You Can't Take It with You

Rating:
Summary: Fun, and so true!
Review: To sum up this movie one only needs to see the scene with John Barrymore asking a clerk what he is doing. In a persistent, childlike way he next asks, "Why?". And, "Isn't there anything else he'd rather be doing?". When the milquetoast clerk pulls out a delightful invention of his, Barrymore asks him why he is punching numbers into a machine instead of inventing things. He then invites him to join his oddball household where "everybody does what they want to do" and be a "lily of the field." They survive on a meager income, because what they "do" makes them happy, not what they can "get."
Barrymore's family has found the secret to success. Live life to the fullest now, because after all, when it's over, you can't take it with you. John Barrymore and his "family" are incredibly fun to watch, and will make you want to throw out your TV, quit your job, and dance (to the harmonica) in their living room.
Great performances, great message. My ony question is, how did they get hold of my home videos?

Rating:
Summary: Family Video Classic
Review: Warning: This film contains those terrible things called "Values". To say this film is a "Classic" doesn't give it the accolades it deserves. It's facets are too many to explain in a paragraph; romantic and family relationships, business dealing, and even faith in something more than ourselves are at the top. The entire cast is wonderful, but you can't help but love Mr. Barrymore and his zany family. It's a film that adults and children can watch and appreciate many times.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining Capra-Corn!
Review: While this doesn't feel as timeless or as compelling as Capra's other films, it is a lot of fun. A very young James Stewart and Jean Arthur shine, but Lionel Barrymore steals the show as the crusty old grandfather of an eccentric family. As with almost all Capra films, the business man is the 'bad guy', and the happy family that believes in good old-fashion American values and aren't afraid to forget about everything else and do 'what they like to do' are the 'good guys'. It feels very stagy, but it does have it's funny moments, and Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur make a dangerously cute couple. An entertaining slice of Americana by Mr. Capra. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film a 7!

Rating:
Summary: You Can't Take It With You
Review: Winner of two Academy Awards in 1939 (Best Picture, Best Director - Frank Capra), based upon a Pulitzer Prize winning play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, boasting a stellar cast, I was more than a little disappointed that I found myself immune to YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU's charms. I really did much care for this movie.
Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur play a pair of young lovebirds related to a pair of bickering elders. Edward Arnold plays Stewart's father, a heartless industrialist who is building the largest monopoly in history if only he can buy a small lot owned by Arthur's eccentric grandfather Lionel Barrymore.
Barrymore plays a man who dropped out of the business world thirty-odd years ago to stop and smell the roses. Arnold's character is ruthless.
The movie busies itself with the Stewart/Arthur romance, the education of Arnold's character, and takes every chance it can to allow Barrymore to dispense some homespun wisdom. For my money, Barrymore's brood is a little too eccentric, Edward Arnold is a little too cutthroat.
My favorite scene also contained a bit that drove me to distraction. An IRS comes to Barrymore's coveted house. Barrymore hasn't paid his income tax for years. The agent tries to convince Barrymore that he has to pay, while Barrymore parries with variations on "What does that money buy me?" In the meantime, granddaughter Ann Miller pirouettes poorly about the room, Spring Byington works on her play, Dub Taylor plays Mozart on the xylophones, and the boys in the basement are messing around with their home made fireworks. Arnold and wife and son arrive. They were supposed to meet Arthur's family tomorrow, so they're a day early.
Edward Arnold was an excellent actor, and he played the stuffed shirt as good as anybody. It's fun to watch his dignity assaulted time after time in this scene. What isn't so much fun is listening to Barrymore drone on and on with his ostensibly homespun variations on "Why should I pay taxes?" It's supposed to be funny, I suppose, but in reality federal marshals would have run him in long before the frustrated IRS agent arrived. Barrymore is allowed to rant, but the movie doesn't make him pay the consequences for his opposition. In other words, the Barrymore character seemed phony to me, and that severely affected my entire reaction to this movie.
This movie also shifts the point of view fairly frequently. I think Capra was more effective when he narrow his sights to a single character. It's a lot easier to get emotionally involved with a George Bailey or a John Doe when the great majority of events is filtered through them.
So, with some disappointment, I gave this movie three stars. The dvd picture is fine, but some of the words are recorded at such a low level they're impossible to hear.




Rating:
Summary: This video was awesome!
Review: You Can't Take it With You is sooo hilarious and very very romantic! When my sister and I first saw it-we were rolling on the floor laughing! Jean Arthur and Jimmy Stewart have great chemistry! One of our favorite parts is when the Kirby's come over to the Sycamore's house and Essie is dancing to her husband's xylophone and she dances to the ground!!! HILARIOUS!! We would highly recomend this video-as another reviewer said-I wish I could give this movie more than 5 stars!

Rating:
Summary: Take Time To Smell The Roses
Review: You Can't Take It With You presents the story of an unusual family and assorted offbeat characters that live in a house where the unusual is the norm and everyone is encouraged to do what makes them happy. Grandfather Lionel Barrymore leads the family, a man with great respect for God and the ordinary man, as well as a great love for life and all the little joys it has to offer. Barrymore is being pressured to sell his house to a big businessman, Edward Arnold, who is trying to buy all the surrounding property to build a factory. Barrymore resists, but the problem is that his granddaughter Jean Arthur has fallen in love with Jimmy Stewart, the son of Arnold. It all becomes the story of big business vs. the little guy, the rich vs. the ordinary man. In other words, the typical conflicts of many of director Frank Capra's films. The film starts off a little slowly, but picks up energy and steam as it goes along. There are a number of terrific scenes, including Stewart and Arthur in the restaurant, the fireworks explosion, and the courtroom. Stewart and Arthur give fine performances, but the film really belongs to Barrymore and Arnold, playing men with opposite viewpoints who basically want the same thing out of life. Both of these great character actors deliver top, moving performances. With its humour, quirky characters, and message about what really counts in life, the film gives viewers everything you would expect from a top Capra movie.