in " magic town " , jimmy stewart is in peak form playing a pollster who heads to a " perfect " town to gauge their reactions on the sorts of issues that only poll-takers care about . however , as time progresses , and he finds himself falling in love with the town ( and a woman ) , he begins to see that what he's doing is wrong . the plot is standard stuff , but that's not important . in a film like this , it's the calibre of the actors that make or break it . obviously , since stewart stars , that's practically a non-issue . he's great in the film , as usual . there's just something about him that always manages to be endearing , even when he's deceiving the town folk . you're always on his side , and you desperately want to see all of his goals come to fruitition . the film was directed by a longtime frank capra script-writer , and it shows . this is the type of feel-good picture that capra is famous for . by the time " the end " shows up on screen , everything has been wrapped up very nicely . there are no loose ends , and virtually every character gets a happy ending ( those that deserve one , anyway ) . in this age of cynicism , it's refreshing to see a movie so upbeat . " magic town " is a delightfully entertaining motion picture . if you believe all old movies are slow-paced , you'd be well-advised to check this one out .