The Films of Frank Capra

I highly recommend both It Happened One Night and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Though I think It's a Wonderful Life is Capra's best work, I'd rank both of those higher than You Can't Take It With You. I would also recommend his two films with Gary Cooper, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Meet John Doe. All excellent films, though I did see linespalsy just say he didn't enjoy Meet John Doe that much. I don't know if your tastes run similar to his or not. I know Markf has an affinity for Lost Horizon and The Bitter Tea of General Yen, if your interests skew that way.

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Family DVD Collection | My Top 100 | My Movie Thoughts | Frank Capra

I just rewatched Arsenic & Old Lace last night (finally). I think it's probably been 10 years or so since the last time I saw it. I had forgotten just how funny it was. I was laughing out loud the whole time. Was Cary Grant's performance a little over-the-top? Maybe, but he was absolutely hilarious. A truly fun, truly funny movie. Not the social-statement, little-guy-vs-the-system picture Capra is normally remembered for, but still an excellent piece of work and worth watching if you've never seen it.

I've been listening to Ken Barnes' commentary on my Meet John Doe 70th Anniversary DVD. There's a lot of interesting tidbits in there, and some interesting input excerpted from an interview with Frank Capra himself. Most of Capra's input thus far (I'm only about halfway through) is more general filmmaking information than movie-specific, but I find it fascinating none-the-less. An especially interesting tidbit talked about the placement of microphones in the early days of sound.

Barnes provides insight from Capra biographies and articles of the time as well. I like the quote he gives from Capra regarding Mr. Smith Goes to Washington not winning an Academy Award for 1939 - "Never make the best picture of your career the same year someone makes Gone With the Wind." Good advice!

all these movies Thanks Mikey

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I was able to finish listening to the commentary on Meet John Doe. Some more interesting tidbits -

Capra didn't like to screen films exclusively for the critics. He felt that film should be a communal experience and that films should be seen with an audience.

Edward Arnold flubbed his lines a lot (not just on Meet John Doe, but on every film he did). Arnold always required multiple takes to really get into his role and hit his lines. That's why Arnold rarely had very long speeches.

Regis Toomey, who played soda-jerk Bert Hansen, made his big speech all in one take for the long shot.

Ken Barnes also points out the (fairly obvious) comparison of Long John and the Colonel as Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket, made more obvious, of course, by the use of the song "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee" from the Disney film.

alright Capra is officially the man. It Happened One Night was absolutely fantastic, and I would honestly say that it's easily in my top 100 of all time. You couldn't have really asked for a better screwball comedy. Between this and It's a Wonderful Life, how can you not be a fan of Capra.

Glad you enjoyed It Happened One Night. I always laugh out loud at the "Quit bawlin'!" scene. Gable and Colbert were excellent. One of very few Oscar sweeps that was deserving, IMO.

Enjoyed It Happened One Night so much I bought it. Also made a blind buy with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Definitely was a deserving sweep, but of course in my opinion Silence of the Lambs was a deserving sweep as well.

I don't think you'll regret it. I blind bought all of my Capra DVDs except It's a Wonderful Life, Arsenic & Old Lace and Meet John Doe. Not a regret in the bunch.

There are some dud Capras like Hole in the Head, but Mr. Smith is one of his best.

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I need to get my hands on some "new" Capra. I've watched and rewatched (and rewatched again) what I have. I recently found the Lux Radio Theater productions of Lady for a Day and Broadway Bill, and they make me really want to see the films. Curse those expensive OOP DVDs anyway...

EDIT: I'm downloading the Why We Fight series from the Internet Archive on my phone, so I have something new to watch. I've never seen them, but I hear lots of good things.

I've never seen those either. The remakes for both by Capra I've seen and both are mediocre. Capra in his autobiography really dumped on Glenn Ford for why Pocketful of Miracles, his last film and a box office dud, did not turn out well, but, really, the casting of miscast Hope Lange in a supporting role is hardly the end of that movie's problems. I doubt his choice of Shirley Jones would have been better. She wasn't the hardboiled type either the role required, her hooker in Elmer Gentry played against her image, she didn't actually play a brassy toughie. His fluid camera style deserted him after after it's a Wonderful Life and he seems to have lost his pacing sense and comic timing.

I would like to get a hold of Mr. Deeds goes to Town. I thought Mr. Smith was fairly good but I don't know that the rewatchability factor is there for me.

These are the nice movies. I like Watching his all movies.

The US Postal Service is issuing a series of "Great Director" stamps next year as part of their "Hollywood Legends" series, and Frank Capra is one of them. Four directors will be featured in total. Announced So far - John Ford, Frank Capra and John Huston.

That is a great honor to him. Indeed A good news.

If you're like me and already own all the films in Sony's Frank Capra boxed set except American Madness, good news. American Madness is now available as a stand-alone DVD via Sony's Screen Classics by Request MOD service. No extras are listed, which is a little disappointing since the box set release had commentary and a "Frank Capra Jr. Remembers..." featurette. Still, I'm just happy to see the film available outside of the box set at last. Here's a link to it through the Warner Archive, but it's available elsewhere also:

http://www.wbshop.com/American-Madne...FUsaQgodRlNtnA

More good news for Capra fans. Lady for a Day, Capra's first Oscar contender, is getting a new DVD and Blu-Ray release on March 20, 2012. I believe that will make it only the second Capra film on Blu-Ray.

That is a pretty hard movie to see. That is what really put Capra on the map. Capra's last movie, a remake of it, isn't very good. The star, Warren Williams, is one of the best of the forgotten actors. He never quite made it into the A list.