Powerful

Just perfect...

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

You may enjoy this--lots of people still do, judging from reviews that led me to catch it on late night TV. Definitely it's a treat to see such a cast of famous film stars assembled in one place.It's probably unfair to judge the story line by current standards, but it's weak, and too many lame exchanges mark the dialog. The endless stereotypes--from the snooty upper crust to the always-aimin'-to-please help to the imperious Russian dance teacher--get tiresome after a while, even though they must have charmed a contemporary audience.Look at it as a period piece, but overall it's a disappointment.

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU The film is a romantic comedy that at times treated very serious topic. The rich snobs against wacky, eccentric but, it seems to me very nice people. Conflict of family, property and way of thinking. Meeting of two different social categories shaken "most beautiful" thing in the world - love. My impression is that most Capra's protagonist finds happiness in small things. Of course, there must be a difference between a good and successful man. These little things may act strange, but certainly not negligible. Source of happiness and satisfaction is at hand, only it needs to be open.Martin "Grandpa" Vanderhof's (Lionel Barrymore) house is the film's utopian space. All are happy and satisfied, somewhat eccentric and definitely crazy. Of course, everyone is doing only what they want. Penny Sycamore (Spring Byington), Vanderhof's daughter, writes plays because a typewriter was accidentally sent to the house eight years ago. Her daughter, Essie Carmichael (Ann Miller), practices dance even though she exhibits no talent for it. Ed Carmichael (Dub Taylor), Essie's husband, plays xylophone in order to accompany her dancing. The house in which all are welcome. The basement is the right valley of creativity.Important segments of the story are the government and capital. One individual resists both. Grandpa Martin Vanderhof is incredibly calm and positive character and he "protest" in a specific way. You Can't Take It With You also subtly links class with gender. Alice Sycamore (Jean Arthur), of the lower middle-class, is engaged to Tony Kirby (James Stewart), son of millionaire. This proportion is slightly idealized. How important vision is? The vision is temporary? At different moments of most of the characters accept the truth in this or that way. For this reason I do not like the idyllic ending of the film. I convinced myself that this is a romantic comedy.Capra has again been very careful with cinematography, framing and dialogue. Acting is at a high level. Of course Lionel Barrymore is masterly. The film is a good way out of the dark for two hours. It's very funny.

Here's the thing about eccentrics: They're not the best people to look to for a coherent ideology.So it is with the Vanderhoffs and Sycamores, a clan of crazy, loving, and lovable people who have decided to exit the rat race and follow their wandering muses... and boy, do they wander! Grandpa spends his days playing his harmonica and attending the graduation ceremonies of people he doesn't know. His daughter, Penny, decided to become the next George Bernard Shaw after someone dropped a typewriter at the home by mistake. Granddaughter Essie dances very, very badly, and her sister Alice, rebelling against her family of rebels, decides to become a banker's secretary (she still finds time to slide down banisters, though). Grandpa, it should be known, hasn't paid his taxes, well, ever, and his defense of this fact to the rather dunderheaded IRS agent who comes a'calling has been lauded by Tea Party types and abhorred by modern- day liberals as a polemic in favor of bathtub-sized government. Yet it should be noted that another resident of the house is on government relief and Grandpa seems totally fine with that. He may have thought through his rejection of soulless corporate America, but that doesn't mean he's right or consistent about everything. SPOILER AHEADWhat's more, for all his praise of the virtues of friendship over money, he actually betrays his friends pretty epically when he agrees to sell the house to a company trying to take over his neighborhood. While he does this in order to move closer to Alice, it nearly gets all his neighbors evicted. Not very friendly, right?END SPOILERDoes all this mean that Grandpa is a bad person? No. Is he a questionable role model? Yes, and Frank Capra's attempt to make him a populist hero doesn't quite work. But you should watch and enjoy the hell out of You Can't Take It With You--it's touching, hilarious, and does contain genuine insights on how to live a good life. But don't go to it for a ready- to-serve political belief system. Go for the wish fulfillment: the chance to imagine doing exactly what you want with your life without fear of failure or poverty. I've got a good idea about what I'd do (drawing, acting, college classes on film appreciation, etc.), and I suspect you do too.

A man from a family of rich snobs becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family.Frank Capra has a certain sensibility that people associate with him. And that sensibility you expect will certainly be evident here. This is like a cross between his "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Arsenic and Old Lace". The eccentric scenes are great, with dancing and music for no real reason. There is a discussion of income taxes and what good they serve. (Keep in mind income tax started around 1913, so people of the time knew an era without it.) And best of all, we have a rat. A rat with hair on it. That cracked me up pretty hard.