Frank Capra

In a time before CGI, what made films entertaining was the acting. Perhaps more than any other director, Frank Capra worked tirelessly to get the very best out of his actors. His films brought Academy Award wins to Clark Gable ("It Happened One Night") and Claudette Colbert ("It Happened One Night"), and nominations to May Robson ("Lady for a Day"), Gary Cooper ("Mr. Deeds Goes to Town"), H.B. Warner ("Lost Horizon"), Spring Byington ("You Can't Take It With You"), James Stewart ("Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "It's a Wonderful Life"), Harry Carey ("Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"), Claude Rains ("Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"), and Peter Falk ("Pocketful of Miracles"). To Capra, the most memorable aspects of films were the performances. His films were not bleak and cynical like some later filmmakers, but focused rather on the goodness in people, so he made sure that his central characters were loud and proud. But his perfectionist reach did not go only this far. Capra was one of the very few directors of his or any time to care so much about extras. Okay, so maybe he didn't go to the Tarantino extreme of naming them all, but any person that appears in a Capra movie contributes something. There is no extra that looks uncomfortable or out of character. This can be especially seen in Capra's use of mobs. The mob of broke farmers in "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," the townspeople in the run on the bank scene in "It's a Wonderful Life," the John Doe followers in "Meet John Doe;" there is not a face among them that feels out of place. As a bit of a perfectionist myself (although also lazy) and an aspiring filmmaker, I hope and plan to get as much out of my actors.