You Can't Take It With You (film)
| You Can't Take It With You | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Frank Capra |
| Produced by | Frank Capra |
| Screenplay by | Robert Riskin |
| Based on |
You Can't Take It With You (play) by George Kaufman and Moss Hart |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Dimitri Tiomkin |
| Cinematography | Joseph Walker |
| Editing by | Gene Havlick |
| Studio | Columbia Pictures |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release dates |
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| Running time | 126 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$1,644,736 (est.) |
| Box office |
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You Can't Take It With You is a 1938 American romantic comedy film directed by Frank Capra and starring Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, and Edward Arnold. Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.,[1] the film is about a man from a family of rich snobs who becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family.
The film received two Academy Awards from seven nominations: Best Picture and Best Director for Frank Capra. This was Capra's third Oscar for Best Director in just five years, following It Happened One Night in 1934 and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town in 1936. It was also the highest-grossing picture of the year.
Plot
Successful banker Anthony P. Kirby (Edward Arnold) has just returned from Washington, D.C., where he was effectively granted a government-sanctioned munitions monopoly, which will make him very rich. He intends to buy up a 12-block radius around a competitor's factory to put his out of business, but there is one house that is a holdout to selling. Kirby instructs his real estate broker, Carmichael (Dub Taylor), to offer a huge sum for the house, and if that is not accepted, to cause trouble for the family.
Kirby's son, Tony (James Stewart), is a vice president in the family company, and has fallen in love with a company stenographer, Alice Sycamore (Jean Arthur). When Tony proposes marriage, Alice is worried that her family would be looked upon poorly by Tony's rich and famous family. In fact, Alice is the only relatively normal member of the eccentric Sycamore family, led by Grandpa Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore). Unbeknownst to the players, Alice's family is the house that will not sell out.
Kirby and the snobbish Mrs. Kirby (Mary Forbes) strongly disapprove of Tony's choice for marriage. Before she accepts, Alice forces Tony to bring his family to become better acquainted with their future in-laws. But when Tony purposely brings his family on the wrong day, the Sycamore family is caught off-guard and the house is in disarray. As the Kirbys are preparing to leave after a rather disastrous meeting, the police arrest everyone in the house for making unlicensed fireworks and disturbing the peace. Held up in the drunk tank preparing to see the night court judge, Mrs. Kirby repeatedly insults Alice and makes her feel unworthy of her son. At the court hearing, the judge (Harry Davenport) repeatedly asks why the Kirbys were at the Vanderhof house. When Grandpa says it was to talk over selling the house, Alice has an outburst and says it was because she was engaged to Tony but is spurning him because of how poorly she has been treated by his family. This causes a sensation in the papers, and Alice flees the city.
With Alice gone, Grandpa decides to sell the house, thus meaning the whole section of the town must vacate in preparation for building a new factory. Now, the Kirby companies merge, creating a huge fluctuation in the stock market. When Kirby's competitor, Ramsey (H. B. Warner), dies after confronting him for being ruthless and a failure of a man, Kirby has a realization that he does not have any friends -- just as Grandpa Vanderhof told him back in the drunk tank. Kirby visits the Vanderhofs as they are moving out of the house, and Kirby lets loose and plays the harmonica and realizes these lower-class people he previously belittled are good people. Alice takes Tony back and the film ends with the Vanderhofs and Kirbys enjoying a meal together.
Cast
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Production notes
- Barrymore's infirmity was incorporated into the plot of the film. He was on crutches the entire movie, which was said to be due to an accident from sliding down the banister. In reality, it was due to his increasing arthritis – earlier in the year he had been forced to withdraw from the movie A Christmas Carol.
- Ann Miller, who plays Essie Carmichael (Ed Carmichael's wife), was only fifteen years old when this movie was filmed.
Academy Awards
- Wins[2]
- Outstanding Production: Columbia Pictures
- Best Director: Frank Capra
- Nominations
- Best Supporting Actress: Spring Byington
- Best Writing (Screenplay): Robert Riskin
- Best Cinematography: Joseph Walker
- Best Film Editing: Gene Havlick
- Best Sound Recording: Columbia Studio Sound Department, John P. Livadary, Sound Director
Adaptations to other media
You Can't Take it With You was adapted as a radio play on the October 2, 1939 broadcast of Lux Radio Theater with Edward Arnold, Robert Cummings and Fay Wray.
See also
References
- Citations
- ↑ You Can't Take It With You at the Internet Broadway Database
- ↑ "The 11th Academy Awards (1939) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
- Bibliography
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to You Can't Take It with You (film). |
- You Can't Take It with You at allmovie
- You Can't Take It with You at the Internet Movie Database
- You Can't Take It with You at the Internet Broadway Database
- You Can't Take It with You at the TCM Movie Database
- You Can't Take It with You at Rotten Tomatoes
- You Can't Take It With You on Lux Radio Theater: October 2, 1939
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