Ryan Shinkel on Frank Capra
Friend of PoMoCon Ryan Shinkel has a new essay over at Mere Orthodoxy on Capra—a review of his entire career. Ryan does a fine job of reminding readers what an impressive director Capra was, as well as how important his vision was to generations of Americans.
Jimmy Stewart plays a righteous man standing up for the little guy against mass corruption as Jefferson Smith in Mr Smith Goes to Washington & as George Bailey, in It’s A Wonderful Life, armed not with a gun, but with his wits, perhaps a prayer, & a shrewd or spirited woman by his side. One of those performances still is the image of American statesmanship; the other still points families towards the true meaning of Christmas.
But those are pieces, not the whole. So what does it mean to be American as such? Not just what should an individual citizen be like, but what is our national spirit? Frank Capra, who made over fifty films, mastering both genre & medium, from silent & sound spectacles to wartime propaganda, screwball comedies, & earnest dramas, even trying television & literature, helped forge our answer.
An innovator, he reinvigorated camerawork, quickened film pace, & exercised singular control as director & producer. His success, as Martin Scorsese said, created a sensibility we call Capraesque. Capra was, according to John Cassavetes, simply “the greatest filmmaker that ever lived.” He taught Americans “a feeling of belief in a free country,” that “there is goodness in bad people,” & all anyone “really wanted was to have compassion for other people & live in a spirit of friendliness & brotherhood.” His idealism expressed “a practical philosophy” that “validates a hope for the future.”