You Can't Take It With You 1938

The Film:

This, like our previous Capra winner, is another film that I know pretty well. It comes from being an unashamed Capra fan! Having said that, I still find it surprising that this was one of his Best Picture winners - when Mr Deeds, Mr Smith and George Bailey all lost out!

However - it's a good 'un and it gives a nice slice of Hollywood's version of American 30s family life. It's based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play and is very much an ensemble piece (Lionel Barrymore plays the lead - but he's only just the lead....). The wider cast is unusually large for a film of its style.

It's the second Capra film to win Best Picture and the third win for Capra as Best Director, all within the space of five years. He had a good decade - even though his most famous and successful film is still another eight years away. It's the first Capra film to star James Stewart (unfortunately we only get to see him once more on this challenge - in heavy make up!) and it also has an early appearance by Ann Miller, dancing her way through the film as she always did (unfortunately this is the only time we'll see her!)



The Ceremony:

It was held at the Biltmore again - on 23rd February 1939. There was no official host that year (no

Yes, it's Shirley again - so what, it's the 30s!

idea why!) and all radio coverage was banned (again, no idea why!).

It was the first year to feature a Foreign Language Film in the nominations for Best Picture (there was no separate category back then) - Renoir's Grand Illusion. It was also the second year in a row that someone won back-to-back awards. This time Spencer Tracy.

After a fair bit of outcry that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was snubbed the year before (and it would be a long time before Animated Features had their own category!) the film was given an honorary award - of one big Oscar and seven little ones!


Other Notable Winners That Night: 

Spencer and Bette - and rather a lot of feathers

Spencer Tracy took Best Actor (again), this time for Boys Town (one of my Dad's favourites!). Best Actress went to Bette Davis for Jezebel.

The other big winner was The Adventures of Robin Hood which took a couple of technical awards and Best Score for Erich Korngold - for what is generally regarded to be one of the great film scores of all time!




Best Song:

Nothing else on the list (apart from Jeepers Creepers!) rings any bells and this one's a classic, so it's probably a worthy winner. From The Big Broadcast of 1938 (which I've just found on Youtube so I'm going to have to check it out!) here's Bob Hope and Shirley Ross with "Thanks for the Memory":

What We Could/Should Have Been Watching:

Damn you Capra - Can't take it with you?
Well give it to me then!

I like Capra. I like You Can't Take It With You. But I like at least four other Capra films better - and there are also some absolute classics on the Best Picture list this year. I can think of three that probably deserve the award more (just as Mr Deeds Goes To Town did a few years earlier....)

Grand Illusion is now considered to be one of the greatest films ever made, certainly one of the best French films ever. But it was probably a little too French for 30s Hollywood.

Pygmalion is also a really good film. Its musical remake won the Oscar, so I suppose we can overlook this one. But it's a shame more people aren't aware of the original non-singing Eliza Doolittle!

Really though, the Oscar should have gone to The Adventures of Robin Hood. In Technicolor! With Errol Flynn! And generally considered one of the greatest swash-bucklers of all time. Yep, sorry Frank. Robin Hood was robbed!


Our Verdict:

The wonderful Lionel Barrymore!

This is a really lovely film - and a joy to watch. Even though I think it shouldn't have won, I still really enjoyed watching it again. It's a film that is very much of its time but it still has quite a lot to say about money, politics and the American Dream that is relevant to modern audiences.

Grandpa Vanderhof (played by the always excellent Lionel B!) has all the best lines, like these ones - "When things go a little bad these days you go out and get yourself an -ism and you're in business" and "Lincoln said 'with malice towards no one and charity towards all'. Nowadays they say 'think the way I do or I'll bomb the daylights outta you'". Nothing much has changed!

James and Jean - if in doubt, dance...

Lionel B is brilliant here and totally holds the film together as the eccentric head of an eccentric family who shows kindness to all and gives everyone and everything a real chance. He plays the whole thing on crutches because his arthritis was making it difficult to walk - most of his remaining film roles are wheelchair bound (such as Mr Potter in It's A Wonderful Life).

James Stewart is fab playing the banker's son who, in many ways, is like a younger version of Grandpa - with a naive acceptance of everyone and everything. He can't see why there should be a problem with him marrying his secretary, even though she's not from a wealthy family, actually from a very unusual family and, furthermore, from the family that is scuppering his father's big business deal. I love James Stewart anyway - and this early role shows clearly what was to come over the next decade or so.

Just your average day at the Vanderhof/Sycamore house...

Polly-wolly-doodle on the harmonica - it solves everything!

The rest of the extended family are also great - including Mr Poppins who quits his accounting job on a whim to make his toys because Grandpa invites him to do so, Dad and the ice man making fireworks in the cellar, Mother writing plays because they got given a typewriter one day by mistake, and sister Essie dancing all the time, with her xylophone-playing husband and her Russian dance teacher.

The characters and the situations are completely wacky and over-the-top - but the writing and acting really aren't. It works as a heartwarming comedy drama, with some funny scenes and set pieces, but ultimately a good story with nice resolution and something decent and worthwhile to say.

Grandpa, for all his determination and eccentricities, puts the needs of his family first and agrees to sell the house - only for everything to turn out right in the end when fat cat Kirby realises what he's missing out on over a rousing duet of Polly-wolly-doodle on the harmonica.

And why not!