Capra by the Book

Although Mathews and Wilmington refer to the “Capra-corn” factor running through Capra’s films, they make the same mistake that Capra made in his self-indulgent autobiography, “The Name Above the Title”: ascribing all the credit to Capra! What about Robert Riskin, who is polished off in one brief, cursory notation as Capra’s “frequent writer-collaborator”?

In the early ‘70s, Calendar ran an article about writer-directors; Riskin was listed among the early pioneers in that category. Capra, however, felt that insufficient homage had been paid to Capra and immediately took pen in hand to send in a rebuttal that denigrated Riskin and Riskin’s work.

You either paid homage to Capra or were consigned to his personal purgatory.

DAVID R. MOSS

Los Angeles