Unmasking Frank Capra

[JMcBride]

I have a new book that has just been published -- not about Welles
but about my work on another major American filmmaker, the political
controversies surrounding him, the difficulties I faced in telling his story, and my reflections
on the art and craft of biography.

FRANKLY: UNMASKING FRANK CAPRA by Joseph McBride
Published March 22; 601 pages; $32.50

“There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.” — Ray Bradbury

Joseph McBride’s 1992 biography FRANK CAPRA: THE CATASTROPHE OF SUCCESS was described by Barry Gewen in The New York Times Book Review as “Masterly, comprehensive, and frequently surprising.” What readers did not know then was how arduous it was to reveal the hidden truth about this iconic American figure. While McBride was researching and writing for more than seven years, he was fighting a pitched legal battle with his original publisher and allies of the celebrated film director. FRANKLY: UNMASKING FRANK CAPRA is McBride’s revealing, harrowing, often darkly comical account of that Kafkaesque but ultimately successful struggle.

Joseph McBride’s many other books include biographies of John Ford and Steven Spielberg, three studies of Orson Welles, and an investigation of the murders of President John F. Kennedy and Officer J. D. Tippit. McBride is a professor in the School of Cinema at San Francisco State University.

Available exclusively from amazon.com
Contact: joemac809@gmail.com

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1949950476/re ... sA8B-3UZJI

[nickleschichoney]

Sorry you got so much flak for your work.

[JMcBride]

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, it was an ordeal. It was gratifying, though, when FRANK CAPRA: THE CATASTROPHE OF SUCCESS was published In 1992, and the reviews were so appreciative. I write about its highly positive reception in the new book. And then about some of the predictable backlash from some academics wedded to old positions drawn in part from Capra's largely fictitious autobiography (some of those writers later changed their minds) and from other diehard defenders of Capra and the blacklist, etc.

"There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running around with lit matches." -- Ray Bradbury. I chose that as the epigraph to my new book, FRANKLY: UNMASKING FRANK CAPRA. I am pleased to report that the "Look Inside" feature on Amazon for the book has been activated, so you can read parts of it there.

[tonyw]

As I've told Joe and mentioned so often before I bought Capra's autobiography several decades ago in Manchester. When I began reading it, I became very unsatisfied feeling that this was not the entire picture. So, it was one of those rare film books I had that I sold elsewhere. THE CATASTROPHE OF SUCCESS was a revelation with its meticulous documentation and its indisputable research.

I'm looking forward to reading this new book when it arrives on Monday, particularly in terms of the opposition Joe received from people in academia. Having been many decades in the system, I'm a little less idealistic than before but there are very good people still around and Joe's acceptance as a reputable scholar within the institution reveals that there is still hope.

[Le Chiffre]

All three of your Welles books are in my collection, and they are well marked up. My nephew is a big fan of your Spielberg book. I confess to having a limited knowledge of Capra beyond Mr. Smith, Wonderful Life and the other AFI top 100 items, but there's no question he is an iconic American filmmaker who made several enduring classics, so I congratulate you, Joe, on another important contribution to film history. You are amazingly prolific.

There were at least four Capra films that Welles was associated with adaptations of (however slightly). Welles appeared in the 1977 remake of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, opposite Marlo Thomas. He also did radio shows of IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, LOST HORIZON and MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN.

I think my favorite Capra film by far is THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN (1933), which doesn't strike me as a typical Capra film at all. That film seems closer to Von Sternberg territory, Von Sternberg being a filmmaker from roughly the same generation that I like a lot more then Capra. Interesting coincidence, however, how both of their careers kind of fizzled out shortly after WWII. Was Sternberg a hypocritical leftist like Capra? One of my favorite guilty pleasures from the 1950s is JET PILOT, which showed Von Sternberg falling (willingly or not) under the crypto-fascist yoke of Howard Hughes and John Wayne. Sometimes a complete mess like that can provide it's own lunatic pleasures, though. The only Capra film post-IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE that I've seen is A POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES, which I thought was quite dull. I like the mention of Nixon being used to promote "Pocket". That's a very intriguing comparison of Capra with Nixon.

Thanks for pointing out the "look inside" feature. I was moved by your description of what hard (and frequently thankless) work it is to create a major biography, especially when you get obstacles placed in your path the whole way, and then blowback from those who resent any assessments you make on your subject that don't conform to the accepted myth. It's easier to criticize a book then to write one in rebuttal. So those that dismissed your first Capra book as a hatchet job can, just as you did, write their own rebuttal book if they have the courage and energy to do so. I can imagine searching for the truth about someone being a bit like Thomson the reporter in KANE.

Best of luck with the new book.

[JMcBride]

Thanks very much for the kind words, "Le Chiffre." They mean
a lot, especially to an author who had to go through an ordeal
to tell the truth about a famous man. I persevered, and in the end I succeeded in doing so.

I appreciate your compliments and interest in the subject. I like the Thompson comparison!
My writings on KANE have always focused a lot on Thompson and his role in
investigating and exposing Kane and what the reporter learns in the process about human personality. My Capra books similarly deal with a quest for the more complex story hiding behind a myth created by a man of the media in collaboration with the press and the public to sell a false view of the American success myth. Capra's story, like Kane's, goes to the heart of darkness that often lurks within the American dream.

[JMcBride]

I am happy that the first readers of FRANKLY: UNMASKING FRANK CAPRA are telling me
they find it "mesmerizing" and "a real page-turner."

[tonyw]

Oh yes, the investigative reporter parallel I noted but unlike Thompson you will reveal all the pieces of the jigsaw. As for your accident in the 80s, I don't think it was due to any unconscious identification with Capra but more to the emotional and physical exhaustion affecting you during a very grim time. But you came out of it and lived to tell the tale!

[JMcBride]

Thank you for your kind words, Tony.

[tonyw]

You are very welcome - especially since you have more tales to tell - Billy Wilder and many more!

[RayKelly]

Shameless plug. Interview with Joseph McBride I did for my day job.

https://www.masslive.com/entertainment/2019/04/film-historian-explains-difficult-journey-in-unmasking-famed-filmmaker-frank-capra.html

[JMcBride]

Many thanks, Ray, for your always insightful work. You go
right to the heart of the story and get the scoop -- a real
ace reporter of the kind we need more of today. I appreciate
your spreading the word on my new book.

[tonyw]

I fully second that. Both Joe and Ray are sterling examples of journalism with integrity, a very rare commodity today. But some of the students I've had in my former film classes do give me hope for the future. Others have engaged in great investigative journalism to the shame of the local newspaper exposing some of the misdeeds in my area of a "criminal enterprise." Joe will understand the implications of this phrase.

[JMcBride]

A welcome lead reference to my new book on Capra and my
2018 book on Lubitsch in this Criterion roundup on film
books. Ray Kelly's interview with me about FRANKLY: UNMASKING
FRANK CAPRA -- the first interview published on that book --
is linked in the article.

[leamanc]

Joe, I heard you on Midnight Writer News talking about Capra and the struggles to get the book out. I really enjoyed it and will be picking up both your Capra books.