“CAN’T BUY ME LOVE”

By Raymond Benson

Frank Capra was a superstar Hollywood director in the 1930s. He had a string of critically-acclaimed and successful pictures after joining Columbia Pictures and elevating the studio from “poverty row” to a force that competed with the big leagues. Two of Capra’s Columbia movies won the Oscar for Best Picture, and Capra became the first filmmaker to win the Oscar for Best Director three times, all within five years. You Can’t Take it With You was Capra’s second Best Picture winner and his third Best Director achievement.

Sometimes his films have been called “Capra-corn,” because they are usually steeped in Americana, explore themes of social class inequality, feature casts of eccentric—but lovable—protagonists and greedy, heartless villains, and contain stories about the Everyman’s struggle against the Establishment. Capra was also one of the developers of the screwball comedy, in which mismatched couples, usually from different social classes, fall in and out and back in love.

You Can’t Take It With You was based on the Broadway play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, which was still playing in New York when the film opened. It’s a story with Capra’s classic oddball characters—this time a whole family of them—and their clash with the moneybags banking world (a hot topic in the Depression-weary 1930s).

“Grandpa” Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore) is the patriarch of a poor but extremely happy freedom-loving houseful of misfits that include his daughter Penny (Spring Byington as a pulp writer and painter) and her husband (Samuel S. Hinds, a maker of fireworks), his granddaughter Essie (a very young Ann Miller as a would-be ballerina taking lessons from a mad Russian instructor played by Mischa Auer) and her husband Ed (Dub Taylor as a vibraphone player and printer), a couple of other hangers-on who create things in the basement (Donald Meek and Halliwell Hobbes), and the obligatory comic African-American maid and butler (Lillian Yarbo and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson). Oh, and then there’s the other granddaughter, Alice (Jean Arthur), who is relatively normal and works as a secretary in the big bank building owned and run by “A.P.” Kirby (Edward Arnold), who wants to buy Grandpa’s house and land so that he can develop on it. Grandpa is the only holdout in the area and refuses to sell. The complication comes when Alice and Kirby’s son Tony (James Stewart, in his first major role and first for Capra) fall in love and want to marry. Socialite Mrs. Kirby (Mary Forbes) disapproves with such viciousness that she practically becomes the real villain of the piece.

Thus, the Capra ingredients are all there—odd and funny characters, a conflict between upper and lower classes, and a screwball romance. Add in a healthy dose of Americana songs like “Polly Wolly Doodle” and you have a classic that in many ways still resonates today as a cautionary tale of greed. As the title states, you can’t take your money with you when you’re gone, so you might as well have fun and not worry about it while you’re here on earth.

The performances are first rate all around (although Byington received the only Oscar nomination, for Supporting Actress), and the adaptation by Robert Riskin is superb (despite radical changes to the third act of the play). There are some very funny moments, such as when the Kirbys come to the Vanderhof home for dinner on the wrong night, causing the nutty household to spring into action to accommodate them. Familiar-face Harry Davenport has a wonderful comic turn as a night court judge when everyone is thrown into the drunk tank for disorderly conduct and illegal manufacture of fireworks.

And yet, of Capra’s most well-known pictures of the 30s (It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizon, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and this one), You Can’t Take It With You is perhaps the weakest. The problem is that it’s too long, at times ponderous, and it takes a while to get going. I do question whether or not it really was the Best Picture of 1938—other nominees such as The Adventures of Robin Hood, Grand Illusion, and Boys Town may have been more deserving. And yet, You Can’t Take It With You is still a very good time at the movies.

Sony’s new Blu-ray release is outstanding. The film was fully restored and mastered in 4K (1080p high definition) and looks marvelous. There’s not a blemish to behold, and the grain is welcome. The audio is Mono DTS-HD MA with several languages from which to choose. Supplements include an audio commentary by Frank Capra, Jr. and author Cathrine Kellison that is well-informed and entertaining. A 25-minute documentary, “Frank Capra, Jr. Remembers...You Can’t Take It With You” features Capra’s son and others talking about the history behind the making of the film. The original theatrical trailer is included, and the hard-case inner booklet features a comprehensive and studious essay by film historian Jeremy Arnold.

Bottom line—it’s a must for cinephiles, Capra fans, Jimmy Stewart enthusiasts, and lovers of glorious black and white. Enjoy it... while you can.

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