On August 18, actress Virginia Patton passed away at the age of 97. One of the most popular classic Hollywood movies, ‘How nice to live!’ (1946) is a movie that has never been missing from Christmas television broadcasts for years. Frank CapraThe director died in 1991. Screenwriters Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich Major interpreter in 1995 and 1984, respectively James StewartHe passed away in 1997. donna reedhis fictional wife, in 1986. They also died Gloria Grahame, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Beulah Bondi and Ward Bond. And the oldest of the staff, Henry Travers, the angel Clarence in the movie who died in 1965.
rising price
Born in Cleveland in 1925, Patton remained representative of a form of filmmaking that was destroyed in the 1950s by the competition of television and the emergence of new formats. However, ‘How nice to live! They continue to work like a charm, not only among those who yearn for that cinema. Today, Because of the social themes of their films, Capra is far better listed than any other Hollywood filmmaker, which until recently received more attention.
‘Living is nice!’ It was conceived at a vital crossroads for American society, the Hollywood industry, and the role that directors like Capra, John Huston or John Ford would play. had attended II. World War Under command of army film units. From 1946 is also ‘the best years of our lives’, William Wyler’s drama that shows the difficult reintegration of officers and soldiers returning from the war front into society.
political cinema
Capra chose a very different genre of film, far from traditional realism, to talk about the post-war setting. It took Christmas as the frame, but on the less festive reverse: Stewart plays the owner of a small bank, overwhelmed by economic hardship and the disappearance of a substantial amount of money, and decides to take his own life.. As soon as he jumps into the void, an angel with the benign appearance of actor Henry Travers appears to him to prevent suicide and show him how beautiful it is to live. It sounds refreshing, but the movie has a slightly more depressing tone.
Capra was an expert at making social claims through comedy. ‘It Happened One Night’ (1934) is an excellent portrait of the Great Depression era. It is based on the adventures of a journalist and a wealthy young woman who knows nothing about what is going on in her country. ‘The Secret to Living’ (1936), ‘Live Your Way’ (1938), ‘The Knight Without a Sword’ (1939) and ‘Juan Nobody’ (1941) starring James Stewart or Gary Cooper, He illustrated the slogans of the New Deal, the interventionist policy to alleviate the effects of the economic depression advocated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Between 1933 and 1938. Capra, in his own way, made the most influential political cinema in Hollywood between the wars.
freedom of expression
However, after the Second World War, where Capra shot several documentaries – ‘The Battle of Britain’, ‘The Battle of Russia’, ‘Attack in the Pacific’ – the filmmaker wanted to express himself more freely and started his own company. Liberty Films has produced only three films, Capra’s ‘It’s Good to Live!’, ‘State of the Union’ and George Stevens’ ‘I Will Never Forget Him’.
‘Living is nice!’ It is the maximum expression of the desire to make social cinema while relaxing; realistic, but with supernatural elements. Outliving all her peers, Virginia Patton plays James Stewart’s sister-in-law. This was his only major role in his short career of 13 feature films. this would include appearances, some discredited, in the western drama ‘Tierra generous’ (1946) and ‘Othello-inspired ‘A doble vida’ (1947). She got married in 1949 and completely abandoned cinema and acting.