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Meet John Doe, the classic 1941 Frank Capra political populist romantic newspaper journalism mistaken identity melodrama (about a female reporter who writes a fictional story, which she presents as fact, about a man who is planning to commit suicide in protest of the world's treatment of downtrodden people; when the column is a giant hit, she must find a man to portray the writer and hires ex-baseball player Gary Cooper) starring Gary Cooper (in the title role as John Doe), Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan, Spring Byington, James Gleason, Gene Lockhart, Rod La Rocque, Sterling Holloway, Irving Bacon, Regis Toomey, J. Farrell MacDonald, and Ann Doran. Note that in the original story this movie was based on (by Richard Connell and Robert Presnell), it concludes with John Doe standing on the roof, preparing to jump, and the Barbara Stanwyck character, Nan, tries to talk him out of doing it, and he is unshakable, and he says "I'll always love you, Nan" and she replies "I'll always love you, John". He then looks out at the crowd, which is singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and when the clock strikes midnight, Nan looks at where he was standing, and it is now empty, and she has "a look of pride and great joy". Frank Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin did not want this ending, because it involved the character committing suicide, and they felt that the Catholic Church would strongly object to that, which might make the movie unable to get distribution. Capra filmed five different endings and previewed at least two of them. In one, they had the suicide take place, and ended with Walter Brennan holding John's dead body. In another, it ends at the John Doe Convention, with John Doe disgraced, and the editor saying "Well, boys, you can chalk another one up to the Pontius Pilates." Another had Nan talking John out of committing suicide. In another, John convinces the corrupt publisher to change his ways and join John in his crusade. But none of those four seemed right. At one of the previews where they showed one of the above endings, a viewer suggested ending it with the John Doe members telling John that they had never stopped believing in him, and Capra then filmed that ending, and this is the ending that is on the movie's final version!
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Important Added Info: Note that the still shows a great candid image of the stars of this movie sitting on a long bench, along with director Frank Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin, who worked with Capra on many of his best movies! Note that this is not a posed portrait (no one is smiling and Cooper isn't even looking at the camera, and the bench is awfully high, for no one's legs come even close to the floor!). Also note that a paper snipe was glued to the back of the still, and then folded over to the front. Normally, this was done rather than gluing the snipe to the back, so that the snipe could be unfolded and the still could be displayed with the snipe unfolded, which would let moviegoers read the information on the snipe in the lobby. However, this snipe was glued on so that some of the written portion is only readable when the snipe is folded over the bottom of the still, which slightly defeats this purpose (although one can see the top of the still and the snipe at the same time, which could not be done if the snipe was glued on the back). This was done with many stills of the 1930s, but often, the snipes are either partially or completely lost, because it is easier for them to be torn off. UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, THE SNIPE DOES NOT HAVE ANY EFFECT ON THE FRONT OF THE STILL! There is a stamp on the back of the still that reads, "PHOTOGRAPH BY MACK ELLIOT WARNER BROS.".

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