Capra Remakes Capra
Capra Remakes Capra
Capra's sentimentality, and even that what makes Capra Capra, is attributed to a so-called “recursivity” in his work, his singular preoccupation with self-revision. This chapter examines pairings of films that suggest ways in which the self-revisiting and self-revising practices unfold (and enfold) themselves in Capra's career as a filmmaker. Specifically, it looks how the interpolated celestial screening of George Bailey's life, when it reaches 1932, draws on Capra's bank-run sequence in American Madness, keying a larger set of transformations that mark the intervening fifteen-year journey of self-discovery. It then turns to It Happened One Night to show how it revisits the trope of the “Walls of Jericho” in Capra's best silent film, Strong Man, to establish principles of probability for the screwball comedy.
Keywords: Frank Capra, sentimentality, recursivity, self-revision, films, George Bailey, American Madness, It Happened One Night, Strong Man, Wall of Jericho
Chicago Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
