romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...
film directed by
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was the creative force behind Frank Capra filmography#Films that won Academy Award ...
James Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morali ...
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
-winning 1936 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, 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. A critical and commercial success, the film received two
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was the creative force behind Frank Capra filmography#Films that won Academy Award ...
. This was Capra's third Oscar for Best Director in just five years, following ''
It Happened One Night
''It Happened One Night'' is a 1934 American pre-Code romantic comedy film with elements of screwball comedy directed and co-produced by Frank Capra, in collaboration with Harry Cohn, in which a pampered socialite ( Claudette Colbert) tr ...
Wall Street
Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...
banker Anthony P. Kirby returns from
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, where he completed a highly lucrative deal granting him a government-sanctioned
munitions
Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of ...
monopoly
A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...
. He intends to buy a 12-block radius around a competitor's factory to force him out of business, but one household refuses to sell. Kirby instructs his real-estate broker, John Blakely, to offer the household a huge sum, and if they still refuse, to cause trouble for the family.
Kirby's son Tony, a vice president in the family company, has fallen in love with a company stenographer, Alice Sycamore. When Tony proposes marriage, Alice is worried that his affluent family will look down on her family. In fact, Alice is the only relatively normal member of the eccentric Sycamore family, led by Grandpa Martin Vanderhof. Other family members include Alice's parents Penny, a playwright, and Paul, who manufactures fireworks in the cellar; her sister Essie Carmichael, an aspiring dancer who makes homemade candies; and Essie's husband Ed, a musician and printer who delivers Essie's candies. Unbeknownst to the Kirbys, Alice's family lives in the house that will not sell. Grandpa is protecting not only his property but the families and businesses in the 12-block area Kirby wants.
Kirby and his wife strongly disapprove of Tony's choice for marriage. Tony not only loves Alice but feels she encourages his taste for spontaneous fun and farcical humor. Before she accepts, Alice insists that Tony bring his parents to meet their future in-laws, but when Tony purposely brings his parents a day earlier than planned (reasoning that the two families should meet as they are, not in a formal "stuffed-shirt" setting), the Sycamore family is caught off-guard, and the house is in disarray. As the Kirbys are leaving after a disastrous meeting, the police arrive to arrest Ed for flyers he placed in Essie's candy boxes to advertise Paul's fireworks, and which the police perceive as communist propaganda. When the fireworks in the cellar accidentally go off, they arrest everyone in the house.
Held in the
drunk tank
A drunk tank is a jail cell or separate facility accommodating people who are intoxicated, especially with alcohol. Some such facilities are mobile, and may be spoken of as "booze buses".
Traditionally, and in some jurisdictions currently, the ...
preparing to see the night-court judge, Mrs. Kirby repeatedly insults Alice and makes her feel unworthy of Tony, while Grandpa explains to Kirby the importance of having friends, and that despite all the wealth and success in business, "you can't take it with you". At the court hearing, the judge dismisses the charge for disturbing the peace against Grandpa and fines him $100 for the illegal fireworks; Grandpa's neighborhood friends pitch in to pay the fine. The judge refuses to dismiss the charges against the Kirbys unless they explain why they were at the Vanderhof house. Grandpa covers for the Kirbys by claiming it was to discuss selling the house, but Alice reveals it was because she was engaged to Tony, before 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 sells the house, thus meaning all his neighbors must vacate their properties. As a result, the Kirby companies merge, creating a huge fluctuation in the stock market and ruining Ramsey, Kirby's competitor. Tony tells his father that he is quitting his job at the company, which he never wanted in the first place. Ramsey dies from a heart failure after confronting Kirby for being ruthless and a failure of a man, saying he too will end up ruined, alone and friendless. Realizing Ramsey was right, Kirby abruptly leaves the board meeting where the contract signing is scheduled to occur.
As the Vanderhofs are vacating the house, Tony tries to speak with Alice, who locks herself in her room. Kirby arrives and talks privately with Grandpa, sharing his realization. Grandpa responds by inviting him to play a duet of " Polly Wolly Doodle" on the harmonica that he gave Kirby. The rest of the family join in the merriment, while Alice and Tony happily reconcile after Kirby expresses his approval of their marriage. Later, at the dinner table, Grandpa says grace for the Sycamore family and the Kirbys, revealing that Kirby has sold back the houses on the block.
James Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morali ...
Spring Byington
Spring Dell Byington (October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971) was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of '' December Bride''. She was an MGM contract player who appeared in films from the ...
Mary Forbes
Mary Forbes (born Ethel Louise Young; 1 January 1883 – 22 July 1974) was a British-American film actress, based in the United States in her latter years, where she died. She appeared in more than 130 films from 1919 to 1958.Lillian Yarbo as Rheba
* Eddie Anderson as Donald
* Clarence Wilson as John Blakeley, Kirby's real estate broker
* Josef Swickard as the Professor
* Ann Doran as Maggie O'Neill
* Christian Rub as Mr. Schmidt
* Bodil Rosing as Mrs. Schmidt
* Charles Lane as Wilbur G. Henderson, IRS agent
* Harry Davenport as the Night Court Judge
Production
In 1937,
Harry Cohn
Harry Cohn (July 23, 1891 – February 27, 1958) was a co-founder, president, and production director of Columbia Pictures, Columbia Pictures Corporation.
Life and career
Cohn was born to a working-class Jewish family in New York City. His fath ...
of Columbia Pictures bought the film rights of the original play for $200,000 ($3,589,000 in 2019).
After seeing actor James Stewart portray "a sensitive, heart-grabbing role in MGM's '' Navy Blue and Gold''", Frank Capra cast Stewart for the role of leading male character, Tony Kirby, to " ithis concept of idealized America".
Barrymore's infirmity was incorporated into the plot of the film. His character 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
''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...
''.
Ann Miller, who plays Essie Carmichael, was only 15 when ''You Can't Take It with You'' was filmed.
Reception
Frank Nugent of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' called the film "a grand picture, which will disappoint only the most superficial admirers of the play". '' Variety'' called it "fine audience material and over the heads of no one. The comedy is wholly American, wholesome, homespun, human, appealing, and touching in turn." The review suggested that "it could have been edited down a bit here and there, though as standing it is never tiresome". ''
Film Daily
''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informati ...
'' wrote: "Smoothly directed, naturally acted and carefully produced, 'You Can't Take It With You' has all the elements of screen entertainment that the fans could wish for." "Excellent", wrote '' Harrison's Reports''. "Robert Riskin did a fine job in adapting it from the stage play for he wisely placed emphasis on the human rather than on the farcical side of the story; yet he did this without sacrificing any of the comedy angles." John Mosher of ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' thought that the stage version was superior, writing that many of the story's new additions for the screen made the film "a long one and at times a ponderous thing, the more so the further from the play the screen version strays".
Reviewing the film in 2010, James Berardinelli wrote that it "hasn't fared as well as the director's better, more timeless offerings" due to the dated nature of screwball comedies and the "innocence permeating the movie that doesn't play as well during an era when audiences value darkness in even the lightest of comedies. Still, ''You Can't Take it with You'' provides a pleasant enough two hours along with a reminder of how era-specific the criteria for winning an Oscar are".
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...
gave it three and a half of four stars: "George S. Kaufman—Moss Hart play about eccentric but blissfully happy household becomes prime Capracorn, not quite as compelling today but... still highly entertaining."
Leslie Halliwell
Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Fi ...
gave it two of four stars: "A hilarious, warm and witty play is largely changed into a tirade against big business, but the Capra expertise is here in good measure and the stars all pull their weight."
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
gives the film a rating of 94% from 79 reviews and an average rating of 7.50/10. The consensus summarizes: "It's predictably uplifting fare from Frank Capra, perhaps the most consciously uplifting of all great American directors – but thanks to immensely appealing performances and a nimble script, ''You Can't Take It with You'' is hard not to love."
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...
Spring Byington
Spring Dell Byington (October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971) was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of '' December Bride''. She was an MGM contract player who appeared in films from the ...
''You Can't Take it with You'' was adapted as a one-hour radio play on the October 2, 1939, broadcast of ''
Lux Radio Theatre
''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a old-time radio, classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of A ...
'' with Edward Arnold,
Robert Cummings
Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings (June 9, 1910 – December 2, 1990) was an American film and television actor who appeared in roles in comedy films such as ''The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941) and ''Princess O'Rourke'' (1943), and in d ...
A line from this film, "Confidentially, she stinks!", said by Kolenkov the ballet master about one of his students, was used in a few
Looney Tunes
''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...
cartoons from the 1940s.
Digital restoration
In 2013, Sony Colorworks and Prasad Corporation digitally restored the film, removing dirt, tears, scratches and other artifacts to emulate the film's original look.
Lux Radio Theater
''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a old-time radio, classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of A ...