[7] James Stewart plays the son of a Wall Street tycoon whose father (Edward Arnold) is trying to force an eccentric family out of their home so he can pursue a major real estate development deal. Things get more complicated when Stewart realizes the family in question is his fiancée’s (Jean Arthur). You Can’t Take It With You is a quintessential Frank Capra movie, focusing …
[6] Robert Williams stars as a scrappy newspaper reporter who falls in love with a socialite (rising star Jean Harlow) who drags him kicking and screaming into hoity-toity upper-class society. But after numerous dinners and parties, awkward relationships with ‘the help,’ and one too many comparisons to a bird in a gilded cage, Williams begins to wonder if his marriage is worth the upheaval in …
[8] Jimmy Stewart gives a career-defining performance in this Frank Capra classic about a celebrated boy scout leader (Stewart) who gets chosen to fill a deceased senator’s seat in the U.S. congress. His party assumes Stewart will be a doting yes-man, seriously underestimating his sense of duty and patriotism. When he introduces legislation that conflicts with a corrupt land deal, the party tries to take …
[7] Frank Capra directs Barbara Stanwyck in this cautionary tale of phony evangelism. After her minister father dies unappreciated, Stanwyck’s character falls in with a con man (Sam Hardy) to open a church that fakes miracles. The operation becomes lucrative and Stanwyck becomes a celebrity, but when a blind musician (David Manners) demonstrates true faith and begins to fall in love with her, she begins …
[4] Barbara Stanwyck plays an engaged Christian missionary who is separated from her husband-to-be during the Chinese civil war in Shanghai. She is rescued by General Yen (Danish actor Nils Asther with ‘squinty eyes’ makeup), who takes her to his palace and looks after her. But Stanwyck soon realizes she hasn’t so much been rescued as kidnapped. While begging to be reunited with her husband, …
[8] Barbara Stanwyck plays a lonely librarian who falls in love with Adolph Menjou on a cruise, but her joy is short-lived in this tragic love story directed by Frank Capra. Stanwyck finds out her beau is already married (to an invalid, no less) and ends their relationship, keeping her pregnancy a secret to save his political career. But when a newspaper reporter (Ralph Bellamy) …
[7] In this early Frank Capra flick, romance blossoms and seeds of betrayal are sown during two days at a bank where a robbery leads to a public panic that threatens the bank’s existence. Walter Huston plays the bank’s owner, an optimist who lends to hard-working Americans who can’t get loans anywhere else. He’s the sort of boss who treats the security guard and the …
[6] Frank Capra directs this tale of a struggling circus troupe trying to put on a show in Everytown, America, before the money dries up and the performers go their separate ways. Joe Cook plays the circus manager, a very Groucho Marx-esque personality who talks quick to outwit his prey and who can perform some pretty nifty juggling and balancing acts. Joan Peers plays the …
[8] Behold the glory of Barbara Stanwyck. One of classic Hollywood’s sassiest broads makes a big splash in this early talkie that’s leagues ahead of other early 30s flicks in terms of story, craftsmanship, and performance. Babs plays a “party girl” (we know them as escorts now) who serendipitously winds up hitching a ride in the middle of the night with a fuddy-duddy artist. Both …
[6] Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn star in a Frank Capra movie about the political and personal tolls of running for president of the United States. Van Johnson and Margaret Hamilton are fun in supporting roles. Angela Lansbury is nice as the cold, calculating antagonist — her first scene is one of the movie’s best.
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