Author: Clarence Kelland
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781985698383
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 188
Book Description
THE BOOK THAT INSPIRED THE ACADEMY AWARD WINNING MOVIE CLASSIC. "What happens when a young man inherits $20,000,000 and finds no greater joy than playing the tuba in a small town band? Everybody thinks he's crazy! But when he goes to town, he goes to town! The comedy of the year." -Harrisonburg Telegraph How Clarence Budington Kelland created Mr. Deeds: "As I sat around for days on end, I dreamed up a pet character, myself no doubt, who was young and fine and suddenly acquired a bit of money. Then he went- to a strange city and did good things with it in romantic ways. Thirty-odd years later that brain child blossomed into print in "Opera Hat" and onto the screen as "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town." You may have already met Mr. Deeds in the Academy Award winning 1930s film, "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," or the 1960s television series of the same name, or the recent Adam Sandler movie remake, "Mr. Deeds." But whether you have met him before or not, here is the original Mr. Deeds, the poetry writing, tuba playing man from Mandrake Falls, exactly as novelist Clarence Budington Kelland created him - with a small seasoning of mystery and a dash of murder they left out of the movie versions. Here is Clarence Budington Kelland, the old master of romantic comedy and romantic suspense, with his signature oddball characters, madcap satire, and pixilated characters. Among the latter: Victor Semple, a long-lost great-uncle who left $20,000,000 to Longfellow Deeds of Mandrake Falls VT. Lathrop Cedar, senior member of the firm of Cedar, Cedar, Cedar and McGonigle, Attorneys at Law, representing the Victor Semple's estate - Mr. Cedar was even more pedantic than his title suggested. Madame Pomponi, the world trembled when this super diva threw one of her famed volcanic fits - but not Mr. Deeds. Simonetta Petersen, personal secretary to Madame Pomponi - this cynical child of the Big Apple would never have believed she could fall for a sincere hick from small town USA, until she met Mr. Deeds. Percival Dide, one of the most highly regarded authors of the age, he had no idea anyone actually make money writing, until he learned how much Mr. Deeds got paid for composing greeting card verse. Nina Motti, the opera company's leading dancer - she died in the second act, in her dressing room, with a bullet through her heart. Mario Granzi, an attorney not Quite of the bracket of Cedar, Cedar, Cedar and McGonigle, who claimed to represent Mrs. Victor Semple, or at least his common-law-wife, or at least they lived together "man and wife" - and who anyway was entitled to s a substantiaL settlement from the estate. "Deeds, a verse writing young man in Mandrake Falls, who plays the tuba in the town band, falls heir to $20,000,000. His arrival in New York to claim the fortune surrounds him with a nest of grafters who are out to leave Deeds as little of his money as possible. Deeds' eccentricities provide a field day." - Minneapolis Star "Longfellow Deeds, a simple tuba-playing, verse-writing young man in Vermont, is suddenly left $201000,000. What he does with the money and what happens to him in New York give the plot unexpected twists, turns and suspense." -Philadelphia Inquirer Inspiration for the movie Pauline Kael in the New Yorker, called "a homey fantasy demonstrating the triumph of small-town values over big-city cynicism. Longfellow Deeds the sincere greeting-card poet from New England comes to New York."
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Author: Clarence Kelland
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781985698383
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 188
Book Description
THE BOOK THAT INSPIRED THE ACADEMY AWARD WINNING MOVIE CLASSIC. "What happens when a young man inherits $20,000,000 and finds no greater joy than playing the tuba in a small town band? Everybody thinks he's crazy! But when he goes to town, he goes to town! The comedy of the year." -Harrisonburg Telegraph How Clarence Budington Kelland created Mr. Deeds: "As I sat around for days on end, I dreamed up a pet character, myself no doubt, who was young and fine and suddenly acquired a bit of money. Then he went- to a strange city and did good things with it in romantic ways. Thirty-odd years later that brain child blossomed into print in "Opera Hat" and onto the screen as "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town." You may have already met Mr. Deeds in the Academy Award winning 1930s film, "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," or the 1960s television series of the same name, or the recent Adam Sandler movie remake, "Mr. Deeds." But whether you have met him before or not, here is the original Mr. Deeds, the poetry writing, tuba playing man from Mandrake Falls, exactly as novelist Clarence Budington Kelland created him - with a small seasoning of mystery and a dash of murder they left out of the movie versions. Here is Clarence Budington Kelland, the old master of romantic comedy and romantic suspense, with his signature oddball characters, madcap satire, and pixilated characters. Among the latter: Victor Semple, a long-lost great-uncle who left $20,000,000 to Longfellow Deeds of Mandrake Falls VT. Lathrop Cedar, senior member of the firm of Cedar, Cedar, Cedar and McGonigle, Attorneys at Law, representing the Victor Semple's estate - Mr. Cedar was even more pedantic than his title suggested. Madame Pomponi, the world trembled when this super diva threw one of her famed volcanic fits - but not Mr. Deeds. Simonetta Petersen, personal secretary to Madame Pomponi - this cynical child of the Big Apple would never have believed she could fall for a sincere hick from small town USA, until she met Mr. Deeds. Percival Dide, one of the most highly regarded authors of the age, he had no idea anyone actually make money writing, until he learned how much Mr. Deeds got paid for composing greeting card verse. Nina Motti, the opera company's leading dancer - she died in the second act, in her dressing room, with a bullet through her heart. Mario Granzi, an attorney not Quite of the bracket of Cedar, Cedar, Cedar and McGonigle, who claimed to represent Mrs. Victor Semple, or at least his common-law-wife, or at least they lived together "man and wife" - and who anyway was entitled to s a substantiaL settlement from the estate. "Deeds, a verse writing young man in Mandrake Falls, who plays the tuba in the town band, falls heir to $20,000,000. His arrival in New York to claim the fortune surrounds him with a nest of grafters who are out to leave Deeds as little of his money as possible. Deeds' eccentricities provide a field day." - Minneapolis Star "Longfellow Deeds, a simple tuba-playing, verse-writing young man in Vermont, is suddenly left $201000,000. What he does with the money and what happens to him in New York give the plot unexpected twists, turns and suspense." -Philadelphia Inquirer Inspiration for the movie Pauline Kael in the New Yorker, called "a homey fantasy demonstrating the triumph of small-town values over big-city cynicism. Longfellow Deeds the sincere greeting-card poet from New England comes to New York."
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781985698383
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 188
Book Description
THE BOOK THAT INSPIRED THE ACADEMY AWARD WINNING MOVIE CLASSIC. "What happens when a young man inherits $20,000,000 and finds no greater joy than playing the tuba in a small town band? Everybody thinks he's crazy! But when he goes to town, he goes to town! The comedy of the year." -Harrisonburg Telegraph How Clarence Budington Kelland created Mr. Deeds: "As I sat around for days on end, I dreamed up a pet character, myself no doubt, who was young and fine and suddenly acquired a bit of money. Then he went- to a strange city and did good things with it in romantic ways. Thirty-odd years later that brain child blossomed into print in "Opera Hat" and onto the screen as "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town." You may have already met Mr. Deeds in the Academy Award winning 1930s film, "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," or the 1960s television series of the same name, or the recent Adam Sandler movie remake, "Mr. Deeds." But whether you have met him before or not, here is the original Mr. Deeds, the poetry writing, tuba playing man from Mandrake Falls, exactly as novelist Clarence Budington Kelland created him - with a small seasoning of mystery and a dash of murder they left out of the movie versions. Here is Clarence Budington Kelland, the old master of romantic comedy and romantic suspense, with his signature oddball characters, madcap satire, and pixilated characters. Among the latter: Victor Semple, a long-lost great-uncle who left $20,000,000 to Longfellow Deeds of Mandrake Falls VT. Lathrop Cedar, senior member of the firm of Cedar, Cedar, Cedar and McGonigle, Attorneys at Law, representing the Victor Semple's estate - Mr. Cedar was even more pedantic than his title suggested. Madame Pomponi, the world trembled when this super diva threw one of her famed volcanic fits - but not Mr. Deeds. Simonetta Petersen, personal secretary to Madame Pomponi - this cynical child of the Big Apple would never have believed she could fall for a sincere hick from small town USA, until she met Mr. Deeds. Percival Dide, one of the most highly regarded authors of the age, he had no idea anyone actually make money writing, until he learned how much Mr. Deeds got paid for composing greeting card verse. Nina Motti, the opera company's leading dancer - she died in the second act, in her dressing room, with a bullet through her heart. Mario Granzi, an attorney not Quite of the bracket of Cedar, Cedar, Cedar and McGonigle, who claimed to represent Mrs. Victor Semple, or at least his common-law-wife, or at least they lived together "man and wife" - and who anyway was entitled to s a substantiaL settlement from the estate. "Deeds, a verse writing young man in Mandrake Falls, who plays the tuba in the town band, falls heir to $20,000,000. His arrival in New York to claim the fortune surrounds him with a nest of grafters who are out to leave Deeds as little of his money as possible. Deeds' eccentricities provide a field day." - Minneapolis Star "Longfellow Deeds, a simple tuba-playing, verse-writing young man in Vermont, is suddenly left $201000,000. What he does with the money and what happens to him in New York give the plot unexpected twists, turns and suspense." -Philadelphia Inquirer Inspiration for the movie Pauline Kael in the New Yorker, called "a homey fantasy demonstrating the triumph of small-town values over big-city cynicism. Longfellow Deeds the sincere greeting-card poet from New England comes to New York."
Mr. Deeds Goes to Yankee Stadium
Author: Wes D. Gehring
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786417730
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 177
Book Description
Celebrated film director Frank Capra was a central architect of the "feel good" movie genre now known as populism, which celebrates people, families, second chances, and other traditional American icons such as small town or pastoral life and baseball. Capra developed his own brand of populism by interweaving traditional values of the genre with a younger, more vulnerable hero starting with Mr. Deeds Goes to Town in 1936. The result, Capraesque populism, has had a significant influence on American pop culture in general and forms a small but important subgenre of baseball movie. This book examines eight of these Capraesque baseball films, starting with the all-important Pride of the Yankees (1942), which one admiring critic has called "Mr. Deeds Goes to Yankee Stadium." An introduction provides an overview of baseball and populism. Individual chapters are devoted to the populist legacy from Will Rogers (Capra's mentor) to Capra, The Pride of the Yankees, The Stratton Story, Angels in the Outfield, The Natural, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Frequency and The Rookie.
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786417730
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 177
Book Description
Celebrated film director Frank Capra was a central architect of the "feel good" movie genre now known as populism, which celebrates people, families, second chances, and other traditional American icons such as small town or pastoral life and baseball. Capra developed his own brand of populism by interweaving traditional values of the genre with a younger, more vulnerable hero starting with Mr. Deeds Goes to Town in 1936. The result, Capraesque populism, has had a significant influence on American pop culture in general and forms a small but important subgenre of baseball movie. This book examines eight of these Capraesque baseball films, starting with the all-important Pride of the Yankees (1942), which one admiring critic has called "Mr. Deeds Goes to Yankee Stadium." An introduction provides an overview of baseball and populism. Individual chapters are devoted to the populist legacy from Will Rogers (Capra's mentor) to Capra, The Pride of the Yankees, The Stratton Story, Angels in the Outfield, The Natural, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Frequency and The Rookie.
Fay Wray and Robert Riskin
Author: Victoria Riskin
Publisher: Pantheon
ISBN: 1524747297
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 416
Book Description
Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Biography) A Hollywood love story, a Hollywood memoir, a dual biography of two of Hollywood’s most famous figures, whose golden lives were lived at the center of Hollywood’s golden age, written by their daughter, an acclaimed writer and producer. Fay Wray was most famous as the woman—the blonde in a diaphanous gown—who captured the heart of the mighty King Kong, the twenty-five-foot, sixty-ton gorilla, as he placed her, nestled in his eight-foot hand, on the ledge of the 102-story Empire State Building, putting Wray at the height of New York’s skyline and cinematic immortality. Wray starred in more than 120 pictures opposite Hollywood's biggest stars—Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper (The Legion of the Condemned, The First Kiss, The Texan, One Sunday Afternoon), Clark Gable, William Powell, and Charles Boyer; from cowboy stars Hoot Gibson and Art Accord to Ronald Colman (The Unholy Garden), Claude Rains, Ralph Richardson, and Melvyn Douglas. She was directed by the masters of the age, from Fred Niblo, Erich von Stroheim (The Wedding March), and Mauritz Stiller (The Street of Sin) to Leo McCarey, William Wyler, Gregory La Cava, “Wild Bill” William Wellman, Merian C. Cooper (The Four Feathers, King Kong), Josef von Sternberg (Thunderbolt), Dorothy Arzner (Behind the Make-Up), Frank Capra (Dirigible), Michael Curtiz (Doctor X), Raoul Walsh (The Bowery), and Vincente Minnelli. The book’s—and Wray’s—counterpart: Robert Riskin, considered one of the greatest screenwriters of all time. Academy Award–winning writer (nominated for five), producer, ten-year-long collaborator with Frank Capra on such pictures as American Madness, It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizon, and Meet John Doe, hailed by many, among them F. Scott Fitzgerald, as “among the best screenwriters in the business.” Riskin wrote women characters who were smart, ornery, sexy, always resilient, as he perfected what took full shape in It Happened One Night, the Riskin character, male or female—breezy, self-made, streetwise, optimistic, with a sense of humor that is subtle and sure. Fay Wray and Robert Riskin lived large lives, finding each other after establishing their artistic selves and after each had had many romantic attachments—Wray, an eleven-year-long difficult marriage and a fraught affair with Clifford Odets, and Riskin, a series of romances with, among others, Carole Lombard, Glenda Farrell, and Loretta Young. Here are Wray’s and Riskin’s lives, their work, their fairy-tale marriage that ended so tragically. Here are their dual, quintessential American lives, ultimately and blissfully intertwined.
Publisher: Pantheon
ISBN: 1524747297
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 416
Book Description
Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Biography) A Hollywood love story, a Hollywood memoir, a dual biography of two of Hollywood’s most famous figures, whose golden lives were lived at the center of Hollywood’s golden age, written by their daughter, an acclaimed writer and producer. Fay Wray was most famous as the woman—the blonde in a diaphanous gown—who captured the heart of the mighty King Kong, the twenty-five-foot, sixty-ton gorilla, as he placed her, nestled in his eight-foot hand, on the ledge of the 102-story Empire State Building, putting Wray at the height of New York’s skyline and cinematic immortality. Wray starred in more than 120 pictures opposite Hollywood's biggest stars—Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper (The Legion of the Condemned, The First Kiss, The Texan, One Sunday Afternoon), Clark Gable, William Powell, and Charles Boyer; from cowboy stars Hoot Gibson and Art Accord to Ronald Colman (The Unholy Garden), Claude Rains, Ralph Richardson, and Melvyn Douglas. She was directed by the masters of the age, from Fred Niblo, Erich von Stroheim (The Wedding March), and Mauritz Stiller (The Street of Sin) to Leo McCarey, William Wyler, Gregory La Cava, “Wild Bill” William Wellman, Merian C. Cooper (The Four Feathers, King Kong), Josef von Sternberg (Thunderbolt), Dorothy Arzner (Behind the Make-Up), Frank Capra (Dirigible), Michael Curtiz (Doctor X), Raoul Walsh (The Bowery), and Vincente Minnelli. The book’s—and Wray’s—counterpart: Robert Riskin, considered one of the greatest screenwriters of all time. Academy Award–winning writer (nominated for five), producer, ten-year-long collaborator with Frank Capra on such pictures as American Madness, It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizon, and Meet John Doe, hailed by many, among them F. Scott Fitzgerald, as “among the best screenwriters in the business.” Riskin wrote women characters who were smart, ornery, sexy, always resilient, as he perfected what took full shape in It Happened One Night, the Riskin character, male or female—breezy, self-made, streetwise, optimistic, with a sense of humor that is subtle and sure. Fay Wray and Robert Riskin lived large lives, finding each other after establishing their artistic selves and after each had had many romantic attachments—Wray, an eleven-year-long difficult marriage and a fraught affair with Clifford Odets, and Riskin, a series of romances with, among others, Carole Lombard, Glenda Farrell, and Loretta Young. Here are Wray’s and Riskin’s lives, their work, their fairy-tale marriage that ended so tragically. Here are their dual, quintessential American lives, ultimately and blissfully intertwined.
Six Screenplays
Author: Robert Riskin
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520205253
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 772
Book Description
Screenwriter Robert Riskin (1897-1955) was a towering figure even among the giants of Hollywood's Golden Age. Known for his unique blend of humor and romance, wisecracking and idealism, Riskin teamed with director Frank Capra to produce some of his most memorable films. Pat McGilligan has collected six of the best Riskin scripts: Platinum Blonde (1931), American Madness (1932), It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Lost Horizon (1937), and Meet John Doe (1941). All of them were directed by Capra, and although Capra's work has been amply chronicled and celebrated, Riskin's share in the collaboration has been overlooked since his death. McGilligan provides the "backstory" for the forgotten half of the team, indispensable counterpoint to the director's self-mythologizing autobiography--and incidentally the missing link in any study of Capra's career. Riskin's own career, although interrupted by patriotic duty and cut short by personal tragedy, produced as consistent, entertaining, thoughtful, and enduring a body of work as any Hollywood writer's. Those who know and love these vintage films will treasure these scripts. McGilligan's introduction offers new information and insights for fans, scholars, and general readers.
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520205253
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 772
Book Description
Screenwriter Robert Riskin (1897-1955) was a towering figure even among the giants of Hollywood's Golden Age. Known for his unique blend of humor and romance, wisecracking and idealism, Riskin teamed with director Frank Capra to produce some of his most memorable films. Pat McGilligan has collected six of the best Riskin scripts: Platinum Blonde (1931), American Madness (1932), It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Lost Horizon (1937), and Meet John Doe (1941). All of them were directed by Capra, and although Capra's work has been amply chronicled and celebrated, Riskin's share in the collaboration has been overlooked since his death. McGilligan provides the "backstory" for the forgotten half of the team, indispensable counterpoint to the director's self-mythologizing autobiography--and incidentally the missing link in any study of Capra's career. Riskin's own career, although interrupted by patriotic duty and cut short by personal tragedy, produced as consistent, entertaining, thoughtful, and enduring a body of work as any Hollywood writer's. Those who know and love these vintage films will treasure these scripts. McGilligan's introduction offers new information and insights for fans, scholars, and general readers.
Frank Capra
Author: Joseph McBride
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1604738391
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 825
Book Description
Moviegoers often assume Frank Capra's life resembled his beloved films (such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life). A man of the people faces tremendous odds and, by doing the right thing, triumphs! But as Joseph McBride reveals in this meticulously researched, definitive biography, the reality was far more complex, a true American tragedy. Using newly declassified U.S. government documents about Capra's response to being considered a possible “subversive” during the post-World War II Red Scare, McBride adds a final chapter to his unforgettable portrait of the man who gave us It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, and Meet John Doe.
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1604738391
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 825
Book Description
Moviegoers often assume Frank Capra's life resembled his beloved films (such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life). A man of the people faces tremendous odds and, by doing the right thing, triumphs! But as Joseph McBride reveals in this meticulously researched, definitive biography, the reality was far more complex, a true American tragedy. Using newly declassified U.S. government documents about Capra's response to being considered a possible “subversive” during the post-World War II Red Scare, McBride adds a final chapter to his unforgettable portrait of the man who gave us It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, and Meet John Doe.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Author: Clarence Budington Kelland
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 280
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 280
Book Description
American Vision
Author: Raymond Carney
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN: 9780521326193
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 536
Book Description
Professor Carney analyses Frank Capra's life as well as the broad cultural context of his films.
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN: 9780521326193
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 536
Book Description
Professor Carney analyses Frank Capra's life as well as the broad cultural context of his films.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Author: Robert Riskin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 352
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 352
Book Description
The Capra Touch
Author: Matthew C. Gunter
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 078648828X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 254
Book Description
During World War II, Academy Award-winning director Frank Capra (1897-1991) made propaganda films for the U.S. Government, such as Prelude to War, The Nazis Strike, The Battle of Britain, War Comes to America and The Negro Soldier. These entries in the Why We Fight documentary series have been largely neglected by Capra scholars. This work analyzes the cinematic and thematic techniques Capra employed in these films, linking them to the techniques and ideology of the director's popular mainstream narrative films, including It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Also analyzed are the manners in which Frank Capra's war service affected his later films, notably his 1946 masterpiece It's a Wonderful Life, and how Capra's belief in individual liberty shaped both his films and his career under the oppressive Hollywood studio system.
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 078648828X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 254
Book Description
During World War II, Academy Award-winning director Frank Capra (1897-1991) made propaganda films for the U.S. Government, such as Prelude to War, The Nazis Strike, The Battle of Britain, War Comes to America and The Negro Soldier. These entries in the Why We Fight documentary series have been largely neglected by Capra scholars. This work analyzes the cinematic and thematic techniques Capra employed in these films, linking them to the techniques and ideology of the director's popular mainstream narrative films, including It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Also analyzed are the manners in which Frank Capra's war service affected his later films, notably his 1946 masterpiece It's a Wonderful Life, and how Capra's belief in individual liberty shaped both his films and his career under the oppressive Hollywood studio system.
Frank Capra
Author: Frank Capra
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 9781578066179
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 268
Book Description
Few Hollywood directors had a higher profile in the 1930s than Frank Capra (1897-1991). He served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and of the Screen Directors Guild. He won three Academy Awards as best director and was widely acclaimed as the man most responsible for making Columbia Pictures a success. This popularity was established and sustained by films that spoke to and for the times--It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Meet John Doe, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. These replicated the nation's hopes and dreams for a national community. He worked with some of the brightest stars in Hollywood--James Stewart, Clark Gable, Jean Arthur, Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, Donna Reed, and Ann-Margret. Capra's interviews express his connection to the national audience and explore his own story. He was a Sicilian immigrant boy who survived rough-and-tumble beginnings to become Hollywood's most bankable director. In reflecting on his life, almost every one of his films was a parable of acclaim verging on disaster. He spent much of the 1940s in uniform while making films for the War Department. Although Capra was an optimist, World War II and his series of Why We Fight films called his legendary optimism into question. His postwar film It's a Wonderful Life (1946) gave an answer to those questions with an astonishing directness Capra never equaled again. In 1971 he published his autobiography, The Name Above the Title. Many of the interviews collected here come from this period when, as an elder statesman of motion picture art and history, he reflected on his long career. The interviews portray the Capra legend vividly and demonstrate why the warm relations between Capra and his audiences continue to inspire acclaim and admiration.
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 9781578066179
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 268
Book Description
Few Hollywood directors had a higher profile in the 1930s than Frank Capra (1897-1991). He served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and of the Screen Directors Guild. He won three Academy Awards as best director and was widely acclaimed as the man most responsible for making Columbia Pictures a success. This popularity was established and sustained by films that spoke to and for the times--It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Meet John Doe, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. These replicated the nation's hopes and dreams for a national community. He worked with some of the brightest stars in Hollywood--James Stewart, Clark Gable, Jean Arthur, Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, Donna Reed, and Ann-Margret. Capra's interviews express his connection to the national audience and explore his own story. He was a Sicilian immigrant boy who survived rough-and-tumble beginnings to become Hollywood's most bankable director. In reflecting on his life, almost every one of his films was a parable of acclaim verging on disaster. He spent much of the 1940s in uniform while making films for the War Department. Although Capra was an optimist, World War II and his series of Why We Fight films called his legendary optimism into question. His postwar film It's a Wonderful Life (1946) gave an answer to those questions with an astonishing directness Capra never equaled again. In 1971 he published his autobiography, The Name Above the Title. Many of the interviews collected here come from this period when, as an elder statesman of motion picture art and history, he reflected on his long career. The interviews portray the Capra legend vividly and demonstrate why the warm relations between Capra and his audiences continue to inspire acclaim and admiration.