Frank Capra: Mr. America (2023)
A newspaperman teaches an heiress how to eat raw carrots…A materialistic businessman discovers the simple joys in life by playing “Polly Wolly Doodle” on a harmonica…A small-town banker discovers how many lives he’s touched…These are just three images from the works of an Italian-American director whose work defined the American spirit for a generation of filmgoers. Frank Capra may have been born in Sicily, but he lived the American dream. Writer-director Matthew Wells uses never-before-seen archival materials to trace how the immigrant from a poor family fast-talked his way into the movie business and rose from writing gags for Hal Roach to become one of Hollywood’s most prominent directors. It’s a tale as Capra-esque as any of the stories of American life he filmed.
d. Matthew Wells, 92m, DCP