Page Four'
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Sunday, January 26, 1975
Page Four THE MICHIGAN DAILY
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Frank Capra: The hilmmaker
who re-discovered America
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Classified
FRANK CAPRA: THE MAN
AND HIS FILMS, edited by
Richard Glatzer and John
Raeburn; University of Mi-
chigan Press, 190 pages, $3.95.
By CHUCK MALAND
MO R E THAN ANY other
American film director in
the 1930s and 194s-Hollywood's
golden age-Frank Capra con-
sistently captured the imagina-
tion and won the praise of the
American film-going public. Af-
ter a humble start as a gag
writer for Mack Sennett's Our
Gang comedies, Capra rose Al-
ger-like to become one of Holly-
wood's top directors from 1934
to 1945. Between It Happened
One Night and It's a Wonderful
Life-his major period-Capra
d i r e c t e d such films as Mr.
Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Hori-
zon, You Can't Take It with
You, Mr. Smith Goes to Wash-
ington, and Meet John Doe. Cap-
ra's special mixture of screwball
film comedy and an underlying
touch of social moralism consti-
tutes a genre of its own and an Glatzer why he fought the studio
achievement that has not since system to gain control of his
been matched in American film work: "I rebel against control
comedy. of any kind. I'm a bad organi-
Perhaps because of his popu- zation man . . . It was just the
lar success, Capra has until natural r e b e 1 in me that I
recently received little atten- couldn't take orders." When
tion from film critics and schol- other directors were rapidly
ars. Frank Capra: The Man and turning out studio products with
His Films, recently published little control over story or cast-
by the University of Michigan ing-Warner's Michael Curtiz di-
Press, is to my knowledge the rected 44 films between 1930 and
first book devoted solely to the 1939-Capra fought for the right
life and work of Capra. Long to3work closely with his script-
overdue, this collection consti- writer, usually Robert Riskin,
tutes a fine starting point for and after 1934 never made more
the study of Frank Capra, his than one film per year.
films, and the place of the
movies in Depression America. IN THAT SAME interview and
Besides 24 pages of stills, a in the interview conducted by
Capra filmography and a se- the American Film Institute,
lected bibliography of works by Capra discusses a range of
and about Capra, the book con- subjects from his favorite di-
sists of two parts. The first and rectors and stars, to the auto- «.X:
shorter section collects two bio- biographical basis of his films,
graphical articles about Capra, to his use of multiple cameras Claudette Colbertc
a letter by Capra to the New and accelerated editing. Though
York Times, and two interviews a couple of details in the first Capra's "It Happen
with Capra. The second inter- part are inaccurate-Geoffrey
view, conducted by Glatzer, was Hellman says Capra was three of the older criticism are four
previously unpublished. when his family came to Amer- reviews of Capra films by Otis
HIS OPENING section tells ica-most information is sound. Ferguson and four more by
the story of the Sicilian im- Taken collectively, the opening British novelist Graham Greene.
migrant who came to California section provides the reader with Both were top film critics in the
with his family at age six, who a unique opportunity to gain late 1930s. Ferguson argues that
worked through Cal Tech by greater insight into Capra's sta- Capra's best films were It Hap-
waiting tables and cleaning en- tus as a director and his atti- pened and D e e d s because of
gines at a quarter an hour, and Rtude toward the process of their quick editing, their apt;
who found himself an unem- film-making. characterizations, and t h e i r'
THE LANDSCAPE OF HELL
A SLIDE PRESENTATION
ON THE HOLOCAUST SITES
OF PRESENT-DAY POLAND
AL A 1C 3DII
and Clark Gable in
ed One Night."
Doe, Capra reveals his uncer-
tainties about the myths he had
been propagating for the pre-
vious five years. Though no one
short essay can answer all the
problems raised by Doe-a long-
er essay could have stressed the
differences between John Doe
and the earlier Capra heroes-
Glatzer's essay provides a chal-
DAILY CLASSIFIEDS
BRING QUICK RESULTS
At A. E. 11. PVLl [lLi61 itUA 1 '
A rployed chemical engineer in the The second section includes hard - boiled n a t i v e humour. lenging start.
1620 CAMBRIDGE ST. years after WWI, free to roam . UN ,, ..***..*,***.. .. ... ..ITDERLYING virtually all
8 p.m., around the cities and towns of _.... . . . . . . . . .
the West getting a feel the criticism is the recon
SU D Y A U R 6teWsgtigafe o h1 A convincing argument concludes tion that Capra was a popular
SUAN DAYJANUARY 26 merica'he was later to portray nnartist par excellence, that the
so trenchantly in his films.
- U- - - - - - - W henCaprafinally broke into bearCa r g r ri n e re lation ship to
films, it was as a director for!American middle -class values
a fly-by-ightcompany in San drig theeression. The pre-
SUNDY,0pm.-2 a.m. Francisco. He made one film for some n cise relationship between a pop-
them-an adaptation of a Kip- ular art like the movies and
ling poem - then found work!society, however, is a thorny
writing gags for Mack Sennett. one, a question that most film
After directing three successful promoted and reserva- critic prefer either to side-step
with CHARLIE WOLFSON Harry Langdon comedies in d stabilityo ignore completely. In per-
t ,, 1926, and being fired by Lang- ion of middle-class values in times haps the most analytic and pro-
don, Capra was randomly chosen vocative essay of the entire an-
by Harry Cohn to direct films criss thology,Robert Sklar, Professor
SPECIAL GUEST COMMENTATORS ON HAND for his third-rate independentcs of History at Michigan, address-
film company, Columbia Pic- es himself directly to this ques-
featuring JAZZ IN RETROSPECT tures. In the early sound days,.. ...tion. Noting Capra's close con-
a few Capra films, including some of the best criticism of Though he contnued to praise nection to a popular audience,
WITH Platinum Blonde and Lady for Capra's films from the past as elements of Capra's films before Sklar asks whether Capra pre-
-- A Day, received some recogni- well as four original articles the war-like Gary Cooper's dig- sents in his films an accurate
NA THAN I E L CHARLES tion, but Capra really struck it written specifically for this col- nified performance in Doe-he picture of' Depression America
(rich with It Happened One Night lection. Some of these essays felt that the blatant patriotism! or a mythic picture that would
' in 1934. study one film in particularof Smith and Doe, though per-' appeal to his audience.
(BKnon as one of th fe w d hile others focus on recurring hraps a sincere expression on'
f th 1930 h hi conventions and developments Capra's part, was nonetheless To answer this question Sklar
name placed above the titles of through a number of films. I motivated more by the know- compares the Capra narratives
his films, Cabpr epains to Amoledge that movie-goers in 1939 to middle-class popular fiction
his films, Capra explains to Among the most interesting of the late-19th and early-20th
and 1941 were clamoring foroh
................. ................. flags, apple pie, and 1% century and defines how Capra
PREPARE FOR THE i Americanism. In c o n t r a s t, adapts those conventions for his
' G r e e n e, writing from war- own purposes. The central ele-
DAT, GRE :I threatened England in 1939, con- ments of the Capra film, says
LSAT, ATGSB o sidered Smith "a great film . .. Sklar, are the imaginative, will-
FSCIacted by a mfiagnificent cast." ful, and slightly-flawed Capra
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE Thiflm hero (not the "little man"), the
FIRST LESSON-FREE OF OBLIGATION . both reveal insights into their working woman, the presence
LOCAL CLASSES BEGINNING SOON critical standards and offer the of the press, and the appearance
reader an opportunity to see of public crowds at crucial mo-
A Unque Approach to how Capra's contemporaries ments to defend the hero. In a
EXAMINATON PREPARATONewed his work. convincingargument, Sklar con-
I Bothof cotribueludes that Capra was not a
Both of the editors contributed Populist, as 'critics like Andrew
TEST CENTER (31 3) 663-3598 original articles on a single film. Sarris and Jeffrey Richards
IP rrrr~rr rrrr~rrrrrrrr r.r... JesonratMiaeu nomyand rohavesgetdtu ahri
fesor t Mchganandnowathe must be labeled-something
the University of Iowa, studies I of a pastoralist or Jeffersonian
American Madness (1932). Be- agrarian, whose films promoted
G^ he Gift f Life cause the film was commercial- stability and the preservation of
ivethei ftof ifly unavailable until recently, it middle-class values in times of
is one of Capra's lesser-known crisis.
films. Nonetheless, it anticipatesTH LAEi
such later Capra preoccupations WHATEVER
as the bank run in Wonderful can not be doubted that
~\Life and is, according to Rae-Car isoe fHlyw d'
burs None of the iest An-ip most imaginative and success-
STUDENT BLOOD BANK can movies to emerge from the ful popular artists. Though Cap-
firt yar ofth Deresio., ra may feel uncomfortable with
- first years of the Depression." the title artist, to deny that his
Jai 27 28 Raeburn's essay, which reveals vit o Arica dung the
Ja n. 2/, 20, 2' a sharp understanding of Ameri- visions of America during the
can culture in the early 1930s Depression and WWII contained
Feb. 10 and 11 and a clear perception of how the vividness and formal Per-
Capra wedded style and content ity of art would be foolish. Per-
11 A.M-5 P M in the film, makes that judg- haps John Cassavetes' comment
.ment convincing. on the back cover of the book
best expresses the immediacy
Writing on Doe, Richard Glat- of Capra's n a t i o n a l vision:
Michigan Union Ballroom zer (a former Daily film critic "Maybe there really wasn't an
and key organizer of the suc-Amrc-
" ~ . cessful 1971 Frank Capra Festi- America, maybe it was only
_ 'val) is contending with the most Frank Capra."
difficult of Capra's major films,
the film for which Capra shot
ro 03 (five endings, none of them really Chuck Maland is a graduate
satisfying. Glatzer finds that in student in American Studies.
3
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