Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success

Frank Capra directed some of the most enduring films in the history of the cinema: It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and It's a Wonderful Life, to name but a few. He achieved fame during Hollywood's golden era, working with some of its brightest stars - Gable, Colbert, Cooper, Stanwyck, Stewart. He would seem to have been a typical Capra character himself, a 'little guy' who rose to prominence, faced a challenge and overcame it through his innate decency. In fact, when confronted with the great challenge that ripped Hollywood apart during the post-war years - the blacklist - Capra failed it. This book reveals the psychological pressures which caused the Sicilian-born Capra to collapse creatively at the end of the 1940s under the onslaught of the McCarthy witch-hunt. Joseph McBride interviewed Capra extensively and spoke to nearly all his surviving friends and associates in order to create this definitive portrait of the great director.