The son of a snobbish Wall Street banker becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family not realizing that his father is trying to force her family from their ... Read allThe son of a snobbish Wall Street banker becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family not realizing that his father is trying to force her family from their home for a real estate development.The son of a snobbish Wall Street banker becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family not realizing that his father is trying to force her family from their home for a real estate development.
- Won 2 Oscars
- 2 wins & 7 nominations total
- Donald
- (as Eddie Anderson)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
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Best Picture Winners by Year
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAnn Miller was only 15 years old when this movie was filmed. Her character is called on to perform numerous (amateur) ballet positions, including dancing en pointe. She had never been trained to do so, and wasn't using shoes with the proper support. She was just forcing her feet up onto their toes, which was very painful for her. She hid this from the cast and crew, but would cry (out of sight) off stage. James Stewart noticed her crying, though he didn't know why, and would have boxes of candy to make her feel better.
- GoofsWhen Alice is in the courtroom, she is wearing a trench coat as newspaper photographers take pictures. In the newspaper pictures, she is not wearing the coat.
- Quotes
Grandpa Martin Vanderhoff: Maybe it'd stop you trying to be so desperate about making more money than you can ever use? You can't take it with you, Mr. Kirby. So what good is it? As near as I can see, the only thing you can take with you is the love of your friends.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962)
- SoundtracksValse Brilliante Op. 34 No 2
(1838) (uncredited)
Music by Frédéric Chopin
Played on an xylophone by Dub Taylor
It's a tale of two men and their families. Edward Arnold plays Anthony Kirby millionaire banker and industrialist who is obsessed with both making money and his social position, though the latter is more in deference to his snooty wife Mary Forbes. Their son James Stewart is preparing uneasily to step into his father's world. What really is Stewart's main interest is the romance he's got going with the only normal member of that other family, Jean Arthur.
Her grandfather is the second man with a family. A very extended family that all lives under one roof because that's how Lionel Barrymore as Grandpa Vanderhof likes it. He's got a daughter who writes unpublished plays, a son-in-law who likes to experiment with fireworks, a granddaughter who aspires to be a ballerina, her husband who is a xylophone virtuoso and an iceman who was so taken with the house he just quit his job and stayed there. I can't really blame Halliwell Hobbes the iceman. If I was being supported by Jean Arthur's salary as a secretary and Lionel Barrymore's investments, I'd quit working myself.
In fact I can understand Barrymore's sentiments. I had an opportunity to retire early myself and took it and don't regret it. Of course I'm not supporting a whole extended family either. Let Sanuel S. Hinds, Spring Byington, Ann Miller, and Dub Taylor go out and earn a little and then become bohemians.
Both Arnold and Barrymore are extreme in their philosophy and the play and film are weighed heavily in Barrymore's balance. But looking at it objectively, Barrymore has a more realistic outlook for most people. There are a couple of dinner scenes at the Vanderhof house and it looks like quite a feed. Who's paying for it?
This was James Stewart's first and Jean Arthur's second film with Frank Capra. Next year they would do their second and last in the much acclaimed Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
In doing the screen adaptation, Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin created a whole new character in Mr. Poppins played by Donald Meek. Poppins is an inoffensive little bureaucrat who would rather make little toys than add columns of figures all day. One meeting with Lionel Barrymore persuades Donald Meek to follow his dream. He blended so well into the Vanderhof household that Kaufman and Hart praised his creation.
Though You Can't Take It With You is dated it is still funny as all get out. And you haven't lived until you've heard Brahm's Hungarian Dance Number 5 done as a xylophone solo.
- bkoganbing
- Aug 7, 2006
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
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- Also known as
- Vive como quieras
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Box office
- Budget
- $1,644,736 (estimated)
- Runtime2 hours 6 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1