This study proposes a new definition of Frank Capra’s work as a cinema of identity, focusing on his reflection on American national identity as well as his own positioning as a US immigrant. With chapters on films such as , the book offers a fresh appraisal of this celebrated director and his often problematic films.

After studying at the Universities of Hull, Montpellier and Oxford (BA and DPhil), became Professor of French at the University of St Andrews, serving for twelve years as Head of French and a similar period as Head of the School of Modern Languages, as well as founding the St Andrews Institute of European Cultural Studies. The author of a dozen previous books on French literature and politics, he is a leading authority on the work of François Mauriac and a member of the French-based International Society for Mauriac Studies. He was appointed Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques «for service to French culture». Throughout his career, film, especially American film, has remained one of his great passions, now combined with his interest in identity studies to produce this book on Frank Capra.

CONTENTS: Identities – Beginnings – American Passions – Haves and Have-Nots – Fables of Depression – New Horizons – Celebration Interrogated – American Fascism – Informing Wartime America – Capra’s Christmas Carol – Two Faces of Decline – Legacy