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The Name Above the Title: An Autobiography
by
Frank Capra
Although Frank Capra (1897–1991) is best known as the director of
It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can't Take It with You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Arsenic and Old Lace,
and
It's a Wonderful Life
, he was also an award-winning documentary filmmaker as well as a behind-the-scene force in the Director's Guild, the Motion Picture Academy, and the Produce
...more
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Community Reviews
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I just wanted to thank everyone who commented on a book about Frank Capra; he is my late great-uncle and his nephew (my maternal grandfather also deceased) were amazing people and I have cherished memories of growing up watching the career of my grandfather unfold and also conclude. Mostly I remember the stories told about Frank although I was only 10-12 when he passed. Seeing his work live on and his movie It's a Wonderful Life still played every Christmas is something I can't put into words. T
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May 29, 2009
Evan
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
celebrity-famous-bio
,
movies-non-reference
I read this in high school long long ago, and at the time I was devouring Capra's films for the first time. I remember the book being flavorful and lively; I can remember with lingering fascination his descriptions of Jean Arthur's voice ("a thousand tinkling bells") and Barbara Stanwyck's explosive good-for-one-take acting as well as the troubles he had coming up with an acceptable ending for "Meet John Doe" (he didn't), among other insider gems. I've since read that the book is chock full in i
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Jan 11, 2013
Kenny
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
aspiring filmmakers
Truly, Capra was one of filmdom's greatest auteurs, and he managed to do it without producing vile, venal garbage. Admittedly, in his day there was the Hayes Code which enforced strict moral parameters on filmmakers, but he still managed to make not only family-friendly films like IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, but also infused them with wit and pathos. No one can watch George Bailey down and out in the bar, hanging by a thread, and think Capra is all sweetness and light. A great book, told in the first
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It was indeed a great read. I very much enjoyed experiencing his perspective on his lengthy career, movie icons, as well as so many amazing films – admittedly some of which I was not aware were his. My next step, of course, will be to seek out some of those movies and view them from a different point of view.
Loved this book. As always…when it’s a book I buy at a sale…I always hope to read it and give it away. Then I read it and wind up wanting to keep it!
So much to be impressed with…..Capra was just like his movies. Honest, candid…very real and down to earth…at least that’s how he reads to me.
I think I like the man even more than his movies. I do enjoy reading the behind the scenes info…and Frank Capra is plenty interesting. I didn’t know he was from Italy and his folks came here and started from n ...more
So much to be impressed with…..Capra was just like his movies. Honest, candid…very real and down to earth…at least that’s how he reads to me.
I think I like the man even more than his movies. I do enjoy reading the behind the scenes info…and Frank Capra is plenty interesting. I didn’t know he was from Italy and his folks came here and started from n ...more
This should be required reading for anyone in the film business. It describes process, creativity, and the physical stress put on a director. It's been a long time since I read it, but I do remember Capra getting so ill after having made five very successful films, that he thought he was dying. There's a great deal of financial and peer pressure on directors to succeed with each film they make. And that pressure hasn't changed.
I have a theory that modern-day directors who've made a few good fil ...more
I have a theory that modern-day directors who've made a few good fil ...more
Before I discovered film culture I was entranced by the 'old-fashioned' Americana that has become known as 'Capraesque'. As a family each Thanksgiving we watched Miracle on "Thirty-fourth Street". I loved Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith goes to Washington" and Gary Cooper in "Mr. Deeds goes to Town". Later I would learn about other great films of Capra like "Arsenic and Old Lace", Meet John Doe", and "It Happened One Night". One indication of Capra's greatness as a director is a partial list of lead
...more
Overall, I liked this book. I really dug the first half, I liked the first two/thirds, but the last third or so reallllllyyyy dragged for me. It actually took me nine months to get through this book. It got to a point where I would pick it up, read a paragraph and remember what I wasn't liking about it and put it down again.
There are some great anecdotes about him hustling on the streets when he was a kid. He was scrappy; he'll tell you over and over. I loved the stories of Frank writing for Ou ...more
There are some great anecdotes about him hustling on the streets when he was a kid. He was scrappy; he'll tell you over and over. I loved the stories of Frank writing for Ou ...more
His ego was through the roof, and a few passages were sexist or homophobic. That annoyed me. Moreover, he aged into a curmudgeon who couldn't stand what film had become, a vantage point I fundamentally disagree with.
Nevertheless, I enjoy reading about entertainment in the 30s, and it was interesting to read about his life and his films. I learned from the adventure.
Nevertheless, I enjoy reading about entertainment in the 30s, and it was interesting to read about his life and his films. I learned from the adventure.
By far the best book I've read about Old Hollywood, and I've read alot of them. At times Capra's ego is hard to digest but because he writes with 30s slang rather than a pretentious, Ivy League vocabulary, it's easily forgivable.
He gives great insight on how Hollywood transitioned from the Golden age into a decadent age. Film makers traded the hero for the non-hero, the non-hero for the anti-hero all for sake of sex and psychology. Capra couldn't do it. He wanted to make comedies to uplift the ...more
He gives great insight on how Hollywood transitioned from the Golden age into a decadent age. Film makers traded the hero for the non-hero, the non-hero for the anti-hero all for sake of sex and psychology. Capra couldn't do it. He wanted to make comedies to uplift the ...more
I'm giving this 5 stars for one reason and one reason alone: Frank Capra himself. While the book, I think, is longer than it should be, or at least reads longer, and there is more detail than needed (long citations of names and players), the man, Frank Capra, for his work, for his ideals, for his love of God and this country rates 5 stars. We are blessed to have had such an ardent fan of America and humanity to have immortalized it in film - even to have developed the craft. As the biography win
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Sep 25, 2013
Cynthia Whittington
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
film-history
Capra describes coming up from the slums by wit, bluster, and determination to become a world-famous director, making films for the army during World War II, and readjusting uneasily to Hollywood after the war. His great theme is courage; he prizes the ability to make decisions rapidly with incomplete information but without looking back. I have read reviews saying that some of the facts in this book are inaccurate; not being a scholar, I cannot judge. However, what any self-portrait reveals abo
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A few times in my reading about the history of film, I ran across a recommendation to read Frank Capra's auto-biography. So this year I put it on my Christmas list and it was, indeed, a treat.
This is a history of the Hollywood movie industry from its bare beginnings at the turn of the century all the way through to the 1970s.
People, places, events of that time--Capra was around them all.
So many interesting tidbits and not enough room to relate them all.
If you like the movies, especially the old ...more
This is a history of the Hollywood movie industry from its bare beginnings at the turn of the century all the way through to the 1970s.
People, places, events of that time--Capra was around them all.
So many interesting tidbits and not enough room to relate them all.
If you like the movies, especially the old ...more
What an interesting book! What an interesting man! If you like the movies, and especially the old movies, this is a must read. Frank Capra made some wonderful movies that are still worth watching today and this book provides a lot of interesting facts about how he made them. He also talks a lot about his war-time service and how difficult it was to get through the Army bureaucracy to get training films made for the troops about why they were fighting. Hated for it to end.
Autobiography from one of the great classic-era directors. It's overblown in style and in Capra's sense of self, and I imagine it was at least partly ghostwritten, but it's fun to read. I wish he'd gone into a little more detail on the making of his classics (Lost Horizon, You Can't Take It With You, It's a Wonderful Life), though I love his dishy digs as obnoxious folks like Claudette Colbert and Glenn Ford.
Entertaining for awhile but eventually the self-congratulatory pumping gets to be too much. One can conclude from the book that Capra was a talented directory and a complete megalomaniac. That said, he did direct "It Happened One Night", one of my all-time favorites, so all is forgiven.
I found a paperback ISBN 553-07306-195 of this book in the free bin outside the library book sale. I can't believe they tossed it there. This book is wonderfully funny and fascinating. Great read for anyone who, like me, is a fan of pre 1950's film era. (My review from 2011)
Perhaps the most moving and inspiring book about movie making I've ever read. Capra's autobiography is a portrait of Hollywood's long gone Golden Age, and it's just as powerful and uplifting as his many films.
A fantastic novel by one of the greatest directors. Anyone who is interested in hollywood history and film in general need to read this book.
Soft spot for this autobio, even though I'd be surprised if even half of it is actually true. I got him to sign my copy when I met him.
This is a brilliant autobiography. It has been a great inspiration to me and a large influence on my choice of careers. I love this book.
Agreed! Should be read by anyone interested in film!
One of the best books about the movie industry in its heyday...
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“Someone should keep reminding Mr. Average Man that he was born free, divine, strong; uncrushable by fate, society, or hell itself; and that he is a child of God, equal heir to all the bounties of God; and that goodness is riches, kindness is power, and freedom is glory. Above all, every man is born with an inner capacity to take him as far as his imagination can dream or envision-providing he is free to dream and envision.”
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“The world was in a confused turmoil-wars, H-bombs, confrontations, fear, hate, hate. And Hollywood was feeding the confusion with a steady diet of sex, violence, and lewdness. What wisdom needed, to catch up with our runaway technology, was time. And time might be bought not with violence, but with compassion-that divine unguent that lubricates and soothes our abrasive human hates. Compassion might just possibly slow down the ticking till we could defuse the world with reason.
And we had an outside chance of buying a little precious extra time by filming the life of Schnozzola, the great compassionate clown. A chance that got lost among stars and their satellites. Pity Pity.
Now what would I do? Certainly the world didn't need more films about sex, violence, and lewdness. Judging by contemporary Hollywood films, the United States was made up of sexpots, homosexuals, lesbians, Marquis de Sades, junkies too! too! beautiful people, country-club liberals, draft-card burners, and theatrical and religious figures bleeding make-believe blood for cause and camera. "Shock films," they called them; "skin flicks" that dealt not with the humorous, honest, robust, Rabelaisian earthiness that nurtures life, but with the cologned, pretentious, effete, adulterated crud that pollutes life.”
—
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More quotes…
And we had an outside chance of buying a little precious extra time by filming the life of Schnozzola, the great compassionate clown. A chance that got lost among stars and their satellites. Pity Pity.
Now what would I do? Certainly the world didn't need more films about sex, violence, and lewdness. Judging by contemporary Hollywood films, the United States was made up of sexpots, homosexuals, lesbians, Marquis de Sades, junkies too! too! beautiful people, country-club liberals, draft-card burners, and theatrical and religious figures bleeding make-believe blood for cause and camera. "Shock films," they called them; "skin flicks" that dealt not with the humorous, honest, robust, Rabelaisian earthiness that nurtures life, but with the cologned, pretentious, effete, adulterated crud that pollutes life.”
