of Barbara Stanwyck as a dishonest journalist. This time she's trying to save her job by penning a phony letter from someone claiming he's going to commit suicide on Christmas Eve in order to protest the injustices in the world, and signing himself "John Doe." When the letter causes a publicity sensation, she has to find a real John Doe and recruits a shy, out-of-work semi-pro ball player (Gary Cooper). The pair quickly become caught up in a national frenzy of John Doe Clubs, which turn out to be manipulated by a wealthy millionaire with dark political ambitions. As a penetrating commentary on American democracy, and an exploration of the possibilities as well as dangers of a runaway populism, the movie not only puts Capra's earlier Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in the shade, but gives us an important film to watch in the era of Donald Trump as well as at Christmas.

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