This 1938 Frank Capra outing may have won an Oscar but its tale of the son of a wealthy family (Jimmy Stewart) looking to buy up the property of Lionel Barrymore’s cheerful brood of eccentrics (who include an improbably youthful Jean Arthur), is over-treacled with Capra-esque sentimentalism. Stewart’s role is underplayed, the plot is slow-moving and the comedic pickings lean.
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