Sorry I missed you last night, Grim came over so there was no motion picture. But tonight we are back. Our movie was "You Can't Take It With You" (1938), a Frank Capra classic that won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. It has an incredible cast : Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Edward Arnold, Spring Byington, Ann Miller (just 15 here), and even Dub Taylor, who most of us know from his Western roles later on in the 1960s and 70s. I think it's the craziest movie I've seen since Preston Sturges' "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek", which starred Eddie Bracken. We saw and reviewed that movie earlier this year, and tonight while I was watching "YCTIWY", I wondered - how am I gonna review this one? It's even more off the wall. But now that several hours have passed and the story has settled in, I think I've got a handle on it. I'll just tell it as I always do.
I'm gonna use the names of the actors this time, instead of their characters, because there are so many to keep track of. Edward Arnold plays a big shot industrialist who has just secured a munitions contract from the government. Right away, Capra gets in a dig at arms manufacturers, with a line from one of Arnold's stockholders, who says "now we can start any war we want". Arnold is about to create a monopoly for his corporation by putting his last competitor out of business, but to do so he needs to purchase a large block of land on which a neighborhood is located, in order to build his new factory. None of these people want to move, but Arnold believes he has the power to force them out. He sends out his shyster lawyer - much like Trump would do with Rudolph Giuliani - to coerce the homeowners into selling. If they won't take the money, the unspoken threat is that Arnold will use "eminent domain", the unscrupulous tactic that allows a corporate entity to seize land that is deemed by a court to be better suited for the corporation's use. Here in Los Angeles, eminent domain has been used to relocate homeowners so that freeways could be constructed, and it was also used to toss folks out of Chavez Ravine in order to build Dodger Stadium.
But back to the movie, Edward Arnold has every resident either willing or forced to sell, except one. He excoriates his lawyer : "Those other sales do me no good unless I get this last one! If I'm to build the factory I need the whole block, don't you see? Go back there and get that man to sell! If he won't accept our offer, threaten him"! Arnold's lawyer is an elderly fussbudget and rather ineffectual, but he promises to do his best. The trouble is that the recalcitrant homeowner is Lionel Barrymore, the great cinematic icon of American Individualism and Folk Wisdom. He always appeared in a wheelchair due to real-life arthritis, but his characters were usually Towers Of Strength. Barrymore runs an unusual household, based on his philosophy that everyone should do what makes them happy. He was once a businessman just like Edward Arnold, but had become miserable in that life, so he retired to play his harmonica and encourage everyone around him to pursue their own talents.
Jimmy Stewart (pronun.), Arnold's son, has just been made a vice president by his Dad. He's in love with his secretary (Jean Arthur), who just so happens to be Lionel Barrymore's granddaughter. In fact, she lives in his house of eccentric personalities - the house he is refusing to sell to Edward Arnold. Jimmy and Jean are engaged to be married, so he asks to meet her family. Jean Arthur is the only member of the household with a "real" job, and the only one who's even marginally conformed to society, so at first she's a little embarrassed for Jimmy to visit. But he's Jimmy Stewart, i.e. nothing freaks him out, so he comes over, and in the living room there's teeenaged Ann Miller, Jean Arthur's younger sister, dancing her way across the floor, accompanied by her mother on piano and father (Dub Taylor) on xylophone. Down in the basement, an Uncle is blowing off fireworks. Another resident (Donald Meek) makes toys and Halloween masks. Anything goes in this house, as long as it's fun. Lionel Barrymore welcomes Jimmy Stewart, who is charmed by his soon-to-be in laws. Now the only thing left to do is to introduce his parents to the Barrymore world, to get their blessing for the nuptials, but Jimmy doesn't know that Lionel Barrymore is the last holdout against his father's land deal. Not only that, but his parents are quintessential Stuffed Shirts.
So you can imagine what's going to happen when he invites them over to the Barrymore house for dinner.
When I was a little kid in Reseda, we had a family living nearby named the Marshalls. Mrs. Marshall was a very bright woman - a doctor - and she had a similar philosophy to Lionel Barrymore as far as her children were concerned. When I had nobody to play with, I'd wander over to their house. The front door was always open, and when you walked in, you might see one son standing on his head while reading a book, and you might see another one drawing on the wall, while the third one either stared unblinking at his elaborate aquarium filled with tropical fish, or worked on his unorthodox electrical inventions like a teenaged Tesla. To a six year old like me, the Marshalls were a weird bunch, but they were also fun, simply because they were different.
The Barrymores in "You Can't Take It With You" are like this, only on steroids. During the household scenes, I felt like I was watching a David Lynch movie directed by Frank Capra. Once Edward Arnold and his Squaresville Wife are introduced to them, all hell will eventually break loose. I don't want to reveal too many plot details, because you have to see the insanity for yourself, but there is a scene where everyone in the house is arrested and taken to jail, including the Arnolds. It's a laff riot, and you just keep wondering "what next"?
Capra infuses the story with his favorite subtheme of social justice. These kinds of stories were popular during the Depression, especially when mixed with comedy (as we saw in "My Man Godfrey" by director Mark Sandrich). Audiences wanted to be uplifted, and what better way then by making fun of the rich? However, Capra - and Hollywood itself - was more humanist than to simply ridicule the wealthy and leave it at that. In the long run, in most of these films, everyone is shown to have a "good side", no matter their status, and everyone is able to laugh, not just at others but at themselves too.
Frank Capra always wanted to leave the audience with a Silver Lining, and he does so here, only this time it comes at the end of a very whacked out comedy. I'm surprised that "You Can't Take It With You" - a movie about following your bliss - is not as well known as "It's A Wonderful Life", especially given it's Best Picture Oscar, an award that "Life" did not attain. I think it's a must-see. It's absolutely insane and heart warming at the same time. I give it Two Gigantic Thumbs Up and my highest recommendation. ////
I'm now gonna go up to Aliso for a quick hike, and to see how things are growing after the recent rains. See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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