You Can't Take It With You DVD

You Can't Take It with You
Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's whimsical Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play You Can't Take It With You was transformed into a paean to populism by director Frank Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin. This is the story of the zany Sycamore household, presided over by Grandpa Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore), a former businessman who has turned his back on commerce to enjoy life. At the Sycamores', everyone does just what he or she pleases. Penny Sycamore (Spring Byington), Grandpa's daughter, has become a novelist because someone delivered a typewriter to her home by mistake. Penny's husband makes firecrackers in his basement with the help of Mr. DePinna (Halliwell Hobbes), an iceman who showed up at the Sycamore doorstep one day and never left. Their daughter, Essie (Ann Miller), imagines that she's a prima ballerina, even though her dour teacher, Boris (Mischa Auer), assesses her work with, "Confidentially, it steenks!" Essie's husband, Ed (Dub Taylor), who'd rather play a xylophone than work, spends his free time selling Essie's candy, wrapping each package in paper from a used printing press that dispenses anarchistic slogans. The one normal member of the household is Alice Sycamore (Jean Arthur), in love with wealthy Tony Kirby (James Stewart). Naturally, when the stuffy, aristocratic Kirbys come to the Sycamores' for dinner, the event is a disaster, capped with the arrest of everyone in the household. Hart and Kaufman's third act found the previously judgmental Kirby softening his attitude toward the freewheeling Sycamore clan, admitting that he's never had so much fun in his life. Screenwriter Riskin altered the focus of the play by throwing out the third act and concentrating upon Tony Kirby's father, Kirby Sr., who as played by Edward Arnold is transformed from a stock stuffed shirt into a ruthless, grasping tycoon, eager to buy up every house on the Sycamores' block to make room for a munitions plant. The film thus became the story of Kirby's regeneration at the hands of the carefree Sycamores. Enough of the play's screwball elements are retained to compensate for Riskin's speechifying and plot distortions (though the softening of one of the play's vital ingredients, Grandpa's refusal to pay his income tax, borders on the sacrilegious). You Can't Take It With You earned several Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (Capra's third Oscar). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast Jean Arthur as Alice Sycamore Lionel Barrymore as Grandpa Martin Vanderhof James Stewart as Tony Kirby Edward Arnold as Anthony P. Kirby Mischa Auer as Kolenkhov Ann Miller as Essie Carmichael Spring Byington as Penny Sycamore Samuel S. Hinds as Paul Sycamore Donald Meek as Poppins H.B. Warner as Ramsey Halliwell Hobbes as Mr. DePinna Dub Taylor as Ed Carmichael Mary Forbes as Mrs. Anthony P. Kirby Lillian Yarbo as Rheba Clarence H. Wilson as John Blakely Josef Swickard as Professor Ann Doran as Maggie O'Neill Christian Rub as Schmidt Charles Lane as Henderson Harry Davenport as Judge

Crew Lionel Banks - Art Director Stephen Goosson - Art Director Irene - Costume Designer Bernard Newman - Costume Designer Arthur S. Black, Jr. - First Assistant Director Frank Capra - Director Gene Havlick - Editor Dimitri Tiomkin - Composer (Music Score) Morris W. Stoloff - Musical Direction/Supervision Joseph Walker - Cinematographer Frank Capra - Producer Edward Bernds - Sound Mixer Robert Riskin - Screenwriter Moss Hart - Play Author George S. Kaufman - Play Author

You Can't Take It with You
You Can't Take It With You is a joyful celebration of good-natured people and unconventional lifestyles. In some ways, it presages the "do your own thing" philosophy of the 1960s, and it is easy to imagine free-spirited families of the '60s as creative descendants of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's Pulitzer Prize-winning characters. The cast features some of the finest comic actors of its era. While Lionel Barrymore and James Stewart were equally adept at drama, the film also features fine performances from such humor specialists as Spring Byington, Dub Taylor, and Mischa Auer. Of special note is the presence of comic legend Eddie Anderson, who, with his supporting performance in Gone With the Wind, became the first African-American actor to appear in more than one Oscar- winning Best Picture. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
 

Frank Capra: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Director (winner) Gene Havlick: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Editing (nominated) John P. Livadary: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Sound (nominated) Joseph Walker: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Cinematography (nominated) Robert Riskin: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Screenplay (nominated) Spring Byington: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Supporting Actress (nominated)

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Picture (winner)

General Specifications: Language Options: Subtitle Options: Sound Processing: Additional Features: Digitally mastered audio & video Full-screen presentation Remastered in high-definition Bonus trailers Interactive menus Scene selections MPAA Rating: NR DVD Discs Included: DVD Sides: DVD DVD Region Code: Content Length: 126 min   DVD Chapters: Side #1 -- 1. Start [:56] 2. Kirby and Company [4:33] 3. Mr. Poppins [5:28] 4. A Free-Spirited Family [6:44] 5. Ismania [1:29] 6. The VP & His Stenographer [7:27] 7. Neighborhood Meeting [3:36] 8. The Town Crier [2:07] 9. Alice & Grandpa [4:12] 10. Wilber G. Henderson, IRS [8:01] 11. Kolenkhov [1:52] 12. Family History [6:23] 13. The Big Apple [4:18] 14. Feeling a Scream Coming On [4:06] 15. Right Hour, Wrong Day [8:01] 16. A Wrestler Never Forgets [10:14] 17. Disturbing the Peace [1:55] 18. In the Drunk Tank [3:31] 19. "You're an Idiot, Mr. Kirby" [4:30] 20. Night Court [6:25] 21. A Letter From Alice [9:12] 22. Grandpa Sells Out [1:51] 23. The Kirby Munitions Merger [3:04] 24. Tony Resigns [3:26] 25. Moving Day [5:35] 26. Alice Returns [2:00] 27. "Polly Wolly Doodle" [4:32] 28. A Family Dinner [2:40]