I like "Arsenic and Old Mace but for some reason, I could never get through "It Happened One Night." It just pings me the wrong way.
A surprising Capra movie I wasn't expecting to like that much but really liked a lot was "You Can't Take It with You" which starts off really charmingly hokey, turns dark suddenly, but has a generally happy ending.
But my favorite Capra movie is "Lost Horizon" despite the assorted problems I can see in it as a self-aware 21st century man. If The Doctor showed up and offered me a ride in the TARDIS, I'd want to go see that movie on its premiere at its full length with a crisp clean print. The few surviving bits of the original print are amazing and show us just how much we've lost.
It's kind of interesting to me how (relatively) few movies he did--but WHAT he did was Golden Age Canon.
I don't think I've seen Lost Horizon. I'll have to check that one out. I don't think I can revisit It Happened One Night, but I can re-watch Arsenic and Old Lace once a year.
You've never seen "Lost Horizon"? Okay. Just make sure you get the old black and white movie not the horrible 1970s musical version. And it's long, so setttle in and enjoy the journey.
Note: It has colonialism and white savior and yellow face tropes (and a few actors who should never have been let in front of a camera) but it also has humor and wit and several wonderful performances.
Arsenic and Old Lace. A little background. It was originally a stage play. The producers went to Boris Karloff to play Johnathan, but Karloff turned them down, having become mainly a movie star by this point. They showed him the script with the line "The man looks like Karloff." He howled in laughter and agreed to do it. Fast forward to the movie. They got almost the entire broadway cast, but specifically not Karloff, because they wanted to keep him in the play to keep the attendance up. It was one of his great regrets he didn't get to do the movie, though he did do a TV adaptation in the 50's. I have a soft spot for this play. I was in a run a local theater group did years ago, playing the Peter Lorre part.
Oh, I know it was originally a stage play. So was Hawks' His Girl Friday ("The Front Page"), but it doesn't have that static blocky feel to it. Capra wasn't a big fan of moving the camera too much, with a few notable exceptions, such as Jimmy Stewart's run in It's a Wonderful Life. Karloff would have been better in the role, no doubt. I love that thing in old movies when they get all meta. Grant does it in His Girl Friday when he siccs Evangeline on that guy in the lobby "who looks like Ralph Bellamy." Makes me smile every time.
I'm a little embarrassed to say that I thought Jonathon Pryce had passed away...or rather, I'm happy to see he's still alive and doing new work. I first saw him in Glengarry Glen Ross, and have been a fan ever since...
I like "Arsenic and Old Mace but for some reason, I could never get through "It Happened One Night." It just pings me the wrong way.
A surprising Capra movie I wasn't expecting to like that much but really liked a lot was "You Can't Take It with You" which starts off really charmingly hokey, turns dark suddenly, but has a generally happy ending.
But my favorite Capra movie is "Lost Horizon" despite the assorted problems I can see in it as a self-aware 21st century man. If The Doctor showed up and offered me a ride in the TARDIS, I'd want to go see that movie on its premiere at its full length with a crisp clean print. The few surviving bits of the original print are amazing and show us just how much we've lost.
It's kind of interesting to me how (relatively) few movies he did--but WHAT he did was Golden Age Canon.
I don't think I've seen Lost Horizon. I'll have to check that one out. I don't think I can revisit It Happened One Night, but I can re-watch Arsenic and Old Lace once a year.
*sputters*
You've never seen "Lost Horizon"? Okay. Just make sure you get the old black and white movie not the horrible 1970s musical version. And it's long, so setttle in and enjoy the journey.
Note: It has colonialism and white savior and yellow face tropes (and a few actors who should never have been let in front of a camera) but it also has humor and wit and several wonderful performances.
‘Preciate the content warnings!
Arsenic and Old Lace. A little background. It was originally a stage play. The producers went to Boris Karloff to play Johnathan, but Karloff turned them down, having become mainly a movie star by this point. They showed him the script with the line "The man looks like Karloff." He howled in laughter and agreed to do it. Fast forward to the movie. They got almost the entire broadway cast, but specifically not Karloff, because they wanted to keep him in the play to keep the attendance up. It was one of his great regrets he didn't get to do the movie, though he did do a TV adaptation in the 50's. I have a soft spot for this play. I was in a run a local theater group did years ago, playing the Peter Lorre part.
And not for nothing, but I'd love to watch you in community theater!
Oh, I know it was originally a stage play. So was Hawks' His Girl Friday ("The Front Page"), but it doesn't have that static blocky feel to it. Capra wasn't a big fan of moving the camera too much, with a few notable exceptions, such as Jimmy Stewart's run in It's a Wonderful Life. Karloff would have been better in the role, no doubt. I love that thing in old movies when they get all meta. Grant does it in His Girl Friday when he siccs Evangeline on that guy in the lobby "who looks like Ralph Bellamy." Makes me smile every time.
I'm a little embarrassed to say that I thought Jonathon Pryce had passed away...or rather, I'm happy to see he's still alive and doing new work. I first saw him in Glengarry Glen Ross, and have been a fan ever since...