Analysis
Symbols and Tropes
Setting
The Sycamore House, New YorkThe live theatrical version of You Can't Take It With You was set in the messy, chaotic, goofy, enjoyable Sycamore house, where someone is always painting or dancing or...
Point of View
EnsembleFrank Capra was big into community. None of that "eccentric artist in splendid isolation" nonsense for him. If he's going to have eccentric artists anywhere near him, they're all going to l...
Genre
Romantic ComedyRomantic comedies are love stories that make you laugh. So You Can't Take It With You obviously qualifies. It's funny, both in a 1930's quick-bantered way and in a totally slapstick...
What's Up With the Title?
The "It" in You Can't Take It With You is money. Money, money, and more money. GRANDPA: You can't take it with you, Mr. Kirby. So what good is it?Grandpa goes on to say that love is more important...
What's Up With the Ending?
Comedies usually finish up with a happy ending. Few of them are as insistent on it as You Can't Take It With You, which actually concludes with Grandpa saying, explicitly:GRANDPA: Everything's turn...
Shock Rating
GYou Can't Take It With You came out thirty years before the official film rating system was introduced in 1968. But if it had been rated, it would almost certainly have gotten an all-ages seal of...