CD-Charts Position 1
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It's A Wonderful Life [1946]

starring: James Stewart, Charles Lane, Charles Williams, Bob Scott, H.B. Warner
directed by: Frank Capra

Release Date November 10, 2008
I'm one of the many people who get depressed around Christmas time, i get stressed out and just cant handle it. When i feel like giving in, i watch its a wonderful life. This film can bring me back from the brink of despair, and makes me remember what Christmas is actually about! Being with family, enjoying each others company. Its a truly amazing film, that really warms your heart. Any other humbugs out there like me, should watch this, and remember the true spirit of Christmas!

CD-Charts Position 2
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The Frank Capra Collection - Feat: It's A Wonderful Life (4 Disc Box Set)

starring: James Stewart, Henry Travers, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Lionel Barrymore
directed by: Frank Capra

Release Date October 25, 2004
Received very quickly and boxset includes postcards of the movie posters which I'll frame and hang on the wall. Real bargain and in time for Christmas, especially to watch It's A Wonderful Life for the nth time.

CD-Charts Position 3
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Arsenic And Old Lace [1944]

starring: Cary Grant, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre
directed by: Frank Capra

Release Date May 07, 2001
Entertaining, but also contrived and overdone. Cary Grant's manic zeal is ultimately tiresome. NB Screwball comedies of the 40s are an acquired taste.

CD-Charts Position 4
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Mr Smith Goes To Washington [1939]

starring: James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, Guy Kibbee
directed by: Frank Capra

Release Date February 26, 2001
This is James Stewart at his absolute best. Frank Capra was a brilliant director and this is right up there with all his other classic movies. The story of the young, naive country boy heading off to the big city and initially making a fool of himself is brilliantly done. The interaction between Stewart and his co-star, the wonderful Jean Arthur, is a joy to watch. The finale with Stewart on his feet talking non-stop in the Senate is must see cinema. I would love to be able to go and see this on a big screen to fully appreciate just how good this movie is.

CD-Charts Position 5
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It's A Wonderful Life [1946]

starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers
directed by: Frank Capra

Release Date November 27, 2006
Yes, it is a great life affirming movie with its heart firmly in the right place...BUT...personally I would have prefered not such a happy ending, or a very different kind of happy ending - I just feel that the miraculous turnaround of George's fortunes at the end, while rightly suggesting that all good deeds may be remembered, and returned in kind, missed a real chance to state that happiness didn't have to depend on material wealth at all - After all, when he was given his old life back, George's euphoric happiness was based soley upon his family and friends, regardless of his dire financial state! This was a real chance to bang the point home about the real dangers of capitalism, but it was totally spurned. Indeed, this ending almost suggested, after roundly ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

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Lost Horizon [1937]

starring: Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, Edward Everett Horton, John Howard, Thomas Mitchell
directed by: Frank Capra

Release Date February 26, 2001
This is one of the great romantic movies; perhaps the best movie of Frank Capra's career; probably the best of Ronald Colman's. It runs about 2 hours and 34 minutes and never seems slow, even in the reflective scenes.

Robert Conway (Ronald Colman), a diplomat and soldier, his brother and three others escape on the last plane out of a war-torm Chinese town. The plane is highjacked and heads for the Himilayas, where it crashes. The crew is dead, the passengers stranded in freezing weather and deep snow. A band of natives appears with warm clothing, rescues them and they set out on a long trek. Eventually they come to a nearly inaccessible crevice in the mountains. They go through and find a valley that is warm and green, with people working cooperatively ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
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It Happened One Night [1934]

starring: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Ward Bond, Alan Hale, Walter Connolly
directed by: Frank Capra

Release Date May 08, 2006
Despite sweeping the oscars at the time, and being a real cinema goers favourite - it's not the best of Capra's by any means.

The two leads are very good,(Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable). And there are some very funny scenes. But it just doesn't quite cut it against some of Capra's later and far superior work.

I'd say that It's a Wonderful Life (1946) is by far Capra's best work. With Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) coming a close second. But it's also worth checking out the lesser known: You Can't Take It with You (1938) which is a great little film.

As for this one - well it's okay. If you ignore some of the jaw droppingly daft bits. Perhaps it's worth it just to see the sparring of Gable and Colbert on screen. Who I think ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
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Mr Deeds Goes To Town [1936]

starring: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft, Lionel Stander
directed by: Frank Capra

Release Date April 04, 2005
There is something about Frank Capra which I loved in my early teens that I can't digest very well now. I have grown far too cynical to appreciate them. There are exceptions of course, "It happened one night" and "Mr Smith goes to Washington", but these seem to be a minority. "Mr Deeds" is not part of this minority. Although has a powerful ending, typical of Capra and in a sense anticipating Mr Smith's ending, the film hasn't aged very well - or at least to me it hasn't.

The film tells the story of Longfellow Deeds who just inherited a fortune. Brought to the city he soon finds himself the laugh of the town and surround by sharks. Jean Arthur as the love interest is very good but Gary Cooper is his usually wooden-self, that only Lubitsch seems to have known how ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

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It's A Wonderful Life [1946]

starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers
directed by: Frank Capra

Release Date December 01, 2003
Yes, it is a great life affirming movie with its heart firmly in the right place...BUT...personally I would have prefered not such a happy ending, or a very different kind of happy ending - I just feel that the miraculous turnaround of George's fortunes at the end, while rightly suggesting that all good deeds may be remembered, and returned in kind, missed a real chance to state that happiness didn't have to depend on material wealth at all - After all, when he was given his old life back, George's euphoric happiness was based soley upon his family and friends, regardless of his dire financial state! This was a real chance to bang the point home about the real dangers of capitalism, but it was totally spurned. Indeed, this ending almost suggested, after roundly attacking corporate ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

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You Can't Take It With You [1938]

starring: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, Edward Arnold, Mischa Auer
directed by: Frank Capra

Release Date February 24, 2003
Frank Capra tries out eccentricity for size in the enchanting "You Can't Take it With You," a movie all about doing whatever makes you happy, not rich. While he's not quite in his element here (this is supposed to be really weird?), the talented cast and heartwarming message make this a truly enchanting, sweet movie.

Megamogul Kirby (Edward Arnold) has bought out dozens of buildings for a new factory -- only one eccentric family refuse to sell their family house. What he doesn't know is that his dissatisfied son Tony (James Stewart) is madly in love with Alice Sycamore (Jean Arthur), the daughter of the family. And now they're engaged.

When Tony shows up to meet the future in-laws, he finds ballet in the kitchen, fireworks in the basement, and genial patriarch ... Read More: