You Can’t Take It With You

Rating

Director

Frank Capra

Screenplay

Robert Riskin (Play: George S. Kaufman, Moss Hart)

Length

126 min.

Starring

Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Edward Arnold, Mischa Auer, Ann Miller, Spring Byington, Samuel S. Hinds, Donald Meek, H.B. Warner, Halliwell Hobbes, Dub Taylor, Mary Forbes, Lillian Yarbo, Eddie Anderson, Clarence Wilson, Josef Swickard, Ann Doran, Christian Rub, Bodil Rosing, Charles Lane, Harry Davenport

MPAA Rating

Unrated

Review

An eccentric family prepares to accept a wealthy new member but financial issues arise that threaten to tear the family apart. You Can’t Take It With You is an impassioned tale of love and friendship and their antithetical relationshipwith profit.

James Stewart can play virtually any part and despite his talented role as Tony Kirby, the wealthy son of businessman Anthony P. Kirby(Edward Arnold), he can’t help but be upstaged by the more experienced and far more intriguing performer Lionel Barrymore. Barrymore plays Grandpa Vanderhof the patriarch of an intensely bizarre family. His daughter Alice (Jean Arthur)seems to be one of the few that could be labeled normal.

Alice works as Kirby Sr.’s secretary with whom Tony Jr. has fallen in love. Though affianced, Alice and Tony must win the acceptance of both families. GrandpaVanderhof and the rest of the Sycamores are perfectly willing to accept Tony as their own but the sentiment isn’t shared by the affluent Kirbys. Mrs. Kirby(Mary Forbes) finds it disturbing that her son wants to marry outside his class as does Mr. Kirby. However, to give their son his fair chance, they agree to meet the Sycamores for dinner to see how they like them.

Tony and Alice invite them over to sup with the Sycamores but confusion over the date prevents Alice from preparing her family to act “normally” and the Kirbys arrive the day before only to be greeted by the strangeness of the household. Ballerinas, firecracker experiments and circus antics frighten the Kirbys and lead to an even larger struggle to come.

In the background of this familial conflict, Grandpa is being targeted by the IRS because a wealthy land developer wants his house and the rest of the houses on the block for a development deal. The neighborhood is unwilling to give up and they come to the ever gracious Grandpa for advice. He assures them he will not sell but after a falling out between Alice and Tony over what she truly means to him, Grandpa agrees to sell leading to further problems.

You Can’t Take It With You is typical fare for director Frank Capra. The love conquers all adage applies universally to his films and You Can’t is no different. No matter what financial or emotional strife happens to his characters, the love of friends and family can see them through.

Robert Riskin’s skillful comic adaptation of the popular George S. Kaufman-Moss Hart stage play is completely engaging. The characters, though relatively unrealistic, are nonetheless entertaining and believable. Although the audience can expect a happy ending outcome from Capra, they will still care enough about the success and failure of the characters to make the film watching experience appealing.

Review Written

October 12, 2006