Favorite Frank Capra Films

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I can't lie...the only one I've ever seen is "It's A Wonderful Life", but I'd like to see more. What's your favorite and most "Capra-esque" Frank Capra film?

 

[Doctor Strange]

It Happened One Night - ****
Mr. Deeds Goes To Town - ***
You Can't Take It With You - ***
Lost Horizon - ****
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington - ****
****nic And Old Lace - **
Meet John Doe - **

 

[Tomasso]

It Happened One Night
****nic and Old Lace
You Can't Take It With You


I'm not a huge Capra fan.[huh]

 

[The Wolf]

Those are good. I also like "Platinum Blonde".

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[LizzieMaine]

"The Strong Man," with Harry Langdon. Capra's first directoral effort, and one of the classic late-silent-era comedy features. Langdon is a comic who isn't to everyone's taste, but this is an excellent film to get to know him by.

We watched "It Happened One Night" on my wedding night, so it has unhappy associations, but it's still one of my favorite films.

 

[Naphtali]

"It Happened One Night" and "Pocket Full of Miracles."

In general, Capra's style has not worn well -- moralistic, populist, heavy handed. The two motion pictures identified are less "over the top," especially "Pocket."

 

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Where do you guys rank "It's A Wonderful Life"?

 

[Doctor Strange]

I'd give it four stars. It may be his best film. He thought it was, anyway.

And I have to disagree on Pocketful of Miracles. I think it's tired, flabby, and obvious. (The original, Lady For A Day, which he made in 1933 - hey another guy remaking his own films! - is much punchier.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

Where do you guys rank "It's A Wonderful Life"?

I liked it a lot the first time I saw it, but got extremely tired of it in the '80s when every mickey-mouse TV channel ran it over and over again. I think it's much better served by one viewing a year -- the treacly bits are a lot easier to bear that way, and you don't end up tempted to root for Mr. Potter just out of spite.

 

[Flivver]

I liked it a lot the first time I saw it, but got extremely tired of it in the '80s when every mickey-mouse TV channel ran it over and over again. I think it's much better served by one viewing a year -- the treacly bits are a lot easier to bear that way, and you don't end up tempted to root for Mr. Potter just out of spite.

I remember TV back to the mid-1950s, and I never knew "It's A Wonderful Life" existed until it was re-discovered in the 1980s. It just wasn't shown on TV...at least around Boston.

I enjoyed watching it the first time, but for me, once was enough.

Does anyone know why the film was forgotten for decades, only to re-emerge as an instant classic in the 1980s?

 

[Doctor Strange]

It was produced by Liberty Films, an independent company set up by a consortium of famous directors (Capra, William Wyler, and George Stevens, if I recall correctly). The company eventually failed and nobody bothered to look after their holdings: when the 28-year copyright on the 1946 film expired, it entered the public domain. TV stations everywhere discovered that they could show this classic "holiday" film for free if they could get their hands on a print.

Independent of this, there was a lot of developing interest in the film. Speaking for myself, I had read Capra's autobiography when it came out in 1971, and he declared IAWL his favorite film. I had never seen it, so it went onto my mental must-see list. When I finally did see it, circa 1975, on a late-night local NYC station broadcast, I was smitten. What a great movie! (One of my oddball friends said, "Gee, it makes you want to go get married and start a family!")

Between the film's reputation, rediscovery from obscurity, and sudden ubiquitous presence on local broadcast (and soon national cable) TV, it rapidly took on its mantle of a lost masterpiece from the golden age of Hollywood. And it deserves that mantle: it's a stunningly assured, slightly deeper-than-average, solid piece of 40s studio filmcraft. That it's now been so overpraised and overexposed shouldn't be held against it...

 

[Fletch]

You Can't Take It With You. Because "I'm a lily."

Dirigible. Because it's got dirigibles.

Meet John Doe. Because it's got its heart even further out on its sleeve than the rest of them.

 

[Bluebird]

Meet John Doe has to one of my favourites. It makes me wish I had the courage to start a John Doe Chapter. What a wonderful world it would be!

 

[RBH]

Where do you guys rank "It's A Wonderful Life"?

I have loved it since I was 10. 'nuff said.
its a great film.

 

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I just saw "Lars and the Real Girl" last night. I really liked it. It's supposedly Capra-esque, and from the little I know about Capra's work, I think it is.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805564/