Capra's Best?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Frank Capra
crisso — 22 years ago(October 01, 2003 03:21 PM)
'It's a Wonderful Life' is usually singled out as Capra's greatest achievment but my personal favourites are 'It Happened One Night', 'Lost Horizon' and 'Mr Smith Goes to Washington' (for t2000he record, I've seen every film - excluding the war documentaries - he made from 1932 to 1946). What do everybody else think are his best films?
Crisso -
classicmoviecomedy — 17 years ago(June 06, 2008 11:28 AM)
Very hard to choose. "It Happened One Night" is a personal favorite, although I suspect that if one had to choose the most "representative" film of Capra's work, it would probably be "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" or "It's A Wonderful Life", or even "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town". "Lost Horizon" is one of the most interesting films of the 30s and while it's not quite in the "small town idealist goes to big city" vein of his most famous films, is quite an impressive work.
For what it's worth, I wasn't as crazy about his filming of "You Can't Take it With You".
I also wouldn't overlook "The Bitter Tea of General Yen" as one of the most sensual and complex films Capra ever made. It's very hard to compare it with his Jimmy Stewart/Gary Cooper films, but in every way is a towering achievement and a real masterpiece of early 30s cinema.
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wmorrow59 — 22 years ago(March 15, 2004 08:02 PM)
As a silent comedy buff, I've always been impressed that Frank Capra's very first film as director,
The Strong Man
(1926) starring Harry Langdon, is such a classic. It's still funny, and still touching. Considering that this was Capra's debut, that says a lot.
As for the later work,
Platinum Blonde
with Robert Williams & Jean Harlow is underrated. Too bad the leading man died young he has an interesting quality.
It Happened One Night
holds up beautifully, and
Arsenic and Old Lace
is a hoot: I could watch either of those films annually and still enjoy them every time.
When people talk about Capra's work, however, I think the movies that capture his spirit best of all are
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
and
It's a Wonderful Life
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TaxiDriver1982 — 21 years ago(April 22, 2004 08:36 AM)
I've seen only a few..
1.It's A wONDERFUL lIFE(some movies are bigger than the parts that make it,this is one example)
2.yOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU(why isn't anybody mentioning this)
3.Mr Smith goes to washington(prob the best movie!,but least enjoyable/repeatable)
4.It Happened one night(first half,excellent..second half,average)
Arsenic and Old Lace is next upto see in full.
Any other's will have to wait. -
ian959 — 21 years ago(March 24, 2005 07:34 AM)
In order (at least the ones I have seen):
Mr Smith Goes To Washington - still relevant today
It's A Wonderful Life - what more can be said about this classic?
Mr Deeds Goes To Town - Gary Cooper was terrific
Arsenic And Old Lace - one of the funniest films ever made
It Happened One Night
Lost Horizon
Platinum Blonde
You Can't Take It With You
Broadway Bill
Lady For A Day
One of the finest film makers ever, from any nation, any time period. I never tire of watching his films. -
Angel2121 — 21 years ago(March 25, 2005 03:39 PM)
Meet John Doe has always been my personal favorite, though it doesn't look as if anyone agrees with that assessment. Here'a a ranking of my personal preferred order of the ones I've seen so far:
Meet John Doe
It Happened One Night
Arsenic and Old Lace
It's a Wonderful Life
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
You Can't Take It With You
Lost Horizon
That really is in no particular order though, from numbers 3-7 (well, it's how I feel I should rank them right b68now, though), but I absolutely love all of those movies (except for Lost Horizon).
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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"