YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU

You Can’t Take It With You is a Frank Capra film that was awarded the Oscar for Best Picture in 1939. It also garnered Capra his third win as Best Director.

The theme is a simple yet poignant one, kindness and love are much more important than money and things. Alice Sycamore (Jean Arthur) is a young woman from a very happy yet financially meager family. She falls in love with Tony Kirby (Jimmy Stewart), a vice president at a bank run by his father. His father is close to settling a business merger that will make their wealthy family even wealthier. After Tony proposes marriage, it becomes time for the families to meet.

The movie is based on a play, and I can see Alice’s family faring well with a live audience. But rather than coming off as quaint and eccentric on film, most of them come off as one-dimensional equivalents of a brownstone Addams Family. In the basement a newcomer spends all hours making scary masks, another older family member continually sets off fireworks in the house, Alice’s mother continually types, and daft sister Essie (Ann Miller) spends every upright moment pirouetting and jeté-ing throughout whatever room she is in. Their household is headed by Alice’s grandfather Martin Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore) who encourages everyone to live life doing what they want to do.

By comparison, Tony’s parents are extremely superficial and concerned only about status and wealth. As expected, the Kirbys disapprove of their son’s choice for a wife, and their first meeting with her family ends up with everyone going to jail. In Capra-esque fashion, Mr. Kirby (Edward Arnold) eventually reevaluates his priorities and abandons his lifelong superficial ways in order to finally enjoy living and share in his son’s happiness.

The message is a splendid one that applies to all generations. With that said, the movie is quite dated. One can’t help but notice the irony of Alice stating how everyone in her home is encouraged to do whatever they want to do to live life happily, while simultaneously being doted on by two African American household servants who obviously aren’t able to entertain such a philosophy. It is a fine “feel good” film that reflects the America idealized by many of the time.