Frank Capra is considered one of the true heavyweights of American cinema in its history; well remembered for his directing of 'It's A Wonderful Life' in 1946, the relative lack of success for this film led to his gradual withdrawl from the mainstream American cinema. He slowed down in his production output and went into reclusion until the release of his biography 'The Name Above The Title', in the late 1970s which led to a reappraisal of his work and critical acclaim as the first truly American filmmaker; ironic, considering he was an Italian immigrant.
Capra's career is split into four parts - his youngling years where he was a gag writer and on the quick director for Mack Sennett and Harry Langdon; then his moving to Columbia Pictures where he would direct 7 films a year and attempt to find his feet in terms of stylistic and authorial voice, leading up to the unprecedented success of 'It Happened One Night' in 1934 which was the first film to win all 5 of the major awards at the Oscars - a feat only equalled twice since in 1975 and 1990. His third part are all the acclaimed and well remembered films that followed 1934 upto the beginning of America's involvement in the Second World War following Pearl Harbor in 1941. His fourth and final part are the war documentaries he made for the National Service and his films upon the return to normality culminating in James Stewart's most memorable role as George Bailey in Bedford Falls.
The British Film Institute (BFI) is running a two part retrospective of Capra's entire back catalogue, everything is on display from the gag writing five reelers for Langdon, to his work on poverty row for Harry Cohn in November. Choosing to split his career by placing 'IHON' as the schism of his career, in December come the Oscar winners and everyman features where the creation of 'CapraCorn' began a huge amount of sentimentality trying to be heard amongst the genuine social commentary. And fittingly the second part falls in December meaning Christmas time and the perfect occasion to watch his most cherished film.
Looking through the catalogue and seeing the films on display it is good to see titles I have not seen mixed in with some I have stumbled across by way of previous seasons, film school, personal cost or late night televison. I have already seen 'American Madness', 'Meet John Doe', 'Mr.Smith..', 'You Can't Take It With You' and 'One Night', so I am taking it upon myself to see as much as possible when and if.
I have read copious amounts of Capra biography and critical theory especially 'The Catastrophe of Success' by Joseph McBride - which took each and every film on its own merits but came to the conclusion that his success came at a cost to his personal integrity, but also his self-belief that he was bigger than star hence his autobiography title. Capra was the first director who could open a film on the basis that his name was above the title, much like Hitchcock and Spielberg did eventually. He was a star director, but in using another critical theorem, Cahiers du Cinema, he would not be considered an auteur in the same way contemporaries Ford and Hawks would be. Capra's films are full of social comment meaning he was liked by the masses and served general appeal, but his desire to pursue Oscar winners in his later years do a discredit to his entire oeuvre, much like James Cameron's entire career boils down to 'Titanic' and 'Avatar' it is unfair to dismiss or pigeon hole a career to two films. Lets not forget Capra did nearly 30 films, and did up to 7 films a year between 1925-30, unheard of then and unimaginable now.
I watched 'Forbidden' on Friday 5th at a matinee on the BFI Southbank, it starred Barbara Stanwyck in a typical melodramatic role of hers as Lulu who, unhappy with life, finds love on a cruise but with Bob who is married and has political aspirations, her decisions to keep their illegitimate child and to be the 'other' woman in his life in opposition to the invalid wife leads to a life unfulfilled and one of scorn. The man becomes Governor of the state and she remains in the background as their child becomes the poster girl of his election ticket. It is typical of Capra to take such a lowly character who seeks social elevation above their means, but it was unusual to see Capra doing melodrama to this extreme. At one point it become melodrama and he could not stop it becoming anything else, thanks in part to Stanwyck's performance (in my opinion this is more melodramatic than Stella Dallas, a film more fondly remembered by 'weepie' fans).
It is a flawed film with its share of distractions, not least Al (Ralph Bellamy) as the journalist soon to be editor who wants to take down Bob (Adolph Menjou) from his office knowing that he has a mistress on the side that dismisses his appeals for family values, what he does not realise is that the love of his life Lulu is the very same mistress. So you have a love triangle, where each person is out to destroy each other. This age of destruction is not something you tend to notice in Capra's films; but the willingness to throw away people and use them for the individual's own personal improvement does become more apparent in later films such as 'Mr.Smith' and 'John Doe'; the individual is put in his/her place by the status ladder and the creation of a social order. People wish to elevate themselves to a standing more suited to their ambitions, but once there that ambition comes back to haunt them.
However, what is most striking about the film is the storyline and visual tropes that although made in 1932 seem to bare a striking resemblence to scenes and moments in 'Citizen Kane' which appeared nearly 10 years later. When Welles said he watched 'Stagecoach' numerous times to learn all he needed to know about film, did he forget to mention the debt to Capra. I speak of the politician who preaches family values yet has a mistress (like Kane did with Susan Alexander, leading to the death of his wife and child), and the tossing of incriminating evidence into the fire is reminiscent of Kane near that film's conclusion. This all may be by the by but the similarity is startling.
Be that as it may, the film does have some moments of emotion such as when they sit silently in the back of a taxi and as Menjou sits in the rain as Stanwyck walks away, you await the fade but she returns. These immoral lovers are granted moments of tenderness they do not deserve, this is indicative of the moral ambiguity of films pre-1934 and the Hays code but it does not sit well with other and later Capra films which are morally objective and toe the party line; but this emotion comes from the great performances by Stanwyck and Menjou, and the effective use of lighting and editing such as when Stanwyck unloads six chambers into someone, the crimson on her split lip is boiling as she fires the bullets.
'REDISCOVERING FRANK CAPRA' runs at the BFI Southbank (
www.bfi.org.uk/southbank) until 30th December. Go to the website for full details and screen times.
