Direction: Frank Capra
The best movies, series, and documentaries directed by Frank Capra. Explore exceptional titles that showcase a unique filmmaking vision.
It's a Wonderful Life
1946 · Movie · 130 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra
Cast James Stewart · Donna Reed · Lionel Barrymore · Thomas Mitchell
Plot A good but slightly ineffectual man tries to off himself after an error that really wasnt his fault. In Christmas carol fashion, his crusty-but-lovable guardian angel shows up to give...
8.2
52K votes
8.2
52K votes
You Can't Take it With You
1938 · Movie · 126 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra
Cast James Stewart · Jean Arthur · Lionel Barrymore · Edward Arnold
Plot The stenographer Alice Sycamore is in love with her boss Tony Kirby, who is the vice-president of the powerful company owned by his greedy father Anthony P. Kirby. Kirby Sr....
8.1
8K votes
8.1
8K votes
Arsenic and Old Lace
1944 · Movie · 118 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra
Cast Cary Grant · Priscilla Lane · Peter Lorre · Raymond Massey
Plot Mortimer Brewster stops off in Brooklyn to visit his two favourite aunts Abby and Martha to tell them that he has just gotten married. However, he discovers the dotty old...
8.0
23K votes
8.0
23K votes
It Happened One Night
1934 · Movie · 105 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra
Cast Clark Gable · Claudette Colbert · Walter Connolly · Roscoe Karns
Plot When Ellie Andrews, a millionaire's daughter, marries a man her father dislikes, the resulting family squabble sends the beautiful heiress into hiding. She travels across country by bus, a fugitive...
7.9
16K votes
7.9
16K votes
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1939 · Movie · 129 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra
Cast James Stewart · Jean Arthur · Claude Rains · Edward Arnold
Plot Naive and idealistic Jefferson Smith, leader of the Boy Rangers, is appointed on a lark by the spineless governor of his state. He is reunited with the state's senior senator--presidential...
7.8
12K votes
7.8
12K votes
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1936 · Movie · 120 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra
Cast Gary Cooper · Jean Arthur · George Bancroft · Lionel Stander
Plot When a small-town idealist (Gary Cooper) goes to New York to collect a twenty million dollar inheritance, he finds romance with wisecracking journalist (Jean Arthur). Suddenly, he becomes the target...
7.7
4K votes
7.7
4K votes
Meet John Doe
1941 · Movie · 122 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra
Cast Gary Cooper · Barbara Stanwyck · Edward Arnold · Walter Brennan
Plot Gary Cooper stars as a nobody hired by a newspaper as part of a stunt to play a man that says he will commit suicide Christmas Eve because he's tired...
7.6
6K votes
7.6
6K votes
Pocketful of Miracles
1961 · Movie · 136 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra
Cast Glenn Ford · Bette Davis · Peter Falk · Hope Lange
Plot Apple Annie is a beggar and an apple seller who is part of downtown New York life. Her daughter, Louise, is to marry a Count who thinks that Annie is...
7.6
5K votes
7.6
5K votes
Lost Horizon
1937 · Movie · 132 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra
Cast Ronald Colman · Jane Wyatt · John Howard · Edward Everett Horton
Plot On 1935, the pacifist British diplomat and future Foreign Secretary Robert Conway helps a group of ninety Westerns white people to escape from the Chinese city of Baskul after the...
7.5
3K votes
7.5
3K votes
Lady for a Day
1933 · Movie · 95 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra
Cast Warren William · May Robson · Guy Kibbee · Glenda Farrell
Plot Story of a soft-hearted gangster who organizes his entire gang of thugs to help transform an elderly, rather seedy apple vendor into a perfect society lady. This treatment of a...
7.2
1K votes
7.2
1K votes
American Madness
1932 · Movie · 75 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra
Cast Walter Huston · Pat O'Brien · Kay Johnson · Constance Cummings
Plot It's the 1930s, the Depression era, and the Board of Directors of Thomas Dickson's bank want Dickson to merge with New York Trust and resign. He refuses. One night, Dickson's...
7.1
564 votes
7.1
564 votes
The Battle of Russia
1943 · Documentary · 83 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra · Anatole Litvak
Plot Documentary revealing the nature and process of the fight between the Soviet Union and Germany in the Second World War.
6.9
139 votes
6.9
139 votes
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
1932 · Movie · 89 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra
Cast Barbara Stanwyck · Nils Asther · Walter Connolly · Gavin Gordon
Plot The American missionary Megan Davis arrives in Shanghai during the Chinese Civil War to marry the missionary Dr. Robert Strife. However, Robert postpones their wedding to rescue some orphans in...
6.7
518 votes
6.7
518 votes
The Miracle Woman
1931 · Movie · 90 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra
Cast Barbara Stanwyck · David Manners · Sam Hardy · Beryl Mercer
Plot Stanwyck's particularly fine as evangelist Florence "Faith" Fallon, who becomes very successful thanks to her way with words, some fake miracles, and the talents of shady promoter Hornsby (Sam Hardy)....
6.7
318 votes
6.7
318 votes
Why We Fight 3: Divide and Conquer
1943 · Documentary · 57 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra · Anatole Litvak
6.7
51 votes
6.7
51 votes
State of the Union
1948 · Movie · 124 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra
Cast Spencer Tracy · Katharine Hepburn · Van Johnson · Angela Lansbury
Plot Kay Thordyke loves Grant Matthews and helps him become Republican nominee for President. The party machine begins to worry as Grant begins to speak for himself. At an important dinner...
6.7
780 votes
6.7
780 votes
Forbidden
1932 · Movie · 83 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra
Cast Barbara Stanwyck · Adolphe Menjou · Ralph Bellamy · Dorothy Peterson
Plot On a cruise to Cuba, Lulu Smith falls in love with Bob Grover. Back home, she breaks off the romance when he tells her he is married. Lulu has a...
6.6
157 votes
6.6
157 votes
Why We Fight 2: The Nazis Strike
1943 · Documentary · 41 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra · Anatole Litvak
Plot In this installment of the Why We Fight propaganda film series, we see the events of Nazi Germany's diplomatic and military acts of international aggression. One by one, we learn...
6.6
91 votes
6.6
91 votes
The Battle of China
1944 · Documentary · 65 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra · Anatole Litvak
Plot The Official World War II US Government account of Chinese defense against Japanese aggression.
6.6
35 votes
6.6
35 votes
Broadway Bill
1934 · Movie · 104 min. · United States
Direction Frank Capra
Cast Warner Baxter · Myrna Loy · Walter Connolly · Helen Vinson
Plot This comedy-drama was directed, and then -- over twenty years later -- remade, by Frank Capra. Dan Brooks cares more about his thoroughbred Broadway Bill than for his wife Margaret...
6.5
294 votes
6.5
294 votes