You Can't Take It With You Details

Rich man, poor man...

Frank Kapra's 1938 film, "You Can't Take it with You" may have won Best Picture, but it doesn't hold a candle to "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" or everyone's favourite, "It's a Wonderful Life." Though I don't doubt that both of those later films benefited from Kapra having directed this one first, this is obviously the trial run, and those are the finished product.

The film obviously has the Kapra trademark: tyrannical businessmen vs. good, plain folks. That isn't enough to save it. "You Can't..." may be of some interest to die-hard Kapra fans, or Jimmy Stewart buffs, but its yet another reminder that the Oscar gold is no guarantee of lasting quality.

[Highly rated reviewer]

A thing of beauty

You'll need a bit of patience with this film – it is not snappily edited, scenes linger for quite some time and the sound is pretty primitive.

However get beyond these technical details and you are treated to a film with a warm, beating heart with a strong humanist ethos.

It's basically a fairytale, much as It's a Wonderful Life is, promoting a philosophy of human relationships, love and kindness as the enduring qualities of mankind; and greed, wealth and selfishness as worthless ephemera. James Stewart is as brilliant as always but the true focus of the film is the character Edward Arnold's conversion from greedy businessman to human being.

Yes, it is a fairytale, but, as with Wonderful Life, Capra somehow manages to weave these absolute values into very human settings and reminds us that, however complicated life might become, human goodness and kindess are all.

Here's a somewhat oblique reference...

For a musical equivalent to this film, try Take it With Me by Tom Waits, from the album Mule Variations. Here's an extract

Children are playing

At the end of the day

Strangers are singing

On our lawn

It's got to be more

Than flesh and bone

All that you're loved

Is all you own

In a land there's a town

And in that town there's

A house

And in that house

There's a woman

And in that woman

There's a heart I love

I'm gonna take it

With me when I go

I'm gonna take it

With me when I go