Rain or Shine

Capra's early sound effort was intended as a showcase for Broadway comic Cook, whose mercurial slapstick talent made him a top draw on stage, but rarely translated into screen craft. Here he's running a circus hit by bad weather, declining audiences, a recalcitrant owner and performers about to go on strike. He manages to keep the show on the road, however, with a one-man display of clowning that (literally) brings the house down. Capra upped his directorial reputation by filming the climactic conflagration in one take, a risky undertaking given rudimentary early talkie technology, even if he did use several cameras for coverage.