Films by Frank Capra
by alenzizak | created - 30 Jul 2016 | updated - 04 Feb 2017 | PublicThis list contains all films directed by the Italian-American writer/director/producer Frank Capra.
List is divided into two major sections: Narrative films (#1-#32) and documentary films (#33-#48).
Note #1: List does NOT include lost films and short films (with the exception of three documentaries: Two Down And One To Go, Your Job In Germany, Rendezvous In Space).
Note #2: Why we fight is a series of 7 propaganda documentaries made during the WWII consisting of: Prelude to War, The Nazis Strike, Divide and Conquer, The Battle of Britain, The Battle of Russia, The Battle of China, War Comes to America.
Note #3: The Bell Laboratory Science Series consists of nine television documentary specials, but only the first three were directed by Capra. They are: Our Mr. Sun, Hemo the Magnificent, Strange Case of Cosmic Rays.
If you know how to get some of the feature films that are not on the list, please let me know where to find them.
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1. The Strong Man (1926)
Passed | 75 min | Adventure, Comedy, Romance
A meek Belgian soldier, fighting in World War I, receives a letter and a photo from "Mary Brown", an American girl he has never met. After the war, he travels to America searching for her.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Harry Langdon, Priscilla Bonner, Gertrude Astor, William V. Mong
Votes: 961
2. Long Pants (1927)
60 min | Comedy
Harry Shelby receives his first pair of long pants. He immediately falls in love with a cocaine-smuggling flapper named Bebe. When Bebe is imprisoned, he decides to rescue her; to do this, ... See full summary »
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Harry Langdon, Gladys Brockwell, Alan Roscoe, Priscilla Bonner
Votes: 584
3. That Certain Thing (1928)
Passed | 69 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
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 is furious and disinherits ... See full summary »
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Viola Dana, Ralph Graves, Burr McIntosh, Aggie Herring
Votes: 292
4. So This Is Love (1928)
Passed | 60 min | Adventure, Comedy, Romance
Jerry McGuire (William Collier Jr.) is a dress designer in love with shop-girl Hilda Jenson (Shirley Mason). But the problem is that prizefighter Spike Mullins (Johnny Walker) is also in ... See full summary »
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Shirley Mason, William Collier Jr., Johnnie Walker, Ernie Adams
Votes: 137
5. The Matinee Idol (1928)
Passed | 66 min | Comedy, Romance
A Broadway matinee idol famous for his black-face portrayals anonymously joins an amateur acting troupe and falls in love with the leading lady.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Bessie Love, Johnnie Walker, Ernest Hilliard, Lionel Belmore
Votes: 626
6. Submarine (1928)
Passed | 93 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Two sailors who are always competing against each other set their sights on the same girl. When she chooses one over the other, their friendship ends acrimoniously. However, things change ... See full summary »
Directors: Frank Capra, Irvin Willat | Stars: Jack Holt, Dorothy Revier, Ralph Graves, Clarence Burton
Votes: 312
7. The Power of the Press (1928)
62 min | Drama
Naive newspaper cub Clem lands a scoop when he's sent out to cover a murder. In his enthusiasm he writes that the main suspect is Jane. When she confronts Clem she convinces him to help her prove her innocence.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Jobyna Ralston, Mildred Harris, Philo McCullough
Votes: 323
8. The Younger Generation (1929)
Passed | 75 min | Drama, Romance
Soap-opera about a social-climbing Jewish man and his old-world parents who are heartbroken by his rejection of them.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Jean Hersholt, Lina Basquette, Ricardo Cortez, Rex Lease
Votes: 338
9. Flight (1929)
Passed | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
A Marine flyer and his flight school mentor fall for the same beautiful nurse.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Jack Holt, Lila Lee, Ralph Graves, Alan Roscoe
Votes: 364
10. Ladies of Leisure (1930)
Passed | 99 min | Drama, Romance
An upper-crust artist hires a 'party girl' as a model; romance follows.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Ralph Graves, Lowell Sherman, Marie Prevost
Votes: 1,391
11. Rain or Shine (1930)
Passed | 88 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Woman inherits a traveling circus which brings financial difficulties.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Joe Cook, Louise Fazenda, Joan Peers, William Collier Jr.
Votes: 459
12. Dirigible (1931)
Passed | 100 min | Adventure
Jack Bradon is tasked to reach the South Pole with a dirigible.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Jack Holt, Fay Wray, Ralph Graves, Hobart Bosworth
Votes: 704
13. The Miracle Woman (1931)
Passed | 90 min | Drama, Romance
After an unappreciated minister dies, his daughter loses her faith in God, prompting her to open a phony temple with a con man. Can the love of a blind aviator restore her faith and happiness?
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, David Manners, Sam Hardy, Beryl Mercer
Votes: 2,264
14. Platinum Blonde (1931)
Passed | 89 min | Comedy, Romance
A young woman from a very rich family impulsively marries a reporter, but each assumes the other is the one whose lifestyle must change.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Jean Harlow, Loretta Young, Robert Williams, Halliwell Hobbes
Votes: 3,456
15. Forbidden (1932)
Approved | 85 min | Drama, Romance
A librarian takes a cruise and falls for an unobtainable man, a district attorney married to an invalid.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou, Ralph Bellamy, Dorothy Peterson
Votes: 1,701
16. American Madness (1932)
Passed | 75 min | Drama, Mystery
Socially-conscious banker Thomas Dickson faces a crisis when his protégé is wrongly accused for robbing the bank, gossip of the robbery starts a bank run, and evidence suggests Dickson's wife had an affair...all during the same day.
Directors: Frank Capra, Allan Dwan, Roy William Neill | Stars: Walter Huston, Pat O'Brien, Kay Johnson, Constance Cummings
Votes: 2,262
17. The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932)
Approved | 88 min | Drama, Romance, War
A Chinese warlord and an engaged Christian missionary fall in love.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Nils Asther, Toshia Mori, Walter Connolly
Votes: 4,302
18. Lady for a Day (1933)
Passed | 96 min | Comedy, Drama
A gangster tries to make Apple Annie, the Times Square apple seller, a lady for a day.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Warren William, May Robson, Guy Kibbee, Glenda Farrell
Votes: 4,655
19. It Happened One Night (1934)
Passed | 105 min | Comedy, Romance
A rogue reporter trailing a runaway heiress for a big story joins her on a bus heading from Florida to New York and they end up stuck with each other when the bus leaves them behind at one of the stops along the way.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns
Votes: 112,258 | Gross: $4.36M
20. Broadway Bill (1934)
Approved | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
A runaway heiress and her sister's husband join forces to race the latter's fast horse, Broadway Bill.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Warner Baxter, Myrna Loy, Walter Connolly, Helen Vinson
Votes: 1,160
21. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Not Rated | 115 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A unassuming greeting card poet from a small town in Vermont heads to New York City upon inheriting a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft, Lionel Stander
Votes: 23,211
22. Lost Horizon (1937)
Approved | 132 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
When a revered diplomat's plane is diverted and crashes in the peaks of Tibet, he and the other survivors are guided to an isolated monastery at Shangri-La, where they wrestle with the invitation to stay.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, Edward Everett Horton, John Howard
Votes: 14,452
23. You Can't Take It with You (1938)
Passed | 126 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The son of a snobbish Wall Street banker becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family not realizing that his father is trying to force her family from their home for a real estate development.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, Edward Arnold
Votes: 27,905 | Gross: $4.66M
24. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Passed | 129 min | Comedy, Drama
A naive youth leader is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. His idealistic plans promptly collide with corruption at home and subterfuge from his hero in Washington, but he tries to forge ahead despite attacks on his character.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold
Votes: 121,381 | Gross: $9.60M
25. Meet John Doe (1941)
Passed | 122 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A penniless drifter is recruited by an ambitious columnist to impersonate a non-existent person who said he'd be committing suicide as a protest, and a social movement begins.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan
Votes: 14,902
26. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Not Rated | 118 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
A Brooklyn writer of books on the futility of marriage risks his reputation after he decides to tie the knot. Things get even more complicated when he learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are habitual murderers.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson
Votes: 74,967
27. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
PG | 130 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy
An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell
Votes: 499,093
28. State of the Union (1948)
Approved | 124 min | Comedy, Drama
An industrialist is urged to run for President, but this requires uncomfortable compromises on both political and marital levels.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Van Johnson, Angela Lansbury
Votes: 4,170
29. Riding High (1950)
Passed | 112 min | Comedy
A horse trainer who has fallen on hard times looks to his horse, Broadway Bill, to finally win the big race.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Bing Crosby, Coleen Gray, Charles Bickford, Frances Gifford
Votes: 592
30. Here Comes the Groom (1951)
Approved | 113 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Foreign correspondent Pete Garvey has 5 days to win back his former fiancée, or he'll lose the orphans he adopted.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Bing Crosby, Jane Wyman, Alexis Smith, Franchot Tone
Votes: 1,204
31. A Hole in the Head (1959)
Approved | 120 min | Comedy, Drama
Widower Tony is trying to keep a small Miami hotel afloat while raising a 12-year-old son. He's forced to ask his harried brother Mario for help, but he'll only bail Tony out if he quits his bohemian lifestyle and marries a sensible woman.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Edward G. Robinson, Eleanor Parker, Carolyn Jones
Votes: 2,848 | Gross: $11.00M
32. Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
Approved | 136 min | Comedy, Drama
A New York gangster and his girlfriend attempt to turn street beggar Apple Annie into a society lady when the peddler learns her daughter is marrying royalty.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Glenn Ford, Bette Davis, Hope Lange, Arthur O'Connell
Votes: 7,962 | Gross: $5.45M
33. Why We Fight (1942)
Not Rated | 52 min | Documentary, War
The official World War II US Government film statement defining the various enemies of the Allies and why they must be fought.
Directors: Frank Capra, Anatole Litvak | Stars: Walter Huston, Victor Bulwer-Lytton, Kai-Shek Chiang, Walter Darré
Votes: 2,409
34. The Nazis Strike (1943)
Not Rated | 41 min | Documentary, Short, History
The official World War II US government account of Nazi international aggression leading up to the British and French declarations of war.
Directors: Frank Capra, Anatole Litvak | Stars: Eduard Benes, Neville Chamberlain, Clementine Churchill, Winston Churchill
Votes: 964
35. Divide and Conquer (1943)
Not Rated | 57 min | Documentary, History, War
The World War II US Government account of the European theatre of the war from after the English and French entry to the fall of France.
Directors: Frank Capra, Anatole Litvak | Stars: General Bergeret, Karl Brandt, Winston Churchill, Warren J. Clear
Votes: 832
36. The Battle of Russia (1943)
Not Rated | 83 min | Documentary, History, War
Documentary revealing the nature and process of the fight between the Soviet Union and Germany in the Second World War.
Directors: Frank Capra, Anatole Litvak | Stars: Anthony Veiller, Ion Antonescu, Nikolay Cherkasov, Anthony Eden
Votes: 1,610
37. The Battle of Britain (1943)
Not Rated | 54 min | Documentary, History, War
The official World War II US government account of Great Britain's stand against the Nazi war machine after the Dunkirk evacuation.
Directors: Frank Capra, Anthony Veiller | Stars: Douglas Bader, Arno Breker, Winston Churchill, Hermann Göring
Votes: 1,017
38. Tunisian Victory (1944)
Approved | 75 min | Documentary, War
Documentary made by the U.S. Army Signal Corps.
Directors: John Boulting, Roy Boulting, Frank Capra, Hugh Stewart, John Huston | Stars: Leo Genn, Burgess Meredith, Bernard Miles, Jacques Duchesne
Votes: 691
39. The Battle of China (1944)
Not Rated | 65 min | Documentary, History, War
The Official World War II US Government account of Chinese defense against Japanese aggression.
Directors: Frank Capra, Anatole Litvak | Stars: Claire Chennault, Kai-Shek Chiang, Madame Chiang, Teh Chu
Votes: 805
40. Two Down and One to Go (1945)
32 min | Documentary, War, Short
Documentary short film produced by the U.S. Army, intended to enlighten the American public on the final thrust of the Allied war effort in Europe and on the plans for the return home of American forces.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: George C. Marshall, Anthony Veiller
Votes: 77
41. War Comes to America (1945)
Not Rated | 70 min | Documentary, War
Part VII of the "Why We Fight" series of wartime documentaries. This entry attempts to describe the factors leading up to America's entry into the Second World War.
Directors: Frank Capra, Anatole Litvak | Stars: Dean Acheson, General Bergeret, Adolf A. Berle, Arno Breker
Votes: 838
42. Know Your Enemy - Japan (1945)
Not Rated | 63 min | Documentary, History, War
A comprehensive look at the war in the Pacific during World War II. Shot as a propaganda film by acclaimed Hollywood director Frank Capra
Directors: Frank Capra, Joris Ivens | Stars: John Beal, Howard Duff, Walter Huston, Knox Manning
Votes: 839
43. Your Job in Germany (1945)
13 min | Documentary, Short, War
A propaganda piece about the occupation of post-Nazi Germany and what led to WWII.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Adolf Hitler, John Lund
Votes: 188
44. Here Is Germany (1945)
52 min | Documentary, War
Frank Capra directed this film in the vein of his Why We Fight series. It was intended to be shown to American troops participating in the invasion and occupation of Germany. But by the ... See full summary »
Director: Frank Capra | Star: Anthony Veiller
Votes: 154
45. Our Mr. Sun (1956 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 57 min | Animation
One entry in a series of films produced to make science accessible to the masses--especially children--this film describes the sun in scientific but entertaining terms.
Directors: Frank Capra, William T. Hurtz | Stars: Eddie Albert, Lionel Barrymore, Frank Baxter, Marvin Miller
Votes: 206
46. Hemo the Magnificent (1957 TV Movie)
60 min | Animation, Family
An animated documentary about blood and the circulatory system. It was one of a series on bodily systems.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Richard Carlson, Frank Baxter, Mel Blanc, June Foray
Votes: 291
47. The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays (1957 TV Movie)
55 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Traces, in an easy-to-follow way, the discovery of cosmic rays. You don't need rocket science to follow along with the explanations. Saw it while a Junior in HS and it spurred me to study ... See full summary »
Directors: Frank Capra, William T. Hurtz | Stars: Richard Carlson, Frank Baxter, Bil Baird, Cora Baird
Votes: 143
48. Rendezvous in Space (1964)
19 min | Documentary, Short
A futuristic documentary for Martin Marietta Corporation, about America's plans for a space station and space shuttles.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Marcia McBroom, Jim Backus, Mel Blanc, June Foray
Votes: 50
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