A meaning to base your life on is something that we all search for. Not many people ever find the real meaning of their. For those that do they find seem to find it too late. However, this film has a great meaning if life right in the title. The name of the film is also the winner of the 11th Best Picture of the Academy Awards You Can't Take It with You.
It's a very simple story that has a lot of great comedy thrown in. Tony Kirby, son of wealthy banker Anthony P. Kirby, has fallen madly in love with he secretary Alice Sycamore. They want to get married but they need to introduce the family to each other first. However, there are a few problems with this situation. One, Tony's mother does not think highly of Alice because she is a secretary and thinks that Alice is "beneath their station" and her son needs to marry someone in his own social standing. Two, Anthony P. Kirby is trying to create a monopoly to run out a competitor and need to buy out the 12 block radius where his competitor's factory is going out and the lone holdout to sell is Grandpa Vanderhof, Alice's Grandfather. Mr. Kirby is so desperate to buy the property he tells his real estate broker to do everything he can to get that house on the market so he can buy it. Well, the plan goes all wrong when the broker tries to get everyone in the house arrest for not paying their income tax and setting off fireworks without a permit. This plan would have worked if Tony and Alice had not planned for the families to meet for dinner on the same night that the arrest went down. Because Tony, and Mr. and Mrs. Kirby were there the police thought they were part of the household and they were arrested too. While in the prison Mr. Kirby gets into an argument with Grandpa about what life really is about and Mr. Kirby is forced to look at what he is doing with his life and realizes that he does not like what he has become.
The cast alone can tell you well this film was going to do. Starring Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold, and Ann Miller no better cast could have been brought together to make this film come to life. Everyone in this film was simply charming and a joy to watch on screen. Winning the Best Director Award for the third time, Frank Capra brought to life a story that everyone needs to see and experience at least once in their life. Capra and Columbia did have some still competition that year. They beat out Warner Brothers' The Adventure of Robin Hood, Jezebel and Four Daughters; 20th Century Fox's Alexander's Ragtime Band; MGM's Boy's Town, The Citadel, and Test Pilot; R.A.O's Grand Illusion; and Pascal Film Productions' Pygmalion.
I am sorry to say that before last night I have never seen this film before. I have heard about but I never really wanted to watch it. I think the reason is because I never had any idea what it was about and who was in it. Had I known the Jimmy Stewart was a star in the film I would have watched it years ago. This has to be one of my top 20 favorite films that I have ever seen! It's was so funny and so well written! It was true a treat to watch from the very beginning to the very end! I will never forgive myself for not watching it sooner! this is a must see for everyone in my book! I will say I am deeply offended that this movie has not been chosen by the National Film Registry for preservation yet! If any of the film that I have seen so far on the Best Picture list this one should have been chosen over The Life of Emile Zola for sure! Maybe it will one day be preserved and I will dance when that day comes!
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