Because screenwriter Robert Riskin spent most of his career
collaborating with legendary Hollywood director Frank Capra, his own
unique contributions to film have been largely overshadowed. With five
Academy Award nominations to his credit for the monumental films Lady
for a Day, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can't Take It with You,
Here Comes the Groom, and It Happened One Night (for which he won an
Oscar), Riskin is often imitated but rarely equaled.
Robert Riskin: The Life and Times of a Hollywood Screenwriter is the
first detailed critical examination of the Hollywood pioneer's life and
work. In addition to being one of the great screenwriters of the classic
Hollywood era, Riskin was also a producer and director, founding his own
film company and playing a crucial role in the foundation of the Screen
Writers Guild. During World War II, Riskin was one of the major forces
behind propaganda filmmaking. He worked in the Office of War Information
and oversaw the distribution -- and later, production -- of films and
documentaries in foreign theaters. He was interested in showing the rest
of the world more than just an idealized version of America; he looked
for films that emphasized the spiritual and cultural vibrancy within the
United States, making charity, faith, and generosity of spirit his
propaganda tools. His efforts also laid the groundwork for a system of
distribution channels that would result in the dominance of American
cinema in Europe in the postwar years.
Author Ian Scott provides a unique perspective on Riskin and the ways in
which his brilliant, pithy style was realized in Capra's enduring films.
Riskin's impact on cinema extended far beyond these films as he
articulated his vision of a changing America and helped spread Hollywood
cinema abroad.
