Frank Capra was yesterday’s man – one movie in a decade – and 15 years away from the consolation of knowing that his flop It’s A Wonderful Life (1948) was on its way to becoming, arguably, along with The Wizard of Oz (1939), America’s most beloved picture thanks to annual Xmas showings on television and subsequently in the cinema.
There’s nothing new here, either, it’s a remake of his Lady for a Day (1933) and it’s more of a fable lacking punch than some of his more famous pictures. And the main interest for contemporary audiences may well be that it marks the debut of Ann-Margret (The Swinger, 1966) who gets to sing but not shake her booty in trademark fashion. And it takes forever to wind up to a pitch. We’ve got to wade through three subplots before it gets going.
First of all Prohibition gangster Dave (Glenn Ford) meets up with the daughter Queenie (Hope Lang) of a deceased club owner who’s in hock for $20,000. Dave is much taken by the earnest Queen’s determination to repay the debt at the rate of five bucks a week. For no reason at all except narrative necessity, she’s turned into a nightclub singing sensation.
When Prohibition ends, big-time Chicago gangster Steve Darcey (Sheldon Leonard) plans to muscle in on the New York rackets and it takes all Dave’s suave bluster to keep him, temporarily, at bay. The end of Prohibition comes as a relief to Queenie and with the nightclub shut down she agrees to marry Dave with the proviso that he give up the gangster life and retire to her home town in Maryland and they become an ordinary couple.
Very much on the fringes of this is Apple Annie (Bette Davis), a street panhandler who sells “lucky” apples, one her most satisfied customers being Dave. When her illegitimate daughter Louise (Ann-Margret) returns from Spain to New York with rich beau Carlos (Peter Mann) in tow, Annie’s in a pickle, because she’s been keeping up the pretence of being a wealthy woman.
Queenie insists they help Annie to maintain her charade and Dave goes along with the idea because he’s worried his luck will run out. So Annie is turned into a sophisticate, manners polished, furnished with a luxurious apartment, including a butler, and fake husband Henry (Thomas Mitchell).
None of the stars seem to know how to handle the material, and for most of the time they act as if in a pastiche, like they were throwing winks to the audience. Glenn Ford (Fate Is the Hunter, 1964), generally adept at comedy, plays this all wrong. He wanted the part so badly he helped finance the picture. Bette Davis (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, 1962) overacts, as does Peter Falk (Murder Inc, 1961), though the Academy didn’t think so and threw him a second Oscar nomination. Hope Lang and Ann-Margret, playing it straight, get it right, though the latter, vivacious personality to the fore, wins that battle by more than a nose. Might well have worked if original choice Frank Sinatra hadn’t ankled the project.
Hal Kanter and Harry Tugend wrote the remake, based on a Damon Runyon story. It was always a tricky business to capture the stylistic essence of Runyon, Guys and Dolls (1955) the most effective transition, Lady for a Day better than this and Little Miss Marker filmed three times.
Once the Bette Davis pretence enters the equation, the tale takes on some narrative drive and the quintessential Capra shines through. But it’s too little too late.
Not the swansong Capra anticipated, but he only has himself to blame.
The Magnificent 60s 
A little something:
“Pocketful of Miracles, Frank Capra’s last feature film, was a remake of his 1933 Lady for a Day (see entry), starring Warren William and May Robson. It was the first and only film to be produced by Franton Productions, an independent company co-owned by Frank Capra Productions and Glenn Ford’s Newton Productions. A modern source notes that Abe Lastfogel of the William Morris Agency was brought in to settle any disputes that might arise between the two producers, who had equal votes in all matters concerning the picture. As mentioned in his autobiography, Capra disliked this arrangement, which, he believed, gave Lastfogel the power of executive producer. Capra also expressed his displeasure with the United Artists decision to release the picture with saturation booking in some 200 cities across the country, without first putting it into a first-run engagement in either Los Angeles, CA, or New York City. However, Capra’s recollection of the film’s opening was not completely correct. While the film did open on Christmas Day in Los Angeles with saturation booking, the film had a conventional opening in New York, playing at the Victoria and Trans-Lux 52nd Street theaters only.
Pre-release news items indicate that James Cannon, a sports writer whose writing talent was discovered by Damon Runyon, was signed to write the dialogue for the film. According to Capra’s autobiography, Cannon did not get a writing credit because of a WGA rule at the time that allowed only two writing credits per screenplay.
In an Apr 1960 NYT interview, Capra mentioned that he wanted either Helen Hayes or Shirley Booth for the role of “Apple Annie,” and according to subsequent news items in HR, Hayes made a verbal agreement to play the role in Jun 1960. According to his autobiography, Capra had also sought Shirley Jones for the role of “Queenie.” News items also note that Capra sought Tony Franciosa for an unspecified “starring role,” and that Edward G. Robinson, Charles Laughton, Fredric March and Burl Ives were all in the running for the role of “Judge Henry Blake,” which was later assigned to Jack Oakie. When Oakie became ill with a lingering intestinal virus, he was replaced by Thomas Mitchell and his scenes were reshot. Contemporary sources also note that the film, which would cost an estimated $2.5-3 million dollars to produce, marked the screen debut of Ann-Margret, who had been previously set to make her debut in State Fair, a film delayed until 1962. According to a contemporary interview with actress Hope Lange, costumes from Paramount’s 1920s and 1930s wardrobe department were deemed too daring for modern censors.
A week before Pocketful of Miracles had its Los Angeles release, LAT ran ads featuring Richard Nixon endorsing the film.
Peter Falk received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the picture, which also received a nomination for Best Costume Design (color) and for its title song for Best Song. According to modern sources, Capra wrote the special lyrics for “The Riddle Song,” which Ann-Margret sang without musical accompaniment in the film.”
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Fascinating. I knew Glenn Ford had put money into it, but didn’t know he could object to Capra’s approach or would have the tenacity to think of doing so.
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