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Director of the acclaimed Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer (MIFF 1990), Kenneth Bowser's Frank Capra documentary beats a path directly to the core of the life of one of America's most visionary filmmakers. During Capra's golden years in the 1930s, he embraced the sentiment of a nation and an era with films such as Ladies of Leisure, The Miracle Woman and Forbidden, bringing to prominence the likes of Barbara Stanwick, Ralph Bellamy and Ralph Graves. While capturing warmth and the milk of human kindness on the screen, Capra's life was anything but a reflection of his films. Bowser teases out the inside story of a man prone to depression and guilt at the height of his career, holding ambivalent feelings towards the American people, a mixture of fear and affection.
Bowser cleverly contextualises Capra's life in Hollywood via interviews and opinion from some of the most prominent names in the industry: Martin Scorsese, Michael Keaton, Oliver Stone, Angela Lansbury, Fay Wray and many others including family members Tom and Frank Capra Jr. Tight editing and a dignified treatment makes Frank Capra's American Dream a rare glimpse into an extraordinary life.
"The deftly selected clips here retain a remarkable emotional impact, while inducing fresh admiration for Capra's seldom-celebrated flair for crowd and action sequences, editing innovation and moody visual nuance... The filmmaker forever identified with apple-pie Americana gets a superb re-evaluatfon." - Variety
Kenneth Bowser was born in New York City in 1951. In 1990 he wrote the screenplay The Sunlight Dialogues for American Playhouse. That year Bowser also made a documentary, Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer, about the American comedy genius, which screened at Melbourne, Sydney and London Film Festivals.