American Vision: The Films of Frank Capra

About this book

In this study Professor Carney provides a fresh analysis of the career and work of film director Frank Capra. There are few filmgoers who have not seen or been moved by one of the thirty-six feature films directed by Frank Capra between 1926 and 1961 among them are Its a Wonderful Life Mr Smith Goes to Washington Meet John Doe Lost Horizon It Happened One Night Mr Deeds Goes to Town and Pocketful of Miracles. Critics however have often dismissed the director as sentimental or patronised his populist tendencies. Professor Carney locates the directors oeuvre within a larger tradition of post-Romantic expression placing him in the company of figures such as Hawthorne Emerson James Winslow Homer Sargent and Edward Hopper. His vast knowledge of Capras biography the intricacies of the Hollywood studio system film-making techniques and the American cultural heritage has produced a study that moves beyond the boundaries of film scholarship. The detailed readings of individual films are presented within a broad cultural context and the context of Capras own development. Thus the book is as much an exploration of the American imagination as it is a study of a single directors work.