OVP: You Can't Take It With You (1938)

Film: You Can't Take It With You (1938)

Stars: Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Edward Arnold, Mischa Auer, Ann Miller, Spring Byington, HB Warner, Harry Davenport

Director: Frank Capra

Oscar History: 7 nominations/2 wins (Best Picture*, Director, Supporting Actress-Spring Byington, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Recording)

(Not So) Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

I remember once someone said to me that watching a primary field of presidential candidates is a bit perplexing, because they all start out looking normal, like average human beings, and yet one of them is going to become immortal, putting their stamp forever on history (for the good or the bad).  The same can be said, to a degree, about a film that wins Best Picture.  You take 5, 8, 10, 12 (the number varies) movies, and then at the end of the night, one of them gets to be immortalized (and debated) forever as the "Best Picture of the Year."  This, of course, comes with some strange side effects in the same way that presidential races do.  After all, there are some Best Pictures that even with pedigree & fame, don't really amount to much historically, and you'd be forgive for thinking of You Can't Take It With You in that way.  The film, the victor in 1938, is a movie that doesn't necessarily standout in the careers of either its actors or its director, and yet despite its passed over reputation, it's a genuinely lovely (and perhaps more modern than you'd expect) movie that deserves its time in the sun.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is about Anthony Kirby (Arnold), a business mogul in the late 1920's, who only has a mind for the matter-of-fact.  He is grooming his son Tony (Stewart) to take over the family business at one point, but there's a hiccup-Tony is in love with his stenographer Alice (Arthur), and they know nothing about her family.  It turns out that Alice's family is full of eccentrics, led by the understanding & wonderful Grandpa Vanderhof (Barrymore).  As the film continues, we see a meeting of the stuffy Kirby's with the laid-back Vanderhof's which results in all of them going to jail (due to an illegal fireworks explosion).  After this, Alice breaks up with Tony, not comfortable with the way that his family has been judging hers, but as this is a Frank Capra film, we do find a happy ending for all.  Mr. Kirby, who has been trying to buy the Vanderhof's house the whole film (and successfully does when Grandpa wants to move to be closer to Alice, who has fled), gives back the house, Tony & Alice end up together, and the family is filled with a group brimming with even more eccentrics.

I have seen You Can't Take It With You before, though it has been at least 20 years (if not longer), and it was one of the first films I caught when I started watching Best Picture winners.  I remembered relatively little about the film, to the point where I remembered a woman frequently dancing, but it wasn't until I saw the movie that I suddenly understood the "no talent" hoofer in the film is actually Ann Miller, one of the greatest dancers of Hollywood's Golden Age.  As a result, I kind of had downgraded my initially pleasant interactions with the picture because I assumed that the more saccharine elements that I had encountered with the movie would hold, perhaps over-washing them, as does on occasion happen with Frank Capra's "lesser" classics.

This wasn't the case here, though.  You Can't Take It With You is genuinely charming, and like I said, thoroughly modern.  While the film's racial politics do present some problems (the white people live a life of leisure where they pursue their dreams while the two black characters are both servants who are not given the same kind of leniency with their interests), it does show a world where people don't put all of their value in money, and more importantly, don't put it on work.  Grandpa Vanderhof occasionally indulges in libertarian conversations with random people about his dislike of taxes, but really there's a lot of socialist indulgence here which is refreshing-the movie's politics basically say "pursue your dreams-life is short, and what makes you happy is the best thing for you," and I honestly can't think of a lot of movies of this era (or any era) that say to do this, even if it doesn't mean you'll make money from it.  There's something really shocking about putting value into hobbies & interests without needing to justify it through finance that I found hit a nerve with me (a man who spends much of his time watching & chronicling movies for a blog that he gets no financial compensation for), and that resonated in a way that felt refreshingly Millennial/Gen Z.

The movie's actors have all had bigger classics (Mr. Smith, It's a Wonderful Life, On the Town, Shane), but really this cast is A+ and Capra achieves something with a call sheet that reads like a Film Twitter dream list of the 1930's.   Arthur got top billing here (Stewart was still one year away from being the eternal "first name" on the poster), and shines-if you like Jean Arthur, with her omnipresent perkiness, you'll love her here as she's at her brightest (Arthur's offscreen persona was vastly different to her onscreen one, loathing publicity & regularly struggling with even the briefest of public interactions, to the point where her later theatrical career was a series of breakdowns...she'd make a good biopic if Hollywood is listening).  Stewart is charming & lovely, given a side role but one that he manages to make affable.  Edward Arnold gets to play what would become a prototypical part for him (the large-and-in-charge wealthy villain).  Arnold had to have enjoyed this film's reputation more than anyone.  Earlier in 1938, he'd been labeled "Box Office Poison" by the Hollywood Reporter, saying he was one of the actors that theater owners most loathed seeing on a movie poster...that he ended up months later starring in a movie that won Best Picture and was a financial success had to have been great revenge.

The Vanderhof's are all great too.  Barrymore, like Arthur & Stewart, could play this part in his sleep, but that doesn't mean that we should just assume that his movie star aura is easily administered.  Spring Byington & Ann Miller are both fun in small roles as people pursuing their passions without a hint of success; Byington won the only Oscar nomination of her long career for this part, and in a lot of ways it resembles some of the "character nominations" we see even today, where a longtime side favorite gets their due in a successful Best Picture contender (think June Squibb or Laurie Metcalf).  All-in-all, this is a great ensemble, one where it's difficult to single out a specific actor, but where everyone is at peak condition.

The film's Oscar nominations are all worthy.  The cinematography is standard, but well-utilized-you get a sense from the way the camera moves that they know that the house itself (a surefire Art Direction nominee if that category had existed yet) is a great supporting player in this piece.  The writing is sharp, with silly (sometimes schmaltzy, but not too bad) dialogue, while the editing is solid-giving us enough fun moments with the Vanderhof's to get you to really know them without it ever feeling long (and at 2+ hours that was a risk for a movie that doesn't really have much of a plot to speak of other than boy-meets-girl).  The sound design is also great-the film's fireworks pop & crackle, and the regular musical interludes play perfectly.  I honestly had a great time-this isn't a landmark Capra film (it's not quintessential like It Happened One Night or It's a Wonderful Life), but if all of the Best Picture winners are "immortal," similar to my presidential theory above, this is one that feels like a president you didn't realize was impressive as history books would have led you to believe.