The Frank Capra Love Thread

[Blonde]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 5:37pm

Anyone?

Some of my favorite films of his are

You Can't Take It With You
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
Arsenic and Old Lace
It's A Wonderful Life
It Happened One Night

It always bothers me when people call his work capricorn or a fluffy piece of americana because I think it is so much more complex than that. Uplifting and wonderful, yes, but incredibly masterful.

Has anyone seen the Why We Fight series? I'm intrigued.

Plus he gave Jean Arthur and Jimmy Stewart a chance to shine, Jean Arthur being incredibly overlooked in my opinion.

Thoughts?

[lildogs]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 5:52pm

I always enjoy Capra for his populist/anti-business slant...It's a Wonderful Life is actually a very dark film despite being a holiday fave and the title.

[justme2]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 7:07pm

Those themes you speak of lildogs are indeed what make him great...love, love love his "Miracle Woman" and "Remember the Night"...and don't get me started on his "American Madness" film with the great Walter Huston! Capra was a helluva writer and it's a shame most remember him for only 'Wonderful Life".

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 8:41pm

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is one of my favorite movies of all time. Jean Arthur is radiant and genius as Babe Bennett.



(I'm still trying to find a rhyme for "Buddington.")

[blueroses]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 11:09pm

Attaboy, Clarence!

[justme2]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 1:23am

Frank Capra does "perfect moments" in films extremely well. For example:

You Can't Take it With You (he directed this one)
Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur are in the office. He's watching her work when he suddenly leans in close and looks her in the face for a few seconds before saying..."You're so beautiful" and it's done perfectly. A simple, elegant moment.

Remember the Night
Hardened thief Barbara Stanwyck is spending the xmas holdidays with Fred MacMurray's close knit, loving family. They are merely sitting in a room together at the end of a day, and the affection and mutual love FELT in the room causes her to simply and quiety cry, for something she has never known.

No words are even needed for such a beautiful moment. Capra was a master at capturing the inner core of a character through tiny little moments in movies such as the above examples.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 9:32am

Favorites:

It Happened One Night
It's a Wonderful Life
Mr. Smith...
Mr. Deeds...
Lady For a Day (if you haven't seen this one, you must! May Robson is brilliant.)
You Can't Take It With You
Meet John Doe
Arsenic and Old Lace

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 10:51am

BUMP.

For "Lady For a Day"

Don't miss this one for the remarkable May Robson.

Updated On: 5/2/07 at 10:51 AM

[lildogs]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 12:15pm

Is LADY better than POCKETFUL? I could only handle about the first 15 minutes of that...

For me, his most emotional moment is in DEEDS when they're attacking him on the stand and he just says, "I'd like to put in my two cents too" makes me tear up just typing it

Of course I love Capra: he's an idealistic anti-capitalist whose heroes were great because they stood alone for what's right.

[justme2]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 12:33pm

Pocketful is a terrible remake of Lady for a Day...as much of a Davis fan that I am...I cannot stand that poor remake. See Robson, Kibee, Ned Sparks, Farrell and William Warren at their best in the original.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 12:34pm

lildogs---LADY is so much better than its pale remake POCKETFUL.

May Robson is a revelation as Apple Annie. She should have won the Oscar that year (she was nominated but lost to Katharine Hepburn in her first win).

Actually, there was a BIG stink at the time about Lady For a Day. Capra was overconfident that his "brilliant" movie would sweep that year's Oscars. He said so publicly... and it was a big turn-off to the Academy. So they voted for other movies that year, and he freaked out... threatening to quit the Academy for good. The Oscars were still in their infancy back then, and someone like Capra, with all of his strength and power in Hollywood, could have really damaged its presence had he quit the membership.

So, the following year, his film "It Happened One Night" DID sweep the Oscars (the first time the Grand Slam was awarded: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay---which has only happened 2 other times in history).

All the politics aside, LADY FOR A DAY is a great movie. Maybe not as great as some of his others, but I was really surprised by how "real" May Robson was in the lead (and you don't see a leading lady in her 70s very often!). Her scene towards the beginning when she tries to write her daugther, while getting drunk and playing music... breaks my heart every time I watch it. Trully "raw" acting. It's worth your time, just for that scene.

[lildogs]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 12:39pm

Was that the year that Capra THOUGHT he had won, but it was for Frank Lloyd?

[Blonde]

Posted: 5/2/07 at 3:52pm

I've only seen a few scenes of lady for a day because I saw it while channel surfing, not knowing what it was, and now I must watch the entire thing when I get the chance because what I saw was really wonderful. May Robson is great.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 2:22am

I love many Frank Capra films, but Mr. Deeds Goes to Town has been my favorite for 25 years. The scene after Gary Cooper gets stood up by Jean Arthur and then the delirious, underfed farmer barges in and threatens him with a gun is another one that always gets me. Just the way Cooper looks at the man who is ravenously comsuming the elegant dinner intended for his romantic date makes me all teary.

I also like the scene when Jean Arthur and Gary Cooper are sitting outside after their first date, playing Swanee River on the trash can and she says, "You're a lot like my father." I just find that moment so touching.

And who can forget the newspaper editor asking what the photographer mumbled under his breath and his response: "I said, 'DIRTY PLASTER!'"

[erikaamato]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 9:23am

I love Capra. And I happened to catch Lady For A Day purely by chance one day and really, really enjoyed it... I didn't even realize it had been a major Oscar contender, etc. I just thought the film was lovely.

Also, for what it's worth, Capra was Sicilian. Gotta love me a paisan'!

[bschneid76]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 10:53am

I will say that Mr. Smith Goes To Washington is one of the best films I've ever had the experience watching. It was so harrowing, and brave for it's day. Jimmy Stewart, James Mason and Jean Arthur are so wonderful in their roles, oh and let's not forget Harry Carey. It is in my opinion a perfect film about America and Politics.

[Blonde]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 5:02pm

I LOVE the trashcan scene in deeds. it makes me smile like an idiot.

[lildogs]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 5:17pm

If IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT was a little racier, I might rate it above BRINGING UP BABY, AWFUL TRUTH and PALM BEACH STORY...but it's still the template for the romantic comedy to this day.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 10:17pm

"...it's still the template for the romantic comedy to this day."

Couldn't agree more, lildogs.