Which 1938 Frank Capra film won the Academy Award for Best Picture?

Frank Capra’s 1938 film You Can’t Take It with You won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

The film is a screwball comedy adapted by screenwriter Robert Riskin from the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1936 stage play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. It follows Tony Kirby, the son of a wealthy, status-conscious businessman, as he becomes engaged to Alice Sycamore, whose eccentric family values happiness and personal freedom over conventional success.

Columbia Pictures released the film with Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart and Edward Arnold in the leading cast. Its warm conflict between material ambition and unconventional family life became a signature example of Capra’s populist style, often called “Capraesque.”

At the 11th Academy Awards, the film won two prizes: Best Picture and Best Director for Capra. The Adventures of Robin Hood led that ceremony in total wins, but it did not win Best Picture. Boys Town and Jezebel were also nominees, not the year’s top winner.