Here Comes the Groom

#26 in my ranking of Frank Capra's filmography. Another Bing Crosby vehicle and another job for Frank Capra at Paramount, his last, Here Comes the Groom is a light and frilly affair that takes too long to do too little but is intermittently charming along the way. It's a largely unremarkable film that doesn't try…

Riding High

#28 in my ranking of Frank Capra's filmography. Pretty much a shot for shot remake of Broadway Bill, Riding High is one of those curious oddities where a filmmaker remade their own film. This isn't quite like Howard Hawks simply repeating himself (like Ceiling Zero becoming Only Angels Have Wings) or Hitchcock just seeing if…

State of the Union

#24 in my ranking of Frank Capra's filmography. Frank Capra's final film for Liberty Films which was sold to Paramount in the middle of production (tax laws really didn't help things which even David O. Selznick had to deal with after the success of Gone with the Wind) could be described as generically Frank Capraesque…

It’s a Wonderful Life

#1 in my ranking of Frank Capra's filmography. Well, I thought Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was going to be Frank Capra's crowning achievement. I hadn't seen It's a Wonderful Life in a very long time, knowing it through cultural osmosis, and I was genuinely surprised at how into the struggle of a life for…

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

So, I'm continuing this list from Flavor Wire that lists the 50 "best" English novels of the 19th Century. (All lists are crap, remember, except mine which are definitive.) I have come to number 34 in the list, Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. I have certainly never read a novel about a gaggle of old biddies…