You Can't Take it With You

It's easy to become reflective in one's life, to weigh our contribution to the world. Perhaps we could say we have lived a life of wealth, or perhaps we have lived a poor one. There are two schools of thought on the subject of wealth; perhaps being literally wealthy with money is what you could mean, but then when all is said and done, what do you have to show for it? The other type of wealth is the more intangible kind, where you are measured by how good of a person you are to your fellow man, and the love and friendship you've received throughout your life. These are the two schools of thought brought up and analyzed in Frank Capra's "You Can't Take it With You."

The story is based on a very popular play of the 30s written by George S Kaufman and Moss Hart, but was radically changed by Capra and his constant screenwriter Robert Riskin to suit more Capra's sensibilities. It's about an eccentric family who are encouraged by their patriarch (Lionel Barrymore)to do what makes them happy. The family therefore can be described as unorthodox but lovable within the community. Barrymore is a widower Martin Vanderhof, who in the past had the chance to be a very rich man, but decided he wasn't happy so he decided to devote his time to collect and appraise stamps. His daughter Penny (Spring Byington) enjoys writing plays, her husband (Samuel S. Hinds) likes working down in the cellar making fireworks. The family clan is rounded out with their youngest daughter Essie (Ann Miller) who loves to bake and do ballet, while her husband accompanies her on the xylophone.

The one member of the family who seems to be living in the real world is the eldest daughter Alice (Jean Arthur). Alice seems to be the only one holding down a job as a secretary, but she doesn't seem to mind, since she has fallen in love with her boss, a young bank executive named Tony (James Stewart). Tony and Alice want to get married, which is great news for Alice's family, yet not so much for Tony's. Tony's father is Anthony Kirby (Edward Arnold) a very wealthy businessman who incidentally trying to buy Vanderhof's house in order to create a large real estate deal. Alice is also deemed too common by Tony's mother (Mary Forbes) and looks down on their marriage. Acting in good faith, Tony takes his parents to the Vanderhof home to show them how they really are, yet things don't go as planned.

"You Can't Take it With You", was another gem in the Frank Capra cannon in the 1930s, it gave him his third Academy Award for Best Director, and the film itself also won for Best Picture. Capra was the messenger of hope in the 1930s, which was why he remained so popular. The country was in the midst of The Great Depression, yet Hollywood was churning out mostly escapist entertainment, movies were the one place where people didn't have to be reminded of the hard times going on in the real world; yet that never stopped Capra from commenting on it.

"You Can't Take it With You" starts off as a lighthearted comedy at first, but it soon turns into a more serious film about the state of the world, and also the state of humanity. Barrymore's Vanderhof, and Arnold's Kirby take centre stage in the film's latter half, as Capra uses them to depict two different ideologies. Kirby is perhaps the most interesting, he isn't a bad guy at all, but Capra shows him as somebody who has lost his way, he's at a crucial moment in his life and mirrors what Vanderhof might've been like before he changed his direction.

Kirby is also a representation of the greed of that time, a banker who never thought of what his actions were doing to the rest of the country (Gee, kinda like today!) There is a powerful scene in fact where Kirby is confronted by a businessman played by H.B. Warner, who is ruined thanks to Kirby's actions, he warns him that if he continues to go down the greedy path, he'll be left with nothing. I couldn't help but think of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", which parallels this where the Ghost of Jacob Marley warns Scrooge what could become of him if he continues with his greedy ways.

Because of these themes of money vs. happiness, "You Can't Take it With You" becomes very contemporary, much of what is discussed in this film make interesting parallels about the state the world is in today. There is even a scene where Jean Arthur is talking to Jimmy Stewart about men who play on people's fears in order to sell them things they don't need, I could not help but think of people like Bill O'Reilly, or Glenn Beck when she uttered this.

Frank Capra was known as a rank sentimentalist, but he was in fact a radical filmmaker, I can't name another mainstream director of that time who tackled such important issues. The Vanderhof family seem very contemporary today, and Capra seemed to admire their eccentricities. Throughout the film, they remain happy by doing what makes them happy, and of course they are persecuted and even accused of being communists, however Capra, who was surely one of the most American of filmmakers is showing that they represent what America should aspire to be, to Capra, the Vanderhof's resemble "the pursuit of happiness", who are we to stop them from attaining it?