You Can’t Take It with You

(Frank Capra, US 1938, 126 min., DCP)

Riskin and Wray. The Best Picture of 1938 was this anarchic comedy adapted by Robert Riskin from the play by George Kaufman and Moss Hart. The nutty Sycamore family—artistic but not terribly talented—are encouraged by their patriarch, Lionel Barrymore, to run against the rat race and travel their own unique paths. Granddaughter Jean Arthur is the only “normal” one in the bunch, having fallen far from the tree. She becomes enamored with her wealthy employer’s son, James Stewart, and chaos ensues as the Sycamores make a valiant attempt at social normality.