The Frank Capra Collection: It's A Wonderful Life / Mr. Smith Goes To Washington / You Can't Take It With You / It Happened One Night [DVD]

Four classic films directed by Frank Capra. 'It's A Wonderful Life' (1946) is a heartwarming Christmas fantasy. George Bailey (James Stewart) has spent his entire life in the small town of Bedford Falls. Despite his yearning to see the world, George has always sacrificed his personal ambitions for the sake of his family and the local community, settling down to marry his childhood sweetheart, Mary (Donna Reed), and raise a family. However, when a huge a of money goes missing from the savings and loans company, he panics - and finds himself preparing to commit suicide. However, he is shown the error of this idea by Clarence (Henry Travers), an angel who has been sent to Earth in order to earn his wings. To this end, Clarence shows George just how badly Bedford Falls and its residents would have turned out had he never been born. In 'It Happened One Night' (1934), heiress Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) flees her disapproving millionaire her (Walter Connolly) when he forbids her to marry worthless playboy King Westley (Jameson Thomas). En route to her fiancé, Ellie meets unemployed reporter Peter Warne (Clark Gable). The unlikely pair are forced to rough it together when their bus breaks down, but Peter's plans to sell the story of their journey together hit a snag when he finds himself falling in love with Ellie. Both Colbert and Gable won Academy Awards for their performances - the first time any co-stars had won. In 'You Can't Take It With You' (1938), Lionel Barrymore plays Martin Vanderhof, an eccentric who retired from the rat race thirty years ago and now uses his fortune to encourage his family and friends to pursue their interests. While Vanderhof paints (badly), other family members make fireworks, party s and practise ballet. The only comparatively normal relative is Alice (Jean Arthur), Vanderhof's granddaughter, who works as a receptionist for businessman Anthony P. Kirby (Edward Arnold). Alice is in love with Kirby's son, Stewart (James Stewart), but matters are complicated when it transpires that Kirby wishes to purchase and demolish Vanderhof's mansion in order to build on the land. Finally, in the political fantasy 'Mr Smith Goes to Washington' (1939), when naive Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) is chosen to replace a recently deceased senator, he heads for Washington full of idealistic dreams of serving his country, and looking forward to working with his idol: senior senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains). Upon his arrival, he is ridiculed in the press for his gullibility, but with the aid of his secretary, Saunders (Jean Arthur), he begins to realise that the world of politics is cut-throat and full of double dealing. When he discovers that Paine is working on a scheme for a new dam which will only profit him and his cronies, Smith sets out to expose the man he formerly idolised. The film garnered eleven O nominations.

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