Here is Capra, without the help of Riskin, back to his finest form [in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington]—the form of Mr. Deeds. It has always been an interesting question, how much Capra owed to his faithful scenario writer. Now it is difficult to believe that Riskin's part was ever very important, for all the familiar qualities are here—the exciting close-ups, the sudden irrelevant humour, the delight—equal to that of the great Russians—in the ordinary human face. (p. 260)

It is a great film, even though it is not a great story…. (p. 261)

Graham Greene, "'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'" (originally published in The Spectator, January 5, 1940), in his The Pleasure-Dome: The Collected Film Criticism 1935–40 (copyright © 1972 by Graham Greene), Secker & Warburg, 1972, pp. 260-61.