Capra's Best?
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StayCasual — 20 years ago(May 10, 2005 04:05 AM)
1 Its a Wonderful Life: The finest film ever crafted by human hands
2 Mr Deeds Goes to Town: My favourite of the "trilogy". Gary Cooper brings a kind of cynicism and honesty to a role that could have leaned too much in one direction.
3 It Happened One Night: As much an education for the viewers as Claudette Colbert. A wonderful, wonderful, journey.
4 Arsenic and Old Lace: Very, very funny. An often overlooked Capra classic.
5 Mr Smith Goes to Washington: While it lacks the bite of Deeds it should be credited for its mature embracing of the concepts of the American political system - not the people who enforce them.
Know why that is? We're too busy being smart-alecks. Too busy in a crazy competition for nothing" -
StayCasual — 20 years ago(May 13, 2005 03:25 AM)
For my money Bergmen doesnt really match up to Capra. Smiles of a Summer Night does feel like a poor Capra inspired mess but I still think that at his best Capra made better films than Bergman.
Know why that is? We're too busy being smart-alecks. Too busy in a crazy competition for nothing" -
jimbobway21 — 20 years ago(July 23, 2005 09:56 AM)
For me it is a tie between Mr. Smith and It's a Wonderful Life. However, I also like Arsenic and Old Lace. It is not even close to Mr. Smith and Wonderful Life as far as filmaking goes. I don't know, it's just a fun film that I like to watch.
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csu16387 — 20 years ago(August 13, 2005 04:34 PM)
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
- It Happened One Night
- It's a Wonderful Life
- Arsenic and Old Lace
- Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
I'm not really a big fan of You Can't Take it With You, though Lionel Barrymore gives a superb performance in it.
"Dry your eyes baby, it's out of character."
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16mmRay — 20 years ago(August 23, 2005 01:53 PM)
I recently ran YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU for a nice crowd. It totally got them. It's definitely different than most of Capra's other pictures of the period because of the play structure. And the slow transformation of Edward Arnold is done brilliantly and realistically, as opposed to J. L. Higgins in BROADWAY BILL and RIDING HIGH.
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Enrique-8 — 20 years ago(August 23, 2005 02:04 PM)
WellYCTIWY was a popular play before CAPRA gave it his golden touch. I saw the play on television before I saw the movie and was enchanted with both with a few things that the stage cannot conjure.
Edward Arnold is just one of the best actors ever.but then CAPRA always brought the best in him and every actor, no matter how few lines they had.
That makes a director GREAT.
Enrique Sanchez -
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dgaston — 20 years ago(November 02, 2005 02:21 PM)
Ooooh I can't pick, he had so many good films!
But a film that I have a special affinity for is one where he only wrote the story. Westward the Women, was directed by William Wellman (brilliant, ballsy director of his day) and it starred my parent's favorite actress, Denise Darcel (I'm named after her). Add in that I share birthdates with Mr. Capra, and you'll see why I'm intrigued. It was a very feminist movie in it's day.
"Why can't we all just get along?" -
Hyman_Flomax — 20 years ago(February 13, 2006 07:43 PM)
Many have forgotten about the great underrated masterpieces "Lady For A Day" and especially "The Bitter Tea Of General Yen". Those are not his best or even my particular favorites, but they're definitley worth a look.
"Don't pay any attention to the critics; don't even ignore them." -
prognathous — 19 years ago(October 08, 2006 05:59 PM)
Among those I've seen, the two best Capra films are (by far):
You Can't Take It with You (1938) 9Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) 9
Next come:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946) 8It Happened One Night (1934) 7Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) 7Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) 6
I also saw "Meet John Doe" a long time5b4 ago. I remember it as a good film, but didn't vote in IMDB back then. I should probably see it again.
Prog.