Director: Frank Capra
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Top Billed Actors: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore
Won 2 Oscars:
Outstanding Production - Columbia
Best Director - Frank Capra
Nominated for 5 more:
Best Supporting Actress - Spring Byington
Best Screenplay - Robert Riskin
Best Sound Recording - John P. Livadary
Best Cinematography - Joseph Walker
Best Film Editing - Gene Havlik
Plot: Two young people get engaged but one has snobbish parents and the other lives in an eccentric house full of people who are just doing their thing.
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Top Billed Actors: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore
Won 2 Oscars:
Outstanding Production - Columbia
Best Director - Frank Capra
Nominated for 5 more:
Best Supporting Actress - Spring Byington
Best Screenplay - Robert Riskin
Best Sound Recording - John P. Livadary
Best Cinematography - Joseph Walker
Best Film Editing - Gene Havlik
Plot: Two young people get engaged but one has snobbish parents and the other lives in an eccentric house full of people who are just doing their thing.
Frank Capra was on a roll in the 1930s. You Can't Take It with You (1938) was his third Best Director win in the previous five years. Oh, and two of these also won Best Picture! Perhaps it helps to be the president of the Academy, but these are all undoubtedly solid films. This latest one is Capra-corn to the fullest. Some may use that term in a derogatory fashion but I fully embrace the lessons and feel-good themes of humankind. If you want to even find a more Capraesque film, thirteen of these actors (including the crow!) will team up for his masterpiece, It's a Wonderful Life (1946). This Project will examine that film for the 19th Awards. I'm also interested in the next Capra collaboration between Jean Arthur and James Stewart for the 12th Awards, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). Suffice to say, Capra's work is very represented in this Project! If you see It's a Wonderful Life every year around the Holidays like I do, you may recognize Lionel Barrymore in a very un-Potter role here. Mr. Potter is in a wheelchair in that film and Barrymore's Grandpa Vanderhof is in crutches for this one. Barrymore suffered from extreme arthritis and screenwriter Robert Riskin constructed a narrative fiction to allow the actor to continue his role in crutches. By 1946, it appears the wheelchair was an unfortunate necessity for the actor.
Although it's sad that Barrymore was physically handicapped by this point in his career, it doesn't make him any less effective. Although he kind of plays the same from a tonal perspective in every scene (bar his verbal rundown of Edward Arnold's Anthony P. Kirby), he's the epitome of Capra's rosy perspective. If you want to quit your job and make things, "just do it" says Grandpa. If you want to drop everything and paint or write or dance or just stick around the house for twenty years, sure just do it. Barrymore's acting his sentimental, wholesome, and you can't help to listen and reflect on your own choices. A relative newcomer James Stewart also stars in his role as a bridge between his upper class family and his marital hopeful Jean Arthur's eclectic family. He has to play in a jovial manner while also being sensible and Stewart's performance toes this line to perfection. Although the romantic moments went on for a bit too long, I still found Stewart and Arthur to be positively delightful together.
I've sung the praises of these performances but the casting is a little strange. Barrymore plays the patriarchal grandfather but he's only twelve years older than his character's daughter played by Spring Byington (who was the only acting nomination). He's also only twenty-two years older than Arthur. The ages of the characters bugged me a bit throughout the movie but it's definitely not enough to detract from the overall story. Something else that also nagged me is just the technicalities of the plot. Arnold's Mr. Kirby is trying to buy up real estate for his munitions conglomerate and the legalities of this are glossed over. Capra takes a very firm stance of business-bad/family-good, details be damned. Of course he's right, so I can't complain too much about the trivialities of how the Vanderhof house blocks the merger deal.
Overall, the Capra-corn is on full blast in this quintessential tale that stresses the importance of personal happiness and family over apathetic career choices and money. Lionel Barrymore is Capra's perfect muse on this subject and the romantic comedy we get from James Stewart and Jean Arthur is icing on the cake.
My Score: 8/10
Although it's sad that Barrymore was physically handicapped by this point in his career, it doesn't make him any less effective. Although he kind of plays the same from a tonal perspective in every scene (bar his verbal rundown of Edward Arnold's Anthony P. Kirby), he's the epitome of Capra's rosy perspective. If you want to quit your job and make things, "just do it" says Grandpa. If you want to drop everything and paint or write or dance or just stick around the house for twenty years, sure just do it. Barrymore's acting his sentimental, wholesome, and you can't help to listen and reflect on your own choices. A relative newcomer James Stewart also stars in his role as a bridge between his upper class family and his marital hopeful Jean Arthur's eclectic family. He has to play in a jovial manner while also being sensible and Stewart's performance toes this line to perfection. Although the romantic moments went on for a bit too long, I still found Stewart and Arthur to be positively delightful together.
I've sung the praises of these performances but the casting is a little strange. Barrymore plays the patriarchal grandfather but he's only twelve years older than his character's daughter played by Spring Byington (who was the only acting nomination). He's also only twenty-two years older than Arthur. The ages of the characters bugged me a bit throughout the movie but it's definitely not enough to detract from the overall story. Something else that also nagged me is just the technicalities of the plot. Arnold's Mr. Kirby is trying to buy up real estate for his munitions conglomerate and the legalities of this are glossed over. Capra takes a very firm stance of business-bad/family-good, details be damned. Of course he's right, so I can't complain too much about the trivialities of how the Vanderhof house blocks the merger deal.
Overall, the Capra-corn is on full blast in this quintessential tale that stresses the importance of personal happiness and family over apathetic career choices and money. Lionel Barrymore is Capra's perfect muse on this subject and the romantic comedy we get from James Stewart and Jean Arthur is icing on the cake.
My Score: 8/10