The Name Above The Title [Paperback]

Frank Capra (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 1997

Although Frank Capra (1897–1991) is best known as the director of It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can't Take It with You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Arsenic and Old Lace, and It's a Wonderful Life, he was also an award-winning documentary filmmaker as well as a behind-the-scene force in the Director's Guild, the Motion Picture Academy, and the Producer's Guild. He worked with or knew socially everyone in the movie business from Mack Sennett, Chaplin, and Keaton in the silent era through the illustrious names of the golden age. He directed Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Jean Harlow, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, and others. Reading his autobiography is like having Capra sitting in your living room, regaling you with his anecdotes. In The Name Above the Title he reveals the deeply personal story of how, despite winning six Academy Awards, he struggled throughout his life against the glamors, vagaries, and frustrations of Hollywood for the creative freedom to make some of the most memorable films of all time.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Frank Capra (1897–1991) directed many films in Hollywood, including It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can't Take It with You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Arsenic and Old Lace, and It's a Wonderful Life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 534 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 22, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306807718
• ISBN-13: 978-0306807718
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #679,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Straight from the Heart, January 7, 2002

By 

William Hare (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Name Above The Title (Paperback)

Frank Capra's superb autobiography provides loads of fascinating information about the film industry during a thriving period, when he was one of filmdom's most popular and successful figures, as well as about the mindset of this intriguing man of accomplishment. What is refreshing, along with his basic candor, is that despite his enormous success he retains a humble and highly humane touch.

Some of the most humorous anecdotes of "Name Above the Title" involve madcap, always colorful Columbia boss Harry Cohn, who took his Gower Street studio from the ranks of "Poverty Row" to the that of a giant. Capra helped significantly with box office smashes such as "It Happened One Night", "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington","Lost Horizon" and "Meet John Doe." It took awhile, but the Capra film which has soared to top spot in the hearts and minds of the public was the 1946 release starring Jimmy Stewart, "It's a Wonderful Life." The star was so enthused about the story that he pitched it personally to Capra after driving over to his house. Capra relates the time that he begged Cohn not to drop a struggling young cartoonist from the Columbia payroll, predicting that he would be sorry. Capra was right as the cartoonist was a young, meek Iowa farm boy named Walt Disney.

One of Capra's great contributions was directing and producing the excellent World War Two documentary series "Why We Fight." He tells about being called into the office of Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, who asked him to undertake the project. "But I've never done a documentary!" a surprised Capra replied. Marshall pointed out that he had never run an army before either, and that the American way during the critical war period was for citizens to learn jobs with which they were previously unfamiliar. Capra saw Marshall's logic and the rest is history.

This autobiography is fascinating enough for the interesting information about Capra's life. What makes it even better is that you are reading the revelations of a good man who did his best to instill positive values into his films, and to help in his distinctive way to make America a better country.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Great Frank Capra, June 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Name Above The Title (Paperback)

I have never read such a fascinating auto-biogrophy. Frank Capra is not just a brillent directer, but a surprisingly good writer. Though it took him more then three years to write, THE NAME ABOVE THE TITLE was sure worth his time, and yours.

The around six-hundred page book covers Capra's life from his childhood as a Sicilian imagrent living in Los Angles to his retirement from film in the early 1970's. Early on you discover how important family was to Mr.Capra, and the impact that his father, mother, and dozen brothers and sisters had on him. I was also surprised to learn that as a youth Frank loathed this country. The book goes on to tell about Franks work as a gage writer for silent films, and how when he first signed-on with Columbia, the studio was considerd a joke.

There a number of major themes throughout the book, among them the importance of family and friends, patriotism, the changes in the Hollywood system, and the importance of a good storie. One thing I particularly enjoyed was to learn about the many diverse friends that Capra had, among them Russian-born composer Dimitri Tiomkin, space-telescope name-sack Erwin Hubble, and even Ted Gusile (better knowen as DR. Suess).

This wonderful book is so many things, it is the storie of Capra's life, it is fifty years of Hollywood history, and the bible of Frank Capras philosophy on life. If you are interested in any of these things, then read this book.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid biography for the film buff and the history reader., August 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Name Above The Title (Paperback)

This is not a Hollywood confession, it is not a self serving ego trip, it is solid autobiography. Frank Capra made it by himself, he endured poverty, humiliation, and disappointment. He had brains, artistic sensitivity, and a boundless store of energy. As the son of immigrants he was given nothing except a work ethic. He worked his way through Cal Tech and got an engineering degree. With little job opportunity after graduation, he bummed it for a while over the southwest. Then he landed a job writing gags for Mack Sennett. He grew from there by writing screenplay. Capra was at his creative best when portraying realistic themes. The next step was directing, where he carried his realism to the top. Early in his career, Capra saw the Academy Award as the sign of artistic excellence,and set out to win one. He poured every ounce of his creative energies into his films. On several occasions he knew he deserved an Oscar, only to be disappointed again. Then he made it with "It Happened One Night." Yet to Capra everything went wrong in making the movie: the wrong leading man, the rewrites, the arguments, the mistakes, the frustrations, the last minute changes. Your first Oscar is your toughest. After that Oscars came naturally to Capra, and he won a bundle of them. Now his "name was above the movie title" on the marquee. The book chronicles the making of his best films, each more interesting than the last. But Capra was more than Holloywood. He stood for artistic integrity and decency. He was generous and willing to help others; he also had his ememies, and was large of ego. He gave unsparingly of himself during WWII as the officer in charge of making Allied training and propaganda films. There's more about this man, much more. Its worth every moment of your reading time. Next Christmas, when they run "Its A Wonderful Life" on TV again, I guarantee you will appreciate the film more than ever. I would recommend this book to film buffs, and lovers of history or biography.