Word: capra
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Wonderful Life is a triumphant Hollywood homecoming for two efficient ex-soldiers. Producer-Director Frank Capra (It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town), ex-Signal Corps colonel who bossed the making of such outstanding wartime documentaries as San Pietro, has lost none of his civilian cunning at whipping up top-drawer entertainment. He is still one of Hollywood's most talented moviemakers. Actor James Stewart, who worked his way up without ballyhoo from buck private to Air Forces colonel (and bomber-wing commander), has also boosted his rank as an actor. Having put aside his aggressively boyish...
...unskilled hands, this moral fable might have been dully preachy. Director Capra's inventiveness, humor and affection for human beings keep it glowing with life and excitement. Stewart's warm-hearted playing of what might have been a goody-goody role is a constant delight. And if Director Capra's Christmas-cheer ending is slightly hoked up to make it richer and happier than life, that is the way many a good fable...
...Jane Russell) and John Ford's handsome My Darling
Clementine. Still to come: ¶ Walt Disney's Pecos Bill, another mixture
of cartooning and live action, with Roy Rogers and horse, Trigger. ¶Winchester 73, Walter Wanger's oater-with-psychology, starring Joan
Bennett.
¶| Frank Capra's Pioneer Woman.
¶J Cecil B. De Mille's Unconquered, involving Gary Cooper and Paulette Goddard in flying
tommyhawks.
¶ Warner Bros.' Calamity Jane, with Ann Sheridan.
¶ Paramount's California, with Ray Milland and Barbara Stanwyck.
...Frank Capra, Jimmy Stewart, Thomas Mitchell...
Sicilian-born Lieut. Colonel Frank Capra, who commands the Army unit which made Prelude to War, was one of the finest directors in Hollywood when he was putting Harry Langdon through such comedies as The Strong Man. With It Happened One Night and subsequent box-office wows, he became one of the slickest and most surefire, and developed a warm but somewhat spongy liberalism. The war and the Army seem to have stiffened his humanitarian fiber. Never a bossy boss, he leaves his assistants much to their own devices. He can well afford to-among the film virtuosi now under...