Meet John Doe is Frank Capra’s apocalyptic comedy-drama of Depression-era populism, a nightmare version of his earlier Mr. Smith Goes to Washington pulsing with anxiety at the rise of fascism. Veering in tone between gentle romantic comedy and tense political thriller (and including a dream sequence that cribs luridly from Freud), Meet John Doe is held together by the performance of Barbara Stanwyck, who portrays reporter Ann Mitchell with a poignant blend of cynicism and bruised innocence. As Ann spins her newspaper column about everyman John Doe into a national political movement, Capra shows how a woman with a typewriter can upend the world.