What with the disadvantages of streaming and cloud services being realized, a turn towards physical media is coming about. Though the sales numbers of DVDS, Blu-Rays and 4K discs have not reached the levels they were ten years ago, there has been a significant uptick that shows consumers are turning back towards having the movie they want to watch in their hands, available at any point.
Sony Pictures has embraced this notion, having continually issued a handsome series of home video packages of their current releases as well as editions of classics from the Columbia Pictures vault. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the studio, they’ve outdone themselves with one of the most comprehensive and astonishing collections of this or any year.
Without Frank Capra, Columbia Pictures would have never survived. In acknowledgement of the director’s artistry and innovation, the Frank Capra at Columbia Collection has been released. Comprised of 18 discs, the breadth and scope of this set is truly astonishing. Beginning with 1928’s So This is Love and ending with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, this is the most comprehensive collection of the director’s work, a staggering amalgam that provides the opportunity to witness how Capra’s style developed during his formative years at Columbia.
The well-known classics, It Happened One Night (1935), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Lost Horizon (1937), You Can’t Take it with You (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) are included, all presented in the Blu-Ray and 4K formats. The clarity of the images in these films are a revelation, their crisp nature bringing new life to these movie’s familiar classic moments.
Also included are Submarine (1928), Flight (1929) and Dirigible (1931), a trio of adventures Capra made with Jack Holt and Ralph Graves, the Jean Harlow feature Platinum Blonde (1931) and four films with the director’s favorite actress, Barbara Stanwyck, Ladies of Leisure (1930), The Miracle Woman (1931), Forbidden(1932) and The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932).
Rounding out the set are the crime melodrama, The Way of the Strong (1928), family dramadys, That Certain Thing (1928), The Younger Generation (1929) and Rain or Shine (1930), the prescient American Madness (1932) with Walter Huston and Lady for a Day (1933) which Capra would remake as his final feature, Pocketful of Miracles in 1961.
Most of the movies are accompanied by commentaries by a variety of cinema historians and experts, including Martin Scorsese, Jeanine Basinger and Frank Capra Jr. Rounding out the package is the new documentary, Frank Capra: Mr. America, an insightful look at the filmmaker’s life and influences.
By watching these movies in sequential order, it’s fascinating to see beginnings of the themes Capra would explore more fully in later features. Issues of class, relationships and community appear throughout, and you can see how the director explored them with more depth as he became more skilled behind the camera.
A delight from beginning to end, the Frank Capra at Columbia Collection is a must for any film aficionado as it not only provides some seminal movies in pristine condition, but offers an insightful and enlightening look at one of the seminal filmmakers of the 20th century.
