You Can't Take It with You

You Can't Take It with You (1938) is Frank Capra's screwball romantic comedy, and you can watch it online on iFILM. Tony Kirby, heir to a banking fortune, has fallen for Alice, a quiet stenographer from a household unlike any his parents have ever seen.

Alice is the one sane Sycamore in a family that treats money-making as beside the point. Grandpa quit his job years ago and refuses to pay income tax on principle. Her mother writes plays only because a typewriter was once delivered by mistake. Down in the basement, the men build fireworks and set them off indoors. When Tony brings his stiff, status-obsessed parents over for dinner to meet the in-laws, the evening detonates in every sense.

James Stewart and Jean Arthur lead as the lovers, with Lionel Barrymore as the grandfather whose live-and-let-live wisdom holds the whole thing together. The film took home two Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and remains one of Capra's warmest arguments that joy beats a bank balance. Stream You Can't Take It with You (1938) online on iFILM.