Word & Song by Anthony Esolen

Share this post

You Can't Take It With You (1938)

anthonyesolen.substack.com
Film of the Week

You Can't Take It With You (1938)

Director: Frank Capra

Anthony Esolen
Jul 21, 2022
8
Share this post

You Can't Take It With You (1938)

anthonyesolen.substack.com

Picture an avuncular fellow on crutches, whom everybody knows as Grandpa (Lionel Barrymore).  He’s at a bank, and he’s chatting with the teller, Mr. Poppins, a nervous little man who doesn’t particularly like his job.  He’d much rather tinker and make ingenious gadgets.  So Grandpa invites him to leave the bank and come and live at his house.  At Grandpa’s house, everybody does what he wants to do – learn ballet, write plays, concoct fireworks, play the harmonica, do acrobatics, whatever.
     “But how would I live?” asks the teller.
     “The same way we do.”
     “The same way.  Well, who takes care of you?”
     “The same One,” says Grandpa, “that takes care of the lilies of the field, Mr. Poppins, except that we toil a little, spin a little, and have a lot of fun.”
     That scene comes from Frank Capra’s uproarious romantic comedy, You Can’t Take It With You (1938), which is also a shrewd commentary upon how people end up living lives they don’t like, because they’re motivated …

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Word & Song by Anthony Esolen to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
Previous
Next
© 2023 Anthony Esolen
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing