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By
NICK ZEGARAC
Frank Capra: The Premiere
Collection is a rather curious and somewhat
disappointing box set from Sony Pictures that
unites four Capra masterpieces; It Happened One
Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), You
Can't Take It With You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes To
Washington (1939) and one minor classic, American
Madness (1932) with a stunning biographical
overview (Frank Capra: American Dream) of the
director's illustrious history.
The set begins in earnest with American Madness
(1932) -- a depression era tale of mob mentality
and the moral deconstruction of the every man that
embodied so many of Capra's later great works.
Plot wise: as Thomas Dickson's (Walter Huston)
bank teeters on the verge of ruin, Dickerson is
asked by his board to merge with a bigger trust or
resign. He refuses to do either. Then his bank is
robbed -- most suspect by loyal teller, Matt Brown
(Pat O'Brien in a role he's really not cut out
for). Brown's an ex-con to whom Dickerson gave a
second chance. But Brown refuses to say where he
was at the time of the robbery even though he has
witnesses in his favor. The film has elements of
Capra-corn but is much more a kissing cousin to
the vein of bad gangsters gone good genre that
Warner Bros. made a success of with actors like
Cagney and Bogart.
Next up is the film that made Capra Columbia
Studios and Harry Cohn's golden child of the
decade; the Oscar winning It Happened One Night
(1934). Superbly crafted on a shoestring budget,
Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable star as a pair
of feuding and unlikely compatriots in a road
picture that literally defined the genre and still
has no equal.
Gable is Peter Warren -- a news hound who's sworn
off reporting until he comes face to face with the
scoop of his career -- Ellie Andrews (Colbert).
She's an heiress that the whole world is looking
for after her marriage to King Wesley (Jameson
Thomas) is denied by Ellie's loving father (Walter
Connelly). No one could have predicted the film's
overwhelming financial and critical response. MGM
had loaned Gable to Columbia for the assignment as
punishment. It was the sweetest kind of medicine.
He won his one and only Best Actor statuette.
Colbert, decidedly not in tune with either Capra
or the making of the film, reportedly telephoned a
friend on the last day of shooting to say that she
had just finished "the worst film of my career."
Nothing could have been further from the truth.
Next up is Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936); a
delightfully daffy excursion about Longfellow
Deeds (Gary Cooper); a pixilated gentleman from
Mandrake Falls who suddenly finds himself the
custodian of one of the largest fortunes in
depression America. Deciding to give away his
money to the people who need it most, Deeds comes
into conflict with corrupt lawyer, Mr. Cedar
(Stanley Andrews) who is determined to secure the
kickbacks from the transfer of funds for himself
by introducing court proceedings that will declare
Longfellow insane and thereafter have him
committed to a mental institution.
Of sheer delight is newspaper gal, Louise 'Babe'
Bennett (Jean Arthur). At first hired to make a
mockery of Longfellow's simple nature in print,
Louise (masquerading as simple farm girl Mary
Dawson) begins to realize that Deeds is the most
humble, intelligent and ultimately attractive man
she's ever met. So, how does it all end? With
tears and laughter and the kind of Capra-esque
finale that has since become the director's
trademark.
The collection advances to Capra's next Oscar
winning success, You Can't Take It With You
(1938); an utterly delightful and unhinged bit of
fluff and nonsense. The film begins with Wall
Street tycoon Anthony P. Kirby (Edward Arnold)
expecting his only son, Tony (James Stewart) to
follow in his footsteps. However, Tony's only
genuine interest is his secretary and fiancée
Alice Sycamore (Jean Arthur). Alice is the only
'sane' person in a family of eccentrics helmed
with great humor and warmth by her grandfather,
Martin Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore) and mother,
Penny (Spring Byington). Naturally, Tony's parents
(Mary Forbes plays the mother) are appalled by the
rambunctious drive of these free spirits and their
overall devil-may-care interest where high finance
is concerned. The film is a showcase for a
cornucopia of Capra-esque screwballs.
The last film in this collection is the one that
ended Capra's association with Columbia Studios:
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939) -- a film
that, at the time of its release, infuriated
senators and politicians with its depiction of
corruption and graft on Capital Hill. Capra
everyman James Stewart is cast as Jefferson Smith,
an idealist who cannot conceive that his life long
mentor and long time friend of his late father,
Senator Joseph Paine (Claude Raines in a watershed
performance) is involved in kickbacks with Jim
Taylor; a greedy puppet master who has political
aspirations. In appointing Smith to the senate,
Taylor and Paine hope to find a dupe that the
general public will believe in, but one who can be
easily manipulated by them for their own gains.
They quickly realize their mistake in plans when
Smith develops into a one man crusade to rid the
senate of corruption and instill genuine value,
faith, trust and honor to the seat of freedom's
reign.
If you own any of these films in their previous
incarnations: only American Madness was never
released as a single -- this reviewer has both
good and bad news for you about these Premiere
Collection re-releases.
We'll start with It Happened One Night -- the
worst remastering effort I have seen in a long
time. While the originally minted DVD was far from
perfect, it was nevertheless easy on the eyes.
This new incarnation is virtually unwatchable. The
contrast levels have been bumped so low that most
of the night scenes come across as a muddy and
undistinguishable mess. You can't even see
Claudette Colbert's face during the road camp
scenes. Forget fine detail. This reviewer would be
happy with any detail at all. The image is much
too dark -- even with adjustments to picture
quality made on one's television.
Contrast levels are also to blame -- to a far less
extent -- on Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. Once again,
fine details are the victim here as the entire
image appears to suffer from a slightly less
punchy and decidedly less contrasted quality than
on the previously released DVD incarnations. In
both cases film grain, scratches and other
age-related artifacts are present. Certain scenes
on both films appear to have been minted from less
than first generation prints with a decided loss
of clarity, details and contrast.
Now, for the good news -- You Can't Take It With
You has received the much needed clean up it ought
to have received the first time around on DVD.
Then, the image was riddled with dirt, scratches
and other digital and age-related artifacts that
made it virtually unwatchable. These shortcomings
have been removed. The image is still far from
smooth and nowhere near reference quality, but the
film is at long last viewable and that is indeed
this collection's greatest blessing.
So too is the image quality of American Madness
and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington reasons to stand
up and cheer. Both films deliver a finely realized
grayscale with good contrast levels, solid blacks
and very clean whites.
All films in this collection are presented in
their original mono and feature an audio
commentary by Frank Capra Jr. Extras also include
the aforementioned biographical documentary --
American Dream -- which is a must have, and
featurettes with historian Jeannine Basinger and
others who share in Capra's vision of America.
On a personal note -- this reviewer cannot fathom
the executive mentality and/or logic at Sony's
front offices that permitted the exclusion of
Capra's masterpiece, Lost Horizon (1937) from this
box set. Nor is there any excuse for leaving out
such Capra/Columbia delights as Lady for A Day
(1933) The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1934) and
the original Broadway Bill (1934). For those who
will wonder why I have left out Meet John Doe
(1941) from this mix -- it belongs to the Warner
Bros. archive and has long been released in
terrible DVD transfers as a public domain title by
various companies, something Warner Home Video
should rectify with a digitally restored and
remastered release of their own! Bottom line for
this collection: the good marginally outweighs the
bad. But I wouldn't trade in my old discs yet! |
