MovieChat Forums > You Can't Take It with You (1938) Discussion > Frank Capra is a genius!

Frank Capra is a genius!

posted 20 years ago by ottavioalmeida
13 replies | jump to latest

I just saw "You Can't Take it With You" last saturday. It was my first time. From Capra, I have seen before "It's a Wonderful Life". Two great movies!!! Capra just want to make us happy! He showed us the way for it... He was a storyteller. Not a camera "stylist" director as Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese and many others. He's a great storyteller - what qualify him as a good director too.

I love this picture! One of my 10 favorites of all time, for sure!

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Otávio

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] 20 years ago

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[–] lowells 19 years ago

Matter of fact, he is. You can't compare Pink Floyd to Weezer, and it's the same here. They are just in two different genres of filmaking. Kubrick and Scorsese focus more on the art of film, perfection of timing and camera angles, etc. (I just recently saw Aviator for the first time, and it just verifies my feeling that this is what Scorses goes for... perfection in attack).

Capra stands alone in perfecting the feel-good genre of carefree filmaking. The other three you mentioned could NEVER achieve that skill, no matter how hard they tried. Any time Spielberg has tried, he just comes off as overly syrupy and sugary. Capra succeeded in making films that make every single person who watches leave the theater feeling better about themselves and life in general.

[–] BennetDarcy 19 years ago

I couldn't agree with you more! With him, it's all about the stories-- and they're great! You might want to check out his other movies-- particularly It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, and Meet John Doe. You're bound to love more of his movies!!!

[–] sander_p 19 years ago

Arsenic and Old Lace is an excellent movie, too. Probably my favorite Capra movie.

[–] merrywood 19 years ago

Frank Capra stands as one of the best film directors in this history of film. Look at his body of work and accomplishments even beyond movies into shorts for WWII and early television. No one comes close. However, comparing him to Kubrick and others who worked in different times and in different genres is like comparing a glove to a shoe.

[–] ICMovies2 18 years ago

I too appreciate movies made in this fashion rather than relying on art, timing, and camera work to impress an audience (although these all deserve merit in their own right), but when I see a movie, first and foremost it is plot/subject matter, cast/acting ability, then... impression/eye candy.

To me, movies should first be stories caught on film, then throw in visuals or audio if it is to enhance the experience or meaning... on the contrary if I want real impressions of artistry, I will seek real live art (not on film) and get my own impression which is quite the opposite of how a movie can convey or limit its meaning.

Science... the enemy of everything that's natural in life.

[–] rlj1125 18 years ago

The films of Frank Capra are my favorites of all time. For me, his films have a special charm that are beyond compare.

[–] novastar_6 18 years ago

Ooooooooohhhh I just saw You Can't Take it with You tonight, and I LOVED it...I immediately fell in love with Grandpa Vanderhof's character, and quickly the rest of the family...and one thing that struck me, the Kirbys were the ones with all the money, but the Vanderhofs had the servants, but you'll notice they didn't treat them like servants, they treated them like everyone else in the house, like the rest of the family. They were so much fun to watch, a mother who types plays, a father who makes fireworks, a grandpa who goes sliding down the banister, a sister who dances all day...it was terrific. And I also liked it when they were thrown in the drunk tank, every single guy in there was dancing around when Grandpa Vanderhof played his harmonica, and then in the courtroom, where the members of the whole town, all of Grandpa's friends, rallied together to pay his fine, and the judge even threw in a coin...Kirby had only 4 lawyers, Vanderhof had a courtroom of friends.

[–] eeemail-1 18 years ago

I also love this film. I love Lawrence Of Arabia, 2001, Vertigo....You Can't Take It With You is different to those films...Fun....Light....but still brilliant film making.

The jail / courtroom scenes are my favourite part. So much going on there. Wonderful.

Darren Skuja
"Film Is The Ultimate Artform"

[–] novastar_6 18 years ago

Oh yeah, I just love it when Martin is telling Anthony off, and in the courtroom when that woman stands up and says "Grandpa don't need your money, we'll pay that fine", and the whole courtroom is filled with people chucking in coins and bills. Of course, I also love it at the Sycamore house, Essie dancing, Penny typing, her husband making fireworks, Poppins making masks and toys, Carmichael playing the xylophone, Rheba cooking and Donald running around the whole place. It's too bad there aren't more families like that.

[–] Lord_X 16 years ago

Great storyteller, that's it. He's quite the opposite of the directors I usually like (the ones with the very stylized camera work you mentioned), but after watching 8 of Capra’s films, there’s no way I cannot appreciate his work. It takes a great director to pull off amazing films out of such simplistic stories. You Can't Take it With You is just as funny and witty as it is possible to reach.

[–] buzzerbill 15 years ago

This comment is probably about as welcome as a corpse at a wedding feast. But, after some 45 years of intensive film going and film study, I've come to a few conclusions. And one of the most unshakable is that Frank Capra is the single most overrated direction in the history of American film. His films are slick and sentimental, full of what passed for political correctness in the 1930s. Nothing is as one dimensional as his villains. Nothing is as contrived as his plot resolutions, His films don't stand up to a moment's logical analysis or a shred of plausibility. They are in general not particularly visually interesting.

The quintessential moment in a Capra film is I think at the beginning of Here Comes the Groom (1951) with Bing Crosby. Bing is introducing a war orphan to a couple who had planned to adopt her--but were baking down. She sings like an angel. And then the big revelation--She's BLIND!! Lots of tears and of course the couple melts.

Slick, sentimental, and superficial.

And trivial and trite.

Capra's films appeal to elements all too common--emotion instead of thought, sentimentality instead of judgment. There is no other filmmaker who work I like less. There is no redeeming element in any of his films. Well, maybe Hemo the Magnificent.