Frank Capra's 1939 movie stars James Stewart as Jefferson Smith, who unexpectedly becomes a U.S. senator and is dismayed when he travels to Washington, D.C. and is shocked by the corrupt behavior of his colleagues but, with the help of a secretary (Jean Arthur), decides to stand up to them.
According to , Stewart had his throat swabbed with mercuric chloride so as to sound convincingly hoarse when his character was delivering a filibuster.
A full-scale version of the Senate Chamber was built for the movie on the studio's lot.
