Capra tries for another entry in his humanist series (Mr. Deeds, Mr. Smith and John Doe) and fails miserably. Two of the principal ingredients–Robert Riskin and Gary Cooper–are missing, but since State of the Union is from a play, it’s questionable if Riskin could have helped (Union’s problems are fundamental). As for Cooper… Spencer Tracy’s […]
Entries Tagged as 'Frank Capra'
State of the Union (1948, Frank Capra)
April 25th, 2008 No Comments
It Happened One Night (1934, Frank Capra)
December 26th, 2007 No Comments
There’s something particularly tragic about It Happened One Night: somehow, Capra and Riskin let it get away from them. It’s possible–likely even–the awkward conclusion was a result of not having access to the stars (Gable and Colbert were both on loan to Columbia), but it doesn’t really matter. Riskin went from a deliberate pace–the majority […]
Westward the Women (1951, William A. Wellman)
May 8th, 2006 No Comments
Robert Taylor leads over a hundred women from Missouri to California. It’s set in 1851, so California is the other side of world. I thought it was going to be cute from that description. Taylor’s films were often aware of being Robert Taylor films, but of those 100+ women, only one thinks Taylor’s good-looking, so […]
