The Stanwyck trick---she always knew the whole script---where stuff fell in the arc

Capra Directing Actors, the greatest

In my esteem, Capra was the greatest director of actors. Even better than Elia Kazan. Why? Because he left them alone---to a large degree.

Why would you call him the greatest if he left them alone?

Where Capra did 95% of the directing of his actors was in the casting. He was brilliant at picking the right person for the job and then leaving them alone.

If he saw an actor doing something quirky in their normal day to day living, he would ask them to add it. It worked. It added that dimension of reality to his films. So you discover Clark Gable doesn't wear t-shirts. Or you get to see Sterling Holloway add his Vaudeville act to his bit part as a soda jerk. Or you see the way Barbara Stanwyck could bully a man into submission, while keeping her femininity. Or you can see Jean Arthur literally charm herself into the heart of a man.

Let me give a couple examples of his get out of the way style. In It Happened One Night he asks Claudette Colbert to stick a leg out to stop a car while she and Clark are hitchhiking. He well knows that Claudette has the best pair of legs in Hollywood. He also knows she's a bit shy about showing anything since Cecil  B. DeMille bullied her into swimming nude for Cleopatra.

So, when she refuses, Frank says "No problem," and brings in the double, The double sticks out a beefy leg to stop the car. Claudette takes one look, vocalizes her exasperation, asks the double to step aside, and lets Capra get the shot. The rest is history (repeated over and over by Tex Avery and others).

Maybe we should call him Mr. Sly Fox. He looked like a small, simple Italian man with a bit of a stutter, a balding pate and a nerd's sensibility (he had a degree from Cal Tech in chemistry and biology). But by being this nice guy who got out of the way, he got the best performances from our greatest actors and actresses.

Another example is when James Stewart prays in the bar during It's A Wonderful Life. Capra saw this real moment from Jimmy, but he was shooting a wide shot. He asks Jimmy if he can do it again for a close-up. He says he doesn't think so. No problem. Capra takes the film into the lab and magnifies the piece until he gets the incredible performance we get to see today.

As the studio system changed and actors began to feel their oats, Capra's hand's off approach lost its power. It was a loss to all of us. The fleeting beauty of art. We're blessed to have these moments preserved.

Capracorn

Frank Capra. I say the name and you, probably rightfully so, would label me a sentimentalist. I don't experience his work in that way, however.

I experienced Capra as a revelation. Growing up a surfer in south Orange County, I didn't even know who he was. I knew John Ford and Orson Welles, but not Capra.

When I was 18, a girlfriend introduced me to him around Christmas through "It's A Wonderful Life."

I was transformed. You can actually do this with film? You can include family and religion and hopes and dreams---in a very satisfying story and characters?

I became voracious in my appetite for Capra. The University I attended as a freshman, Pepperdine, showed a retrospective of his films. I would break dates with that girl (at UC Davis) to get back and see Capra's stuff.

I found a very similar thing that I found in Keaton's, Ford's and Lubitsch's films: a touch, a voice, a feeling like no other film. Certainly, this voice varied from filmmaker to filmmaker, and it grew and waned throughout their careers, but it was real.

Capra worked in poverty row, but he captured the imagination of the world.

Groucho

For fifty years, a college existed that created the height of humorists. The college from 1880 to 1930 was Vaudeville. The best humorists included W. C. Fields, Will Rogers and Groucho Marx. These men represented thousands that went through their school, but they were the cream that rose to the top. They all started out in Vaudeville with other entertaining skills. Will Rogers was a trick roper, W.C. was a juggler. Groucho was an MC and singer. They all found that if they told jokes between acts and stunts that they could keep the attention of the audience longer. Luckily for us, they developed into the best joke tellers (and story tellers) of all time.

Groucho was an encyclopedia of jokes. If you ever wanted to invite someone to something, anything, invite Groucho and he would have the perfect quip for it. He often had the perfect quip for the person as well. Careful about telling him your name or where you lived because he had a return for that.

The best thing about Groucho (and the worst) was he held no reverence for anybody (and especially those who thought a lot of themselves).

As Jessica said about Roger Rabbit, he makes me laugh.

Harpo

It's weird how some people on a flickering screen can seem like your friends. Harpo liked the little guy. He made you smile with just a look. His reactions caused hysterics. His actions were devious but left you anticipating with delight.

His character is timeless because it followed no set cultural norms. His antics were not a reaction to the trends, they were completely his own. You could have Harpo guest on a variety show and he would keep your audience enthralled blowing bubbles. You could have him on your sitcom, and everyone wound up dressing and acting like him.

The strangest thing about Adolph Marx (he had the name before Hitler) was he found a freedom in creativity through his limitations. He couldn't speak as well as his brothers on stage, so he let his actions speak.

Beneath it all: the anarchy, the love for blondes, the cross-play against whatever was going on---was this contagious love of life. Harpo is my hero.

The Absurdists

One could just as easily call them the Surrealists or the Iconoclasts. They are simply the greatest comedy team of all time.

When I was 9, while most children were watching Bozo or the Three Stooges, I would gather the kids on my block to come with me to an art house theater and watch The Marx Brothers.

They are the bomb you wish you had to unleash at every party.

Their presence gave me hope and made me think anything was possible.

The first film to grab me from the big screen was The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao. It was a George Pal production, which meant state of the art special effects. It had the same effect on me as seeing the Jungle Cruise at age 4, I hid under the seats. What confused me was how nonchalantly people around me reacted to the epic story I saw on the screen. Shouldn't we be careful about not looking at the Gorgon, Medusa, or we would be turned to stone? Why aren't all of these people around me turning into stone? The part is magnificently played by Tony Randall.

In the end, I actually feel sorry for the Medusa, as well as Dr. Lao. They are both caught in the mythologies they've created. They cannot join us in reality. Is it enough to cause us to step into their mythos for a moment so we can learn the truth about our reality? I actually long for them to join us in our stories. They put up their show and go away. It certainly had a profound effect on me as a kid. I will never doubt the power of a story, especially one told fantastically on the silver screen. Perhaps they do stay with us.

Alas, Dr. Lao does not translate well today. One can see the make-up, claymation and ham acting. I still appreciate it.