Colonel Effingham's Raid (1946)

Returning to the small Georgia hometown of his birth, a retired military man (Charles Coburn) starts a crusade against the town's corrupt government. Based on the novel by Berry Fleming and directed by Irving Pichel. I'm not fond of these precious little man against the government films, at least not in their Capracorn incarnations. Capra didn't direct this one but it's the spawn of the same sentimental sap of movies like MEET JOHN DOE and MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN. Coincidentally, it's timely because the big brouhaha starts over renaming the Confederate Monument Square by another name that causes the local protest. I seriously doubt a movie like this could get greenlighted today without major changes. Normally I like the actors involved but Coburn is at his most irritating and poor Joan Bennett is wasted as "the girl". Even at its brief running time of 71 minutes, it outstays its welcome pretty quickly. With William Eythe, Allyn Joslyn, Donald Meek, Elizabeth Patterson and Cora Witherspoon.