FRANK CAPRA (1897-1991)

FRANCESCO ROSARIO CAPRA

Born: May 18th, 1897 (Sicily)

Died: September 3rd, 1991 (heart attack in his sleep)

Marriages: Helen Howell (1923-1928), Lou Capra (1932-Her death in 1984)

Children: He had four children with Lou: Frank Capra Jr., Tom Capra, Lulu Capra & John Capra.

Interesting Fact: Capra had enlisted in all three wars. WWI at the age of 21, WWII at the age of 44 and The Korean War at the age of 53.

Success: Capra's successful era spanned from his film spanned from the thirties on into the forties. His most successful films were done at Columbia Pictures, setting the standard for all the other Directors of the Studio. In the fifties the mood began to change and he withdrew himself from making his type of films.

Awards: He has won three Oscars for Best Director: "It Happened One Night" (1934), "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (1936) & "You Can't Take It with You" (1938). He was also nominated for Best Director on his films: "Lady for a Day" (1933), "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939) & "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946). He has also received eight other achievements while being nominated for an additional five. With all of these awards his greatest was the Distinguished Service Medal for his contributions to the war through his War Documentaries.

My Favorite Film: With Frank Capra there is no favorite film, only favorite era. From the mid-thirties to the mid-forties he made of the best films known to man. All of those films are among my favorites. When it comes down to it though "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939) sneaks it's way to the top.

On the first week of this Blog I had dedicated it to my favorite Director, Frank Capra. Normally I would skip a previous individually to make room for another on a post, but since the beginning, my formatting has evolved, and I thought I would like to study Capra again.

CAPRA MOVIE TIMELINE

FRANK CAPRA
1930	Pluto Discovered	Starting in 1922 to 1932 Capra made over 20 movies many of them Silent and including shorts.
1931	America adobts their National Anthem
1932	Scientest Split the Atom
1933	Hitler becomes chancelor in Germany	"The Bitter Tea of General Yen"
	Prohobition Ends	"Lady for a Day"
1934	Dust Bowl	"It Happened One Night"
1935	Social Security enacted
1936	Nazi Olympics in Berlin	"Mr. Deeds Goes to town"
1937	Japan envades China	"Lost Horizon"
1938	Chamberlain announces "Peace in our time"	"You Can't Take It With You"
1939	WWII Begins	"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"
1940	Battle of Britain
1941	Japan attacks Pearl Harbor	"Meet John Doe"
1942	Battle of Stalingrad	From 1942 to 1945 Capra made 11 War Documentory movies
1943	Italy joins the Allies
1944	D-Day	"Arsenic and Old Lace"
1945	V-Day and Atomic Bomb Dropped
1946	Churchill "Iron Curtain" Speech	"It's A Wonderful Life"
1947	Sound Barrier broken by Chuck Yeager
1948	"Big Bang" Theory Formulated	"State of the Union" (MGM)
1949	China becomes Communist
1950	Senator McCarthy begins Red Scare	"Riding High"
1951	Color TV Introduced	"Here Comes the Groom"
1959	Castro becomes Dicatator of Cuba	"A Hole In the Head"
1961	Berlin Wall Built	"Pocketful of Miracles"

Director of the Week:

Frank Capra (Francesco Capra)

Born: May 18th, 1897 (Italy)

Died: Sep 3rd, 1991 (Heart Attack)

Winner of over 11 awards, three of which were Oscars

Directed over 50 movies


"My films must let every man, woman and child know that God loves them, that I love them, and that peace and salvation will become a reality only when they all learn to love each other."

"During the dark decade of the 1930s, director Frank Capra became America's preeminent filmmaker, leavening Depression-era despair with his irrepressible optimism of the Everyman triumphing over seemingly insurmountable odds. Packaging hope for the hopeless, his goodwill movies were as important to national morale as Franklin D. Roosevelt's famed Fireside Chats and well-deserving of the three Best Director Oscars they brought him.

"A true rags-to-riches story, Capra rose above his working-class immigrant background to earn a degree in chemical engineering and serve in the U.S. Army in WWI, only to enter into filmmaking once his post-war career options became limited. He received his start in comedy, helping vaudeville star Harry Langdon make it big in Hollywood, before landing a deal with notorious head of Columbia Pictures, Harry Cohn. During this time, Capra segued from the silent era to talkies with action pictures like "Flight" (1929) and "Dirigible" (1931), before commencing his lifelong collaboration with writer Robert Riskin on the first of their socially-conscious films, "American Madness" (1932).

"Capra reached fruition with "Lady for a Day" (1933), only to suffer public embarrassment after believing he had won the Oscar for Best Director. But he received his due the following year with "It Happened One Night" (1934), the first movie to ever sweep the five major categories at the Academy Awards. Capra entered into a particularly fruitful period with "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (1936), which he followed with the classic "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939), starring James Stewart as the director's prototypical idealistic Everyman triumphing over evil.


"During World War II, Capra reentered the U.S. Army to make several acclaimed wartime propaganda movies, including "Prelude to War" (1942), which won the Oscar for Best Documentary. Upon his return to narrative filmmaking, Capra reunited with Stewart on "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946), a heartwarming tale that failed at the box office during its initial release, but later became a perennial holiday classic. That last film proved to be Capra's last great achievement, as the director made several underwhelming films over the next two decades before officially retiring and moving out of Hollywood. With a career that celebrated patriotism, idealism and small-town American values, Capra's strength as a filmmaker marked him as a true giant of Hollywood's Golden Age."

Excerpt from http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/28439%7C53185/Frank-Capra/

*Climax of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Nominated for Best Picture in 1940 but won out by "Gone With the Wind."