History Film / MeetJohnDoe

* FaintInShock: At the climax of the movie, a distraught and guilt-ridden Ann pleads desperately to John, who's on the roof of City Hall, not to kill himself. At the height of her emotions, she confesses her love for him, and in the next instant, sinks in his arms in a dead faint. As a result, as John finally decides [[spoiler: not to jump at the end of the film and Henry tells off a defeated Norton with a TakeThat]]. Ann is thoroughly passed out throughout and misses all of this.

Ann Mitchell (Stanwyck), a reporter who is about to be laid off from her newspaper, fabricates a letter from a John Doe who says he will kill himself on Christmas Eve to protest the state of the country. Ann's unsuspecting editor runs the letter, and John Doe becomes a media sensation. The newspaper, wishing to exploit the hype, hires a former baseball player hobo, John Willoughby (Cooper), to portray this fictional person in public.

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Near the end John actually tries to kill himself, in order to revive the Doe movment.

* FaintInShock: At the climax of the movie, a distraught and guilt-ridden Ann pleads desperately to John [[spoiler: on the roof of City Hall not to kill himself]]. At the height of her emotions, she confesses her love for him, and in the next instant, sinks in his arms in a dead faint. As a result, as John finally decides [[spoiler: not to jump at the end of the film and Henry tells off a defeated Norton with a TakeThat]]. Ann is thoroughly passed out throughout and misses all of this.

--> "We're all heels, especially me."

* MessianicArchetype: Multiple references comparing John Doe and the John Doe idea to Christ. For example, after John is jeered and pelted by a mob at the convention, Connell says "Well boys, you can chalk up another one to the Pontius Pilates." Later, Christ is described by Ann as "The first John Doe."

--> '''Henry''': There you are, Norton! The people! Try and lick that!

--> '''Ann''': Please don't give up. We'll start all over again. Just you and I. It isn't too late.

* HeelFaceTurn / HighHeelFaceTurn: Connell's conscience drives him to tell John the truth about Norton's plot. Ann is driven by her conscience and her love of John.

* ShesGotLegs: Connell, describing Ann on the phone, makes a point of mentioning that she has "as fine a pair" as "ever walked into this office."

* {{Fainting}}: At the climax of the movie, a distraught and guilt-ridden Ann pleads desperately to John on the roof of City Hall not to kill himself. At the height of her emotions, she confesses her love for him, and in the next instant, sinks in his arms in a dead faint. As a result, as John finally decides not to jump at the end of the film and Henry tells off a defeated Norton with a TakeThat, Ann is thoroughly passed out throughout and misses all of this.

* FocusGroupEnding: Capra filmed and road-tested four endings to the film, including one in which Norton has a HeelFaceTurn and one, arguably the dramatically necessary one, where John follows through and [[DownerEnding jumps off the roof]]. After receiving a letter from a test viewer saying that the John Does themselves should save John, Capra filmed and released that. In his autobiography he continued to express dissatisfaction with the ending.
* FromBadtoWorse: For John, after the halfway point in the film.

* GlassesPull: A villainous and understated example. Norton has a habit of taking off and cleaning his pince-nez when he's saying something important. He takes them off when he tells Connell to mind his own busiiness, and again when he explains to Ann his plot to use the John Doe Clubs to win the White House, and again when he tells John that he'll destroy John if John doesn't play ball.

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1448042610279.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:Some hobos clean up real nice.]]

''Meet John Doe'' is a 1941 film directed by Creator/FrankCapra and starring Creator/GaryCooper and Creator/BarbaraStanwyck.

* HotScoop: Ann. This is what happened when Barbara Stanwyck played a reporter.

[[caption-width-right:329:Some hobos clean up real nice.]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1448042610279.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Some hobos clean up real nice.]]

* ShesGotLegs: Connell, describing Ann on the phone, mentions that she has "as fine a pair" as "ever walked into this office."

* NiceLegs: Connell, describing Ann on the phone, mentions that she has "as fine a pair" as "ever walked into this office."

* MessianicArchetype: Multiple references comparing John Doe and the John Doe idea to Christ. For example, after John is jeered and pelted by a mob at the convention, Connell says "Well boys, you can chalk up another one to the Pontius Pilates."

* MessianicArchetype: Multiple references comparing John Doe and the John Doe idea to Christ.

* GlassesPull: A villainous and understated example. Norton has a habit of taking off his pince-nez when he's saying something important. He takes them off when he tells Connell to mind his own busiiness, and again when he explains to Ann his plot to use the John Doe Clubs to win the White House, and again when he tells John that he'll destroy John if John doesn't play ball.