You Can't Take It With You

MOVIE REVIEW OF You Can't Take It With You (1938) Not Rated

Cast
Director:	Frank Capra	Runtime: 2hrs 6min ( 126min)
Alice Sycamore	.....	Jean Arthur
Martin Vanderhof	.....	Lionel Barrymore
Tony Kirby	.....	James Stewart
Anthony P. Kirby	.....	Edward Arnold
Kolenkhov	.....	Mischa Auer
Essie Carmichael	.....	Ann Miller
Penny Sycamore	.....	Spring Byington
Paul Sycamore	.....	Samuel S. Hinds
mr. poppins	.....	donald meek
mr. ramsey	.....	h. b. warner
mr. dePinna	.....	halliwell hobbes
ed carmichael	.....	dub taylor
mrs. anthony kirby	.....	mary forbes
rheba	.....	lillian yarbo
donald	.....	eddie anderson
john blakely	.....	clarence wilson
professor	.....	josef swickard
maggie o' neill	.....	ann doran
mr. schmidt	.....	christian rub
mrs. schmidt	.....	bodil rosing
wilbur g. henderson	.....	charles lane
judge	.....	harry davenport
mike the detective	.....	ward bond
police guard at courtroom entrance	.....	pat flaherty
inmate	.....	pert kelton
attorney to kirby	.....	edwin maxwell
restaurant patron	.....	frank mcClure
kirby's secretary	.....	ian wolfe
child dancer	.....	billy wolfstone

PLOT SUMMARY

Meet Mr. Martin Vanderhof's household. (Be careful...you might not come back...you might never want to.) There's Grandpa (Lionel Barrymore), he collects stamps and enjoys life; Penny Sycamore (Spring Byington), she is Grandpa's daughter who writes plays on a typewriter that was delivered to the house by accident; Penny's husband Paul (Samuel S. Hinds), he builds fireworks in the basement; Penny and Paul's daughter Essie (Ann Miller), who makes homemade candies, but really wants to be a dancer (regardless of her teacher's (Mischa Auer) constant, but confidential, opinion that she steenks!); Essie's husband Ed (Dub Taylor), who spends almost every waking hour (when he isn't delivering Essie's candies) playing the xylophone; Alice (Jean Arthur), the Marilyn Munster of the family, working as a stenographer for Anthony P. Kirby (Edward Arnold), a frustrated and seemingly ruthless banker whose son Tony (James Stewart) wants to marry the aforementioned Alice; Mr. DePinna (Halliwell Hobbs), he delivered ice to the house one day and never left...he now helps Paul build his fireworks; Mr. Poppins (Donald Meek), he makes up things and then builds them; and there's Rheba (Lillian Yarbo) and Donald (Eddie Anderson...remember Rochester from The Jack Benny Program?...Remember Jack Benny?...No?...Shame on you), they are the housekeepers, then known as the help, and they enjoy their life as much as the rest of the family.

Now meet the Kirbys. Arthur P. Kirby is a stuffy banking mogul who is trying unsuccessfully to buy Grandpa's house in order to secure an enormous business deal; his wife, Mrs. Kirby...duh (Mary Forbes) who is nothing more than aristocratic high-society personified; and Tony, their son, who is, and wants, none of that. Tony just wants to marry Alice. You can only imagine the sort of story that ensues from this situation. (Or, of course, you could watch the movie!)

TECH INSPECTION

You Can't Take It With You says it all. Although I would not call this a feel good movie, it certainly does make you feel good. EDITOR'S NOTE: I consider most feel good movies to be mostly objet fromage.

There is so much common sense proposed that I find it sickening to realize the novelty of the ideas. The family portrayed in this story is the epitome of, while not the perfect life, at least the best life. I will argue that there is a difference (but that's another post).

This is the sort of movie that gets you thinking once again about everything in your own life. It will make you pause to ask yourself, "Why not?" Or in some cases, "Why?...No, really...Why?" And I'm going to guess you'll be hard-pressed to find an answer you don't have to rationalize.

Taxes, relationships, power, money, social image; all are fair game for ridicule and debate. After watching this movie, I challenge you to log on to Facebook. Scroll down and peruse your newsfeed. Count how many important notifications you see. Contemplate for more than three seconds just how much better the world is now that everyone is aware (for the thirteen-zillionth time) that Johnny Hellifeyeknoe needs yet another brain transplant (because apparently the first one didn't take). Of course, Johnny's drivers-license-quality stock photo as a bald waif with fish tank hoses coming out of every orifice is enough to convince you to wire your entire yearly grocery budget to his North Korean Trust Company.

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that many people define their life as the quest for knowledge as delivered via Twitter®. On the other end of the spectrum, there are those who believe (and I admit, some rightly so) that if their credit score dips below 760 (i.e. excellent), they might as well apply for a permanent cot at the homeless shelter.

This movie puts both those schools of thought to shame. Perhaps the greatest example is the tax man scene (see below). The popular aphorism suggests that death and taxes are the only two things in life which are unavoidable. Mr. Vanderhof puts that one to disagreement; a conversation worth transcribing and carrying with you to your next IRS audit.

With a multiple-star cast including Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Edward Arnold, and the legendary Lionel Barrymore, giving them an already highly successful stage script, and putting it all under the direction of none other than Frank Capra, you've got a movie that blows the socks off of Citizen Kane.

WILBUR G. HENDERSON, IRS

• Henderson : Mr. Vanderhof, the government wants to talk to you about a matter of income tax.
  Vanderhof : Income tax?
  Henderson : Mr. Vanderhof, we've written many letters about this, but we've received no reply.
  Vanderhof : That's what those letters were. Did you hear that, Penny? This is the party that's been writing to me.
  Henderson : Well, it's not me, Mr. Vanderhof. You see, the Internal Revenue Office [Henderson is interrupted by various forms of chaos around the room…then when the interruptions subside…] Mr. Vanderhof, I've got to be going.
  Vanderhof : Oh, too bad. I'm sorry you can't stay to dinner. Drop in again.
  Henderson : If you don't mind, I'd like to settle my business before I go.
  Penny : [To Tony, who has dropped in to see Alice] He's selling something for the government.
  Vanderhof : What can I do for you?
  Henderson : Mr. Vanderhof, our records show that you have never paid any income tax.
  Vanderhof : That's right.
  Henderson : Why not?
  Vanderhof : I don't believe in it.
  Henderson : You don't believe in it?! [Another interruption, then…] Now, see here, Mr. Vanderhof, whether you believe in it or not, you owe the government 22 years of back income taxes.
  Ed : Hey, wait a minute. That's too far back. That's outlawed, ain't it?
  Henderson : What's your name?
  Ed : What difference does that make?
  Henderson : Did you ever file an income tax return?
  Ed : No, sir.
  Henderson : What was your income last year?
  Ed : I don't know...'bout 85 dollars wasn't it, Essie?
  Essie : I don't know. [Henderson gives an annoyed expression and returns to Vanderhof]
  Henderson : Now, Mr. Vanderhof, that's a serious thing, not filing an income tax return.
  Vanderhof : Now, just suppose I do pay you this money. Mind you, I don't say that I'm going to, but just for the sake of argument, what's the government going to do with it?
  Henderson : What do you mean?
  Vanderhof : What do I get for my money? For instance, if I go into a department store and buy something, why, there it is, I can see it. Well, what are they going to give me?
  Henderson : The government gives you everything. It protects you.
  Vanderhof : From what?
  Henderson : Well, invasion. How do you think the government's going to keep up the Army and Navy, with all those battleships?
  Vanderhof : Battleships? Last time we used battleships was in the Spanish-American War [EDITOR'S NOTE: Battleships had actually been used one more time in WWII] and what did we get out of that? Cuba. And we gave that back. I wouldn't mind paying for something sensible.
  Henderson : Something sensible! What about Congress and the Supreme Court and the President? We've got to pay them, don't we?
  Vanderhof : Not with my money, no, sir.
  Henderson : Now, wait a minute. I didn't come here to argue with you. Mr. Vanderhof, all I know is you haven't paid any income tax, and you've got to pay it.
  Vanderhof : [Becoming disinterested and gazing about the room...] What was that?
  Henderson : I said you've got to pay it.
  Vanderhof : Well, you've got to show me.
  Henderson : We don't have to show you. I just told you. Who's going to pay for all those buildings in Washington and interstate commerce? And the Constitution?
  Vanderhof : The Constitution has been paid for years ago. And as for interstate commerce…What is interstate commerce, anyway?
  Henderson : There are 48 states, see? [EDITOR'S NOTE: This was 1938.] And if it weren't for interstate commerce, nothing could go from one state to another, see?
  Vanderhof : Well, why not? Have they got fences?
  Henderson : No, they haven't got fences. They've got laws. Holy smokes! I never ran across anything like this before.
  Vanderhof : Well, I might pay about 75 dollars, but it isn't worth a cent more.
  Henderson : You'll pay every cent just like anybody else. Now listen to me. You'll go to jail if you don't pay. That's law. If you think you're bigger than that, you've got another thing coming. You're just the same as everyone else [Ed begins to play the xylophone as Essie starts dancing around the room] and the sooner you get that through your head, the better [Paul's fireworks start exploding from the basement] Holy smokes! [Henderson races out the door.]

QUOTES
In no way does the previous scene take place of my favorite quotes. That said...You may recognize some, but these are my own picks, not ones that are particularly famous:

• Kirby : With the world going crazy, the next big move is munitions…do you realize there won't be a bullet, gun, or cannon made in this country without us?
  Tony : Now, Dad, don't tell me you've forgotten the slingshot market?
• Blakely : What are they, a bunch of nuts?
  Bill : Fascinating ones!
• Vanderhof : Mrs. Penny, why don't you write a play about 'ism' mania?
  Penny : 'ism' mania?
  Vanderhof : Yeah, sure. You know, communism, fascism, voodooism. Everybody's got an 'ism' these days…when things get a little bad nowadays, you go out and get yourself an 'ism' and you're in business.
• Vanderhof : Lincoln said, 'With malice toward none, with charity for all.' Nowadays they say, 'Think the way I do, or I'll bomb the daylights out of you.'
• Essie : Ed made up a beautiful song today by Chopin.
• Vanderhof : Essie making any progress, Kolenkhov?
  Kolenkhov : Confidentially, she stinks.
  Vanderhof : As long as she's having fun.
• Vanderhof : …with the right handling, I think we can even thaw out Mrs. Kirby in time.

RATING

Here is my personal rating of this movie. This rating is out of ten meows.
¹⁰ /₁₀

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