Frank Capra

And Frank Capra (1897-1991) refused to cross the dividing line, he stayed on the side of pure and authentic emotions. Perhaps for having lived them in the realization of his ‘American dream’. Born in a small town in Sicily, he emigrated to the US at the age of 5. From a large family, poor and peasant, a practicing Catholic, the premature death of his father forced him to be the head of the household. Which posed him moral dilemmas, such as whether or not to contribute his knowledge as a chemical engineer to alcohol smuggling; As for any of his future heroes, this was tempting, but his principles prevailed.

He turned to movies by chance: on a streetcar, the driver mentioned a newspaper ad for Fireside Productions. He introduced himself, and assured that he came from Hollywood, a little lie. In 1922 he was conducting Ballad of Fultah Fisher’s Boarding House , a bombastic title of only 10 minutes, which the press described as “a tribute to the genius of Kipling”. When Capra finally confessed his film ignorance to Walter Montague, the latter told him he already knew, but that he had trusted his determination. Later he was a gag writer on the series The Gang , and on the Harry Langdon films , produced by Mack Sennett.

Searching for his personal Shangri-La, the idyllic place he would paint in Lost Horizon , he worked for Harry Cohn at Columbia. His films elevated the modest Gower Street studio to the next level. It was a long relationship, from 1927 to 1939, where there was no shortage of troubles (Cohn released a film in Europe with Capra’s name, without Capra’s knowledge), but also no joys (three Oscars for best director, the pride of seeing his name in front of the title…), and several essential titles. Gable and Colbert’s bus ride from It Happened One Night , homeless May Robson ‘s turning from Mrs. into Lady for a Day (which led to a remake by Capra himself), the manipulated heir, Cooper, from The Secret of Living, the thundered family, Arthur, Stewart, Barrymore, from Live As You Want , and, of course, Colman’s utopia in Lost Horizons , among others. They were magnificent films, which had a crumb, and avoided falling into boredom, the cardinal sin of cinema, according to Capra. In addition, he had time to preside over the Hollywood Academy. Then he would seek independence: first with screenwriter Robert Riskin , and after the war with William Wyler and George Stevens . At that stage, Juan Nadie (Cooper ‘again’) spoke masterfully about the anonymous citizen; An idea common to Knight Without a Sword , a film that the Washington politicians did not like, with the ‘boy scout’ Stewart.

His contribution to the World War II effort with the Why We Fight series was significant. But horror and death took their toll. What did not prevent him from delivering his most famous film after the contest, the Christmas movie par excellence, How beautiful it is to live! , fable about what happens and doesn’t happen if one evades his responsibilities, with Reed, Stewart, and Barrymore. Curiously, at the time it did not work. It was beginning to decline, but it still produced estimable titles such as El Estado de La Unión . The world changed, the cinema too. Actors and agents held unusual power, he grew older, he got tired. Little by little the films admitted a load of sex and violence that repelled him. The official withdrawal of him came with A gangster for a miracle(1961), delicious comedy, but not suitable in these times. He would still have time, however, to write his memoirs, defined by John Ford as “the only authentic balance I have read about Hollywood.”