c a p r a  :   p a r t   i i

Pushed into a tight corner, Capra responded with the kind of films he produced in the years before Deeds when he was still evolving his style and subject-matter. Riding High (1950), starring Bing Crosby and various horses, was a flaccid remake of his earlier film Broadway Bill (1934); Here Comes the Groom (1951) featured Crosby in another weak comedy romance - about a reporter who adopts war orphans.

After eight quiet years Capra returned - in Cinemascope and colour - with A Hole in the Head (1959), a rancid sentimental comedy with Frank Sinatra. But with Pocketful of Miracles (1961), a remake of another of his early films, Lady for a Day (1933), Capra rallied. The screen once again teemed with lovable, eccentric characters - mostly Broadway types rushing about to help Bette Davis' Apple Annie, the apple-seller whose daughter has been led to expect a society queen for a mother. It was Capra's last display of good neighbourliness in action. Following this he prepared a science-fiction subject, Marooned (1969), eventually directed by John Sturges. The title was sadly suitable, for Capra himself had become marooned in post-war Hollywood - a place where working stiffs and short-changed Joes wanted their songs sung in far more harsh and complex ways than Capra could possibly managed.

He died of a heart attack in his sleep on the 3rd September 1991 at La Quinta, California, USA ...previous page

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1922 The Ballad of Fultah Fisher's Boarding House / Fultah Fischer's Boarding House (short)

1924 The Wild Goose Chaser (short) (co-sc)

1925 The Marriage Circus (short) (co sc. only)

1925 Plain Clothes (short) (co sc. only)

1925 Super Hooper-Dyne Lizzies (short) (co-sc. only)

1925 Breaking the Ice (short) (co-sc. only)

1925 Good Morning, Nurse (short) (co-sc. only)

1925 Cupid's Boots (short) (co-sc. only)

1925 Lucky Stars (short) (co-sc. only)

1925 There He Goes (short) (co-sc. only)

1926 Saturday Afternoon (short) (co-sc. only)

1926 His First Flame (co-sc. only)

1926 Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (co-sc. + uncredited dir. and prod)

1926 Fiddlesticks (short) (co-sc. only)

1926 Soldier Man (short) (co-sc. only)

1926 The Strong Man

1927 Long Pants

1927 For the Love of Mike

1928 That Certain Thing

1928 So This Is Love

1928 The Swim Princess (short) (co-sc. only)

1928 The Matinee Idol

1928 The Way of the Strong

1928 Say It With Sables

1928 The Burglar/Smith's Burglar (short) (co-sc. only)

1928 The Power of the Press

1928 Hubby's Weekend Trip (short)

1929 The Younger Generation

1929 The Donovan Affair

1929 Flight

1930 Ladies of Leisure

1930 Rain or Shine

1931 Dirigible

1931 The Miracle Woman

1931 Platinum Woman

1932 Forbidden

1932 American Madness

1932 The Bitter Tea of General Yen

1933 Lady for a Day

1934 It Happened One Night (+ prod)

1934 Broadway Bill (GB: Strictly Confidential)

1936 Mr Deeds Goes to Town (+ prod)

1937 Lost Horizion (+ prod)

1938 You Can't Take It With You (+ prod)

1939 Mr Smith Goes to Washington (+ prod)

1940 The Cavalcade of Academy Awards (doc.) (sup. only)

1941 Meet Joe Doe (+ prod)

1942 Divide and Conquer (doc*) (co-dir; + prod)

1943 Prelude to War (doc*) (+ prod)

1943 The Battle of Britain (doc*) (prod. only)

1943 The Nazis Strike (doc*) (co-dir; + prod)

1943 Battle of Russia/Battle for Russia (doc*) (prod. only)

1944 Arsenic and Old Lace (+ prod)

1944 Know Your Ally: Britain (doc) (prod. only)

1944 Tunisian Victory (doc) (co-dir; + prod)

1944 The Negro Soldier (doc) (prod. only)

1944 The Battle of China (doc*) (co-dir; + prod)

1945 Know Your Enemy: Germany (doc) (prod. only)

1945 Two Down and One to Go! (doc) (+ prod)

1945 War Comes to America (doc*) (prod. only)

1945 Know Your Enemy: Japan (doc) (co-dir; + prod)

1946 It's a Wonderful Life (+ co-sc; + prod)

1948 State of the Union (GB: The World and His Wife) (+ prod)

1950 Riding High (+ prod)

1951 Here Comes the Groom (+ prod)

1959 A Hole in the Head (+ prod)

1961 Pocketful of Miracles (+ prod)

1964 Rendevous in Space/Reaching for the Stars (short)
*Why We Fight war documentary series. Capra also worked as a gag writer on six films in 1924.

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