“FRANK CAPRA, THE NAME ABOVE THE TITLE,” AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

Frank Capra, at a very early age, emigrated from Sicily to America with his parents and siblings. Everyone in the family was illiterate. The young Mr. Capra was the first to go to school and eventually graduated from Caltech with a degree in engineering.

He had many side jobs before going to work in the quickly emerging film business for Mack Sennett during the silent era.

From there he went to Columbia Studio, which at the time was considered a Ghetto Row Studio…not even close to the major Studios such as MGM and Warners. It was at Columbia, under the insane and chaotic leadership of Harry Cohn, that Frank Capra made some of my favorite movies of all time, Academy Award Winners and box office smashes, such as “You Can’t Take It with you,” “It’s A Wonderful Life,” “Lady for a Day,” “Lost Horizon,” “It Happened One Night,” “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” etc. etc. At one time he set a record for most consecutive box office hits at 12. Using his engineering and physics background he made studio back lots look like the actual Arctic or The Brooklyn Bridge.

Before joining the military after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Columbia Studio was no longer part of Ghetto Row.

In his early forties, Mr. Capra joined the military as Major Capra and was immediately ushered into President Roosevelt’s office where they talked about the importance of film and its impact on Americans’ attitudes. He was then ushered around by military men who had no idea what they were doing when it came to filmmaking.

Finally, he was ushered into the office of the great General George Marshall who gave him control over the films Mr. Capra wanted to direct and produce.

The seven films he made for the war department are now considered classics and any serious student of film and movies should look at. They are: 1)Prelude to War. 2)The Nazis Strike 3)Divide and Conquer 4)Battle of Britain 5)Battle of Russia 6)Battle of China and 7)War Comes to America.

They were shown to audiences in every Allied country to tremendous applause and even in Russia where Stalin ordered 500 prints of “Battle of Russia.” On the day Mr. Capra was discharged the great General Marshall awarded him the “Distinguished Service Medal.” Up to that point only two other men were awarded that medal…Generals Marshall and Eisenhower.

“The Name Above the Title,” is by far the best autobiography I have read by a filmmaker. It encapsules the movie business from the silent era through the early 1970’s.

Mr Capra stands among the giants of the movie business…in my opinion the number one giant. His ability to use his science background to enhance the processes, mechanics, and techniques in the industry, in my opinion, is to this very day unmatched. His love of reading and his collection of the classics enhanced his ability to tell a story on screen as well as anyone.

His understanding of the working class, the downtrodden, and his belief in the American dream becoming reality is a hallmark in all his movies and that is why his movies live on with as much impact today as when they were made.