Editing James Stewart (section)

=== 1938–1941: Leading man ===
Despite good reviews, Stewart was still a minor star, and MGM remained hesitant to cast him in leading roles, preferring to loan him out to other studios.<ref>{{harvnb|McBride|2011|p=310}}; {{harvnb|Sarris|1998|p=30}}</ref> After a well-received supporting part in ''[[Of Human Hearts]]'' (1938),<ref>{{harvnb|Eliot|2006|pp=86–87}}; {{harvnb|Fishgall|1997|pp=103–104}}</ref> he was loaned to [[RKO]] to act opposite [[Ginger Rogers]] in the romantic comedy ''[[Vivacious Lady]]'' (1938).<ref>{{harvnb|Eliot|2006|pp=90–92}}; {{harvnb|Fishgall|1997|pp=107–108}}</ref> The production was shut down for months in 1937 as Stewart recovered from an undisclosed illness, during which he was hospitalized. RKO initially wanted to replace Stewart, but eventually the project was canceled. However, Rogers' success in a stage musical caused the film to be picked up again. Stewart was recast in ''Vivacious Lady'' at Rogers' insistence and due to his performance in ''Of Human Hearts''.<ref>{{harvnb|Fishgall|1997|p=106}}</ref> It was a critical and commercial success, and showed Stewart's talent for performing in romantic comedies;{{sfn|Fishgall|1997|p=106}} ''[[The New York Herald]]'' called him "one of the most knowing and engaging young actors appearing on the screen at present".{{sfn|Molyneaux|1992|p=65}}

Stewart's third film release of 1938, the [[First World War]]&nbsp;drama ''[[The Shopworn Angel]]'', saw him collaborate again with Margaret Sullavan. In his performance, Stewart drew upon his own feelings of unrequited love towards Sullavan, who was married to his agent, [[Leland Hayward]].{{sfn|Fishgall|1997|pp=109–110}} Although the film was otherwise well-received, critics were mixed about Stewart. Bland Johaneson of the ''[[New York Daily Mirror]]'' compared him to [[Stan Laurel]] in this melodramatic film, and ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' called his performance unfocused.{{sfn|Fishgall|1997|p=112}}

[[File:You Can't Take It with You trailer 1.jpg|thumb|left|Stewart and [[Jean Arthur]] in Frank Capra's ''You Can't Take It with You'' (1938)]]
Stewart became a major star when he was loaned out to [[Columbia Pictures]] to play the lead role in Frank Capra's ''You Can't Take It with You'' (1938) opposite [[Jean Arthur]].{{sfn|Sarris|1998|p=30}} Stewart played the son of a banker who falls in love with a woman from a poor and eccentric family. Capra had recently completed several well-received films and was looking for a new type of leading man. He had been impressed by Stewart's role in ''Navy Blue and Gold'' (1937). According to Capra, Stewart was one of the best actors ever to hit the screen, understood character archetypes intuitively, and required little directing.<ref>{{harvnb|Eliot|2006|pp=105–106}}; {{harvnb|McBride|2011|p=310}}</ref> ''You Can't Take It With You'' became [[1938 in film|the fifth highest-grossing]] film of the year and won the [[Academy Award for Best Picture]].{{sfn|Fishgall|1997|pp=113–117}} The film was also critically successful, but while ''Variety'' wrote that the performances of Stewart and Arthur garnered "much of the laughs", most of the critical acclaim went to [[Lionel Barrymore]] and [[Edward Arnold (actor)|Edward Arnold]].{{sfn|Fishgall|1997|pp=116–117}}

In contrast to the success of ''You Can't Take It With You'', Stewart's first three film releases of 1939 were all commercial disappointments. In the melodrama ''[[Made for Each Other (1939 film)|Made for Each Other]]'' (1939), he shared the screen with [[Carole Lombard]]. Stewart blamed its directing and screenwriting for its poor box-office performance.{{sfn|Eliot|2006|pp=113–114}} Regardless, the film received favorable reviews,{{sfn|Eliot|2006|pp=113–114}} with ''[[Newsweek]]'' writing that Stewart and Lombard were "perfectly cast in the leading roles".{{sfn|Jones|McClure|Twomey|1970|p=67}} The other two films, ''[[The Ice Follies of 1939]]'' and ''[[It's a Wonderful World (1939 film)|It's a Wonderful World]]'', were critical failures.<ref>{{harvnb|Fishgall|1997|pp=119–122}}; {{harvnb|Molyneaux|1992|pp=71–72}}; {{harvnb|Eliot|2006|pp=117–119}}</ref>

[[File:James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|alt=James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)|Stewart in [[Frank Capra]]'s ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' (1939)]]
In Stewart's fourth 1939 film, he worked with Capra and Arthur again in the political comedy-drama ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington''. Stewart played an idealist thrown into the political arena.{{sfn|Eliot|2006|pp=121–122}} It garnered critical praise and became the third-highest-grossing film of the year.{{sfn|Eliot|2006|pp=127–128}} ''[[The Nation]]'' stated "[Stewart] takes first place among Hollywood actors...Now he is mature and gives a difficult part, with many nuances, moments of tragic-comic impact."{{sfn|Eliot|2006|p=129}} Later, critic Andrew Sarris qualified Stewart's performance as "lean, gangling, idealistic to the point of being neurotic, thoughtful to the point of being tongue-tied", describing him as "particularly gifted in expressing the emotional ambivalence of the action hero".{{sfn|Eliot|2006|p=129}} Stewart won the [[New York Film Critics Circle]] award and received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.{{sfn|Fishgall|1997|p=127}}

Stewart's last screen appearance of 1939 came in the [[Western movie|Western]] ''[[Destry Rides Again]]'', in which he portrayed a pacifist lawman alongside [[Marlene Dietrich]], a saloon girl who falls in love with him.<ref>{{harvnb|Eliot|2006|p=131}}</ref> It was critically and commercially successful.{{sfn|Eliot|2006|p=138}} ''TIME'' magazine wrote, "James Stewart, who had just turned in the top performance of his cinematurity as Jefferson Smith in ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'', turns in as good a performance or better as Thomas Jefferson Destry."{{sfn|Molyneaux|1992|p=76}} Between films, Stewart had begun a radio career and had become a distinctive voice on the ''[[Lux Radio Theater]]'', ''[[The Screen Guild Theater]]'', and other shows. So well-known had his slow drawl become that comedians began impersonating him.{{sfn|Eliot|2006|p=112}}

[[File:Shop-Around-the-Corner.jpg|thumb|left|[[Margaret Sullavan]] and Stewart in their third collaboration, ''[[The Shop Around the Corner]]'' (1940)]]

Stewart and Sullavan reunited for two films in 1940. The [[Ernst Lubitsch]] romantic comedy ''The Shop Around the Corner'' starred them as co-workers who cannot stand each other but unknowingly become romantic pen-pals. It received good reviews and was a box-office success in Europe, but failed to find an audience in the US, where less-gentle [[screwball comedy|screwball comedies]] were more popular.<ref>{{harvnb|Eliot|2006|pp=142–145}}; {{harvnb|Rinella|2019|pp=134–137}}; {{harvnb|Fishgall|1997|pp=136–137}}</ref> Director Lubitsch assessed it to be the best film of his career, and it has been regarded highly by later critics, such as [[Pauline Kael]] and [[Richard Schickel]].{{sfn|Rinella|2019|pp=135–136}}

The drama ''[[The Mortal Storm]]'', directed by [[Frank Borzage]], featured Sullavan and Stewart as lovers caught in turmoil upon [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]'s rise to power. It was one of the first blatantly anti-[[Nazism|Nazi]] films to be produced in Hollywood, but according to film scholar [[Ben Urwand]], "ultimately made very little impact" as it did not show the persecution experienced by Jews or name that ethnic group.<ref>{{harvnb|Urwand|2013|p=217}}; {{harvnb|Eliot|2006|pp=147–149}}; {{harvnb|Rinella|2019|pp=139–142}}</ref> Despite being well received by critics, it failed at the box office.<ref>{{harvnb|Eliot|2006|pp=148–149}}; {{harvnb|Fishgall|1997|p=141}}</ref> Ten days after filming ''The Mortal Storm'', Stewart began filming ''[[No Time for Comedy]]'' (1940) with [[Rosalind Russell]]. Critics complimented Stewart's performance; [[Bosley Crowther]] of ''The New York Times'' called Stewart "the best thing in the show", yet the film was again not a box-office success.<ref>{{harvnb|Fishgall|1997|pp=141–143}}; {{harvnb|Eliot|2006|p=152}}</ref>
[[File:Philadelphia Story 13.jpg|right|thumb|[[Katharine Hepburn]] and Stewart in ''The Philadelphia Story'' (1940), for which he won his only Academy Award for Best Actor]]
Stewart's final film to be released in 1940 was [[George Cukor]]'s romantic comedy ''The Philadelphia Story'', in which he played an intrusive, fast-talking reporter sent to cover the wedding of a socialite ([[Katharine Hepburn]]) with the help of her ex-husband ([[Cary Grant]]).{{sfn|Eliot |2006|pp=163, 167}} The film became one of the largest box-office successes of the year<ref>{{cite news |title=Film Money-Makers Selected By ''Variety'': ' Sergeant York' Top Picture, Gary Cooper Leading Star |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 31, 1941}}</ref> and received widespread critical acclaim. ''[[The New York Herald Tribune]]'' stated that "Stewart...contributes most of the comedy to the show...In addition, he contributes some of the most irresistible romantic moments."{{sfn|Dewey|1996|p=218}} His performance earned him his only Academy Award in a competitive category for Best Actor, beating out Henry Fonda, for whom he had voted and with whom he had once roomed, both almost broke, in the early 1930s in New York.{{sfn|Eliot|2006|pp=163, 167, 387}} Stewart himself assessed his performance in ''Mr. Smith'' to be superior and believed the academy was recompensing for not giving him the award the year prior.{{sfn|Eliot|2006|pp=166–167}} Moreover, Stewart's character was a supporting role, not the male lead.{{sfn|Eliot|2006|pp=166–167}} He gave the Oscar to his father, who displayed it at his hardware store alongside other family awards and military medals.{{sfn|Eliot|2006|p=168}}

Stewart next appeared in two comedies—''[[Come Live with Me (film)|Come Live with Me]]'' (1941), which paired him with [[Hedy Lamarr]], and ''[[Pot o' Gold (film)|Pot o' Gold]]'' (1941), featuring [[Paulette Goddard]]—that were both box-office failures.<ref>{{harvnb|Fishgall|1997|p=149}}</ref> Stewart considered the latter to be the worst film of his career.<ref>{{harvnb|Eliot|2006|p=160}}; {{harvnb|Fishgall|1997|pp=151–152}}</ref> His last film before military service was the musical ''[[Ziegfeld Girl (film)|Ziegfeld Girl]]'' (1941), which co-starred [[Judy Garland]], [[Hedy Lamarr]], and [[Lana Turner]]. It was a critical failure, but also one of the best box-office performers of the year.<ref name="Mannix">{{Citation | title = The Eddie Mannix Ledger | publisher = Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study | place = Los Angeles}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Eliot|2006|pp=159–160}}; {{harvnb|Fishgall|1997|p=152}}; {{harvnb|Dewey|1996|p=208}}</ref>