Mr. Deeds Goes to Town 1936 TRAILER Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is a 1936 American comedy-drama romance film directed by Frank Capra and starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur in her first featured role. Longfellow Deeds is living a quiet life in Mandrake Falls when he learns he's just inherited $20 million. Based on the 1935 short story "Opera Hat" by Clarence Budington Kelland, which appeared in serial form in The American Magazine, the screenplay was written by Robert Riskin in his fifth collaborati