ABSTRACT
The genius of Frank Capra has created, in nearly a dozen film masterpieces, an enduring testament to the spirit of populism. For his is passionate, committed film-making and only the most crabbed of misanthropes could fail to be swept along by its optimism and panache. Like all movements populism had its mythology and like all movements this mythology was often more important than the facts. The populists cherished the 'log cabin to White House' success story as the mythic fulfilment of their ideal of a man of the people rising to be leader of the people by the vote of the people. The heroes of the films of Capra's maturity fit perfectly to the Lincoln populist prototype, both physically and spiritually. There is a clear development in the emergence of the classic Capra hero. Intertwined with populism is anti-intellectualism and this, like populism, is as old as the United States itself.
