The Premiere Frank Capra Collection

Almost single-handedly, former gag writer Frank Capra turned Columbia Pictures—still thought of as a Poverty Row outfit at the beginning of the sound era—into a major studio, earning Oscar nominations (and the accompanying respect of his peers) for a succession of sensational Depression-era movies that garnered glowing reviews as well as the approbation of moviegoers. This long-overdue boxed set collects five of Capra's very best 1930s films. American Madness (1932), starring Walter Huston and Pat O'Brien, concerns the imminent failure of a large bank and contains the filmmaker's first use of a familiar plot device: the collaboration of ordinary, working-class people to save a beleaguered protagonist. It Happened One Night (1934) took the “runaway bride” aspect of the screwball-comedy format to new heights, showcasing Claudette Colbert as a madcap heiress and Clark Gable as the reporter who catches up to her (this is the movie with their famous hitchhiking scene). Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) stars Gary Cooper as one of Capra's “Everyman” heroes, a small-town guy who inherits a fortune and becomes a target of cynical big-city types (including Jean Arthur's fast-talking “sob sister”) eager to poke fun at the well-meaning rube. You Can't Take It With You (1938), adapted from a Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway smash, stars Lionel Barrymore as the patriarch of a wildly eccentric family, with James Stewart costarring as the wealthy young man who falls for Jean Arthur, playing Barrymore's “normal” granddaughter. Stewart and Arthur were re-teamed the following year in Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), the improbable but still affecting story of an idealistic young man, newly elected to Congress, who finds the nation's capitol awash in corruption and hypocrisy. Each of these films boasts that calculated appeal to the emotions once derided by the director's detractors as “Capra-corn”—now considered a term of endearment. DVD extras include an audio commentary and featurette on each film, plus a bonus disc with the 1997 documentary Frank Capra's American Dream, hosted by Ron Howard, and four more featurettes, as well as a lovely 100-page movie scrapbook. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (E. Hulse)