Frank Capra: "Don't Follow Trends, Start Them."

Frank Capra was born in Sicily on this day in 1897. You may know his name from it's association with the perennial Christmas film, It's A Wonderful Life (1946). In fact, Capra was one of the greatest names in 20th century Hollywood film making for his roles as writer, director, and producer. He was certainly old school and confined virtually all of his film making to black and white. I read recently where young people these days have little interest in watching films unless they are in color. That means a huge inventory of significant motion pictures may soon be neglected along with a major segment of the industry's history. It's unfortunate because shooting in black and white is an art with focus on story line - he was a master story teller - as well as the interplay of light, shadow, and texture. Color often limits or conflicts all of these elements. 

Capra portrait from the 1930's

Here's a small portion of what Capra produced in his black and white world: 

It Happened One Night (1934)

Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936)

Lost Horizon (1937)

You Can't Take It With You (1938)

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)

War Department Film Series (1942-45)

It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

Here Comes The Groom (1951)


Each of these films received Academy Award nominations and all but one - It's A Wonderful Life - received Oscars in one or more categories. When he died in 1991 the Los Angles Times published a thorough obituary  And here is a fine 1978 interview he made with the American Film Institute's American Film about his life and film making technique. 

Undoubtedly Capra leaves us a rich legacy in 20th century film entertainment. It's a legacy anyone can enjoy and there's a good chance we'll learn something about the human condition we share.

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:
portrait, public domain photo by Columbia Pictures, operarex.highwire.com

Text:

title quote, acceptance speech, American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award, 1982
wikipedia.org