You Can't Take It With You, 1938

James Stewart stars as Tony Kirby, son of wealthy banker Anthony Kirby. His father has set him up to follow in his footsteps, but he’d rather not go. Tony’s not interested in the land purchasing deal his father is making which will shove many people out of their small businesses and out of their homes.

The only thing he is interested in is marrying secretary Alice Sycamore, played by Jean Arthur. Alice’s family is the friendly and welcoming sort, but since she works at the bank, she knows Tony’s family wouldn’t like her family.

Tony’s father wants to complete his land deal, but a man known as Grandpa, played by Lionel Barrymore, has stopped progress on the deal. Grandpa’s way is to encourage others to be successful by developing their strengths, while he does whatever he wants. And he won’t sell his land.

Alice tells Tony that in order to marry her, he has to bring his parents to her house to meet her parents. When he brings his folks to her house a day earlier than scheduled, Alice’s family tries to make the best of it even though they hadn’t had time to prepare.

Tony’s family looks as if they’d rather not dirty their shoes by stepping into her family’s home. When Tony’s father meets Grandpa at Alice’s house, he doesn’t know he’s meeting the man who’s holding up his land deal.

At the dinner, he meets all sorts of interesting characters, gets tossed around, and is thrown in jail along with everyone in the house. The court is filled with on-lookers, and Mr. Kirby’s lawyers try to keep the embarrassing event hushed. The movie’s ending was expected, but very sweet.

James Stewart showed his character to be friendly, patient, and flexible. These heroic qualities encouraged the reader’s sympathy and helped him win the heroine.

This humorous movie was quite thought-provoking in that there were several moments that showed how hard society is on innocent hard-working people. Colorful characters and interesting situations make this a memorable experience.

I love Jean Arthur movies because she does a great job of making her characters come to life in a unique way. As usual, she's a woman who stands up for herself. And entertaining Ann Miller dances through the whole movie.

This movie won an Oscar or Best Picture. Frank Capra won an Oscar for Best Director.