THE NAME ABOVE THE TITLE . . . is the title of Frank Capra's 1971 autobiography. But it almost could have been "Mr. Capra Goes to Hollywood" or "It's a Wonderful Life," so great was the late director's influence. He began working with films unexpectedly in the early 1920s. So let's take a last, fond look at that career and some of the films it produced. - W.S.G.
1. Capra's first film, turned out in a gymnasium in Golden Gate Park, was a dramatization of a poem by: Rudyard Kipling; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; James Hilton; Horatio Alger.2. His last film, released in 1961, was a remake of his own 1933 comedy "Lady for a Day," this time starring Glenn Ford and Bette Davis. What was its title?
3. In between came everything from Harry Langdon comedies to Bell Telephone science programs. But Capra is still best remembered for his social comedies of the '30s and '40s. Two of them, in fact, captured the Oscar for best picture in their respective years. Can you name them?
4. Capra's favorite leading man was arguably James Stewart, with whom he made three pictures. Can you name them?
5. There was one actress, however, who starred in four of his films. Who was she and what were the movies?
6. Apart from leading players, there was one well-known Hollywood character actor who turned up in no fewer than five Capra films, earning an Oscar nomination for his role as Chang in "Lost Horizon." Who was he?
7. At various times, Capra worked with some of the biggest stars in the film business. Which of his films, for example, starred: Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn?
8. Can you name, in addition, the two pictures he made with Bing Crosby?
9. Still, apart from his cast and the scripts, it is Capra's remarkable cinematic gift that illuminates his films. Which of them, for example, present us with the following unforgettable screen images?
Claudette Colbert nonchalantly stops a car in its tracks by exposing her leg while hitchhiking.
An exhausted James Stewart collapses atop a stack of mail in the Senate.
Supposedly cold-hearted businessman Edward Arnold breaks into laughter while playing "Polly-Wolly Doodle" on the harmonica.
Gary Cooper attempts to speak to a crowd in a rainy stadium but is powerless when the loudspeaker cables are cut.
On the verge of a tearful confession, bag lady May Robson is overwhelmed when the mayor and the governor show up at her daughter's engagement party.
After hours traversing the windblown mountains of Tibet, Ronald Colman catches his first sight of the sunlit lamasery of Shangri-La.
In a panoply of double-takes, Cary Grant realizes that his kindly maiden aunts have been poisoning visitors to the house for years and hiding their bodies in the cellar.
As James Stewart and Donna Reed accidentally dance into a high-school swimming pool, all the other formally clad partygoers jump in after them.
A chance remark between two switchboard operators accidentally triggers a run on a bank.
Old Army buddy Keenan Wynn sics his goons on poor, defenseless Frank Sinatra.
10. Finally, can you name the two Capra films in which the heroes are prevented from committing suicide on Christmas Eve?
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Here are the answers to today's Screen Test: 1. a; 2. "Pocketful of Miracles"; 3. "It Happened One Night" (1934), "You Can't Take It With You" (1938); 4. "You Can't Take It With You," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "It's a Wonderful Life"; 5. Barbara Stanwyck; "Ladies of Leisure," "Miracle Woman," "The Bitter Tea of General Yen," "Meet John Doe"; 6. H.B. Warner; 7. "It Happened One Night," "Arsenic and Old Lace," "A Hole in the Head," "State of the Union"; 8. "Riding High," "Here Comes the Groom"; 9. "It Happened One Night," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "You Can't Take It With You," "Meet John Doe," "Lady for a Day," "Lost Horizon" (1937); "Arsenic and Old Lace," "It's a Wonderful Life," "American Madness," "A Hole in the Head"; 10. "Meet John Doe," "It's a Wonderful Life."