Screen Legends: James Stewart

Four classic films from the legendary actor James Stewart. In 'Harvey' (1950), Elwood P. Dowd (Stewart) and his best friend Harvey are inseparable. They go everywhere together, spreading warmth and kindness throughout all the bars in town. The only trouble is that Harvey is a 'Pooka' - a six foot-plus rabbit that only Elwood can see. When Elwood and Harvey embarass the former's social-climbing sister Veta Louise (Josephine Hull) once too often, she finally opts to get Elwood the treatment she thinks he needs, and arranges to have him installed in the local mental asylum. However, Harvey's unseen but ever-felt presence ensures that all does not go according to plan. In 'Mr Smith Goes to Washington' (1939), when naive Jefferson Smith (Stewart) is chosen to replace a recently deceased senator, he heads for Washington full of idealistic dreams of serving his country, looking forward to working with his idol: senior senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains). Upon his arrival, he is ridiculed in the press for his gullibility, but with the aid of his secretary, Saunders (Jean Arthur), he begins to realize that the world of politics is a cut-throat one full of double dealing. When he discovers that Paine is working on a scheme for a new dam which will only profit him and his cronies, Smith sets out to expose the man he formerly idolised. In 'Rear Window' (1954), after breaking his leg during a shoot, photo-journalist L.B. 'Jeff' Jeffries (Stewart) is forced to spend a humid summer recuperating in his Greenwich Village apartment. The wheelchair-bound Jeff whiles away his time observing his neighbours through a telephoto lens, bestowing them with nicknames and growing familiar with their daily routines. However, his society girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly) is exasperated and then alarmed when Jeff becomes obsessed with the notion that Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), who lives in the apartment opposite, has murdered his wife. Finally, 'It's a Wonderful Life' (1946), director Frank Capra's classic heartwarming Christmas fantasy, follows George Bailey (Stewart), who has spent his entire life in the small town of Bedford Falls. Despite his yearning to see the world, George has always sacrificed his personal ambitions for the sake of his family and the local community, settling down to marry his childhood sweetheart, Mary (Donna Reed), and raise a family. However, when a huge amount of money goes missing from the family savings and loans company he panics and finds himself preparing to commit suicide. However, he is shown the error of this idea by Clarence (Henry Travers), an angel who has been sent to Earth in order to earn his wings. To this end, Clarence shows George just how badly Bedford Falls and its residents would have turned out had he never been born.

Director: Frank Capra
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Director: Henry Koster
Producer: Frank Capra
Producer: Alfred Hitchcock
Producer: John Beck
Writer: Frances Goodrich
Writer: John Michael Hayes
Writer: Sidney Buchman
Writer: Mary Chase
Writer: Frank Capra
Writer: Lewis R. Foster
Writer: Oscar Brodney
Writer: Albert Hackett
Writer: Jo Swerling
Music: Dimitri Tiomkin
Music: Franz Waxman
Music: Frank Skinner
Actor: Grace Kelly
Actor: Wendell Corey
Actor: Thelma Ritter
Actor: Claude Rains
Actor: Jean Arthur
Actor: Edward Arnold
Actor: Guy Kibbee
Actor: Josephine Hull
Actor: Victoria Horne
Actor: Raymond Burr
Actor: Eugene Pallette
Actor: Peggy Dow
Actor: Judith Evelyn
Actor: Cecil Kellaway
Actor: Ross Bagdasarian
Actor: Harry Carey
Actor: Charles Drake
Actor: Georgine Darcy
Actor: Jesse White
Actor: Sara Berner
Actor: Wallace Ford
Actor: Frank Cady
Actor: William Lynn
Actor: James Stewart
Actor: Harris Davenport
Actor: Nana Bryant
Actor: Donna Reed
Actor: Marla English
Actor: Lionel Barrymore
Actor: Jesslyn Fax
Actor: Henry Travers
Actor: Alan Lee
Actor: Thomas Mitchell
Actor: Irene Winston
Actor: Ward Bond
Actor: Beulah Bondi
Actor: Frank Faylen
Actor: Gloria Grahame
Actor: H.B. Warner
Actor: Frank Albertson