You Can't Take It with You (1938)

The review calls the Capra-directed film one of the most amusing and satisfying pictures in months, rich in human elements with a fine cast and a message of good will. It highlights the boisterous Capra style, strong teamwork among the ensemble, and standout performances especially by Edward Arnold.

The critic finds the film one of the year's best, praising how Capra and Riskin have expanded the Pulitzer-winning play's characters into fuller people while retaining its humor, though noting it is less purely comic on screen due to added seriousness and sentiment. The cast, including Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Edward Arnold, and Spring Byington, is enthusiastically admired.

The film is hailed as a big hit, with Capra skillfully capturing the play's comedy from the eccentric Vanderhof family and the romance between Stewart and Arthur serving as its keystone. Sequences like the income tax man visit and night court are singled out as highlights for their timing and laughs.

The critic views the film as marking the end of one era for Capra and the beginning of the next, praising its move beyond screwball roots to a more expansive vision of America while noting darker shadings. They single out the charming romance between Alice and Tony as a naturalistic precursor to later work and a moving populist set-piece where the neighborhood rallies together, while complaining that some scenes run too long with diffused focus and that broader comic elements from the play have not aged well.

The critic finds the film enjoyable in parts thanks to its excellent ensemble cast and strong farce scenes, but views it as problematic due to clumsy plotting, lazy characterisation and a naive approach to capitalism.

The critic finds Capra at his most sentimental here, with the story of a munitions tycoon's son falling for a woman from an eccentric family proving trite and preachy overall. The appealing cast, particularly Stewart and Arthur, is not enough to save what is mostly a damp squib.

The critic highlights the film's status as Capra and Stewart's first collaboration and their only Best Picture winner, praising it as a heartwarming ensemble comedy with universal themes of family joy over material wealth and Stewart's strong supporting turn.