Direction: Frank Capra

The best movies, series, and documentaries directed by Frank Capra. Explore exceptional titles that showcase a unique filmmaking vision.


Platinum Blonde

1931 · Movie · 89 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra

Cast Loretta Young · Robert Williams · Jean Harlow · Don Dillaway

Plot Reporter 'Stew' Smith meets beautiful Ann Schuyler, a rich socialite, while covering the story of a scandal involving Ann's family. Ann takes a liking to the wisecracking Smith and the...

6.5

350 votes

6.5

350 votes

The Matinee Idol

1928 · Movie · 60 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra

Cast Bessie Love · Johnnie Walker · Ernest Hilliard · Lionel Belmore

Plot A Broadway matinee idol famous for his black-face portrayals anonymously joins an amateur acting troupe and falls in love with the leading lady.

6.5

76 votes

6.5

76 votes

The Battle of Britain

1943 · Documentary · 54 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra · Anthony Veiller

Plot The official World War II US government account of Great Britain's stand against the Nazi war machine after the Dunkirk evacuation. In this installment of the "Why We Fight" propaganda...

6.4

34 votes

6.4

34 votes

Why We Fight 1: Prelude to War

1942 · Documentary · 52 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra · Anatole Litvak

Plot The official World War II US Government film statement defining the various enemies of the Allies and why they must be fought. In this first installment of the "Why We...

6.4

318 votes

6.4

318 votes

The Strong Man

1926 · Movie · 75 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra

Cast Harry Langdon · Priscilla Bonner · Gertrude Astor · William V. Mong

Plot A meek Belgian soldier (Harry Langdon) fighting in World War I receives penpal letters and a photo from "Mary Brown", an American girl he has never met. He becomes infatuated...

6.3

141 votes

6.3

141 votes

The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays (TV)

1957 · Documentary · 54 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra · William T. Hurtz

Plot The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays is an examination of what cosmic rays are and how they work. It was written by Capra with Jonathan Latimer, a crime fiction...

6.2

25 votes

6.2

25 votes

Ladies of Leisure

1930 · Movie · 99 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra

Cast Barbara Stanwyck · Ralph Graves · Lowell Sherman · Marie Prevost

Plot Artist Jerry Strong, tiring of a wild party hosted by his Society fiancee Claire, takes a drive in the country and meets scantily clad Kay Arnold, self-proclaimed "party girl," who...

6.2

86 votes

6.2

86 votes

A Hole in the Head

1959 · Movie · 115 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra

Cast Frank Sinatra · Eddie Hodges · Edward G. Robinson · Thelma Ritter

Plot Tony Manetta runs an unsuccessful Miami hotel, on which he can't meet the payments. Another liability is his weakness for dames (Shirl, his sexy current flame, is even less responsible...

6.2

734 votes

6.2

734 votes

Tunisian Victory

1944 · Documentary · 75 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra · Hugh Stewart

6.1

46 votes

6.1

46 votes

Long Pants

1927 · Movie · 60 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra

Cast Harry Langdon · Gladys Brockwell · Alan Roscoe · Priscilla Bonner

Plot Harry Shelby (Harry Langdon) has been kept in knee pants for years by his overprotective parents, but the day finally comes when Harry is given his first pair of long...

6.1

129 votes

6.1

129 votes

Riding High

1950 · Movie · 112 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra

Cast Bing Crosby · Coleen Gray · Charles Bickford · Frances Gifford

Plot RIDING HIGH is Frank Capra's remake of his own 1934 film Broadway Bill (AKA Strictly Confidential), in which romance and comedy play out against the backdrop of thoroughbred horse racing....

6.1

73 votes

6.1

73 votes

Here Comes the Groom

1951 · Movie · 113 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra

Cast Bing Crosby · Jane Wyman · Franchot Tone · Alexis Smith

Plot Pete Garvey, foreign correspondent, has been running an impromptu adoption agency for war orphans in Paris, when an ultimatum from his erstwhile fiancée Emmadel Jones draws him back to Boston,...

6.0

247 votes

6.0

247 votes

War comes to America

1945 · Documentary · 70 min. · United States

6.0

38 votes

6.0

38 votes

Rain or Shine

1930 · Movie · 86 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra

Cast Joe Cook · Louise Fazenda · Joan Peers · William Collier Jr.

Plot After her father's death, Mary Rainey takes over the Rainey Circus (which operates twice daily, rain or shine) but runs into financial troubles. In one bit reminiscent of the Marx...

6.0

30 votes

6.0

30 votes

Your Job in Germany (S)

1945 · Documentary · 13 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra

Cast Adolf Hitler

6.0

23 votes

6.0

23 votes

Know Your Enemy: Japan

1945 · Documentary · 63 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra · Joris Ivens

Plot The hour-long film sought to educate American soldiers about their adversary's history and society, particularly the course up to the Pacific War, and the totalitarian nature of the Japanese state....

5.8

130 votes

5.8

130 votes

Dirigible

1931 · Movie · 100 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra

Cast Jack Holt · Ralph Graves · Fay Wray · Hobart Bosworth

Plot A French explorer enlists the help of the US Navy in an expedition to the South Pole. There is competition between the airship division and fixed wing fliers, resolved in...

5.6

23 votes

5.6

23 votes

The Power of the Press

1928 · Movie · 62 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra

Cast Douglas Fairbanks Jr. · Jobyna Ralston · Mildred Harris · Philo McCullough

Plot Cub reporter Clem Rogers is rescued from writing weather reports when word comes that the district attorney has been murdered, and he is assigned to cover the story because he...

5.5

33 votes

5.5

33 votes

That Certain Thing

1928 · Movie · 86 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra

Cast Viola Dana · Ralph Graves · Burr McIntosh · Aggie Herring

Plot Molly Kelly wants to marry a millionaire. When she runs into Andy Charles, heir to a restaurant fortune, she jumps at the chance and marries him. Andy's father if furious...

5.2

21 votes

5.2

21 votes

The Ballad of Fisher's Boarding House (S)

1922 · Movie · 12 min. · United States

Direction Frank Capra

Cast Mildred Owens · Ethan Allen · Olaf Skavlan

Plot Fultah Fisher runs a boarding house catering to seamen passing through the port. A girl known as Anne of Austria has had many lovers amongst the sailors, but presently she's...

4.8

27 votes

4.8

27 votes