A HOLE IN THE HEAD

US, 1959, 120 minutes, Colour.
Frank Sinatra, Edward G. Robinson, Eleanor Parker, Carolyn Jones, Thelma Ritter, Keenan Wynn.
Directed by Frank Capra.

A Hole in the Head is a Damon Runyon story directed by Frank Capra., Capra had had a very fine career in films during the thirties with effective social comedies as It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can’t Take it With Yoy and Mr Smith Goes to Washington. He won several Oscars for his direction.

During the war he made a number of war films and propaganda films. After the war he had success with It's a Wonderful Life and The State of the Union. However he then did not have as many opportunities as he had in the thirties. He made some pleasant Bing Crosby vehicles like Here Comes the Groom and Riding High. He tried a comeback with A Hole in the Head featuring Frank Sinatra and Eleanor Parker. However he was to make only one film after this - a remake of his Lady for a Day of 1933, A Pocketful of Miracles with Bette Davis and Glenn Ford. A Hole In the Head is engaging sentimental comedy melodrama.

1. Did you enjoy this comedy? Why? Was this film too American for universal tastes? Why?

2. The characters? Which character did you like best? Why?

3. Were the situations humorous? Which ones? Why? Was the film too sentimental? Or did it keep a healthy balance between humour and genuine sentiment? Did the film give insight into human nature? How?

4. The main characters:
- Tony, Was he likable? Was he a good father? Did he relate well to his son? Was he really a drifter, was he really a bum? Was he a dreamer, his relationship with Shirl? Did he love her? His dependence on Mario? When did he begin to love Shirl? Why did he tell her the truth? His disillusionment with his friend Jerry? His slapping of his son and allowing him to go? Would he live happily over after?
- Alvin - as a boy, as a typical American boy? likeable? What did he need most? A home? A father? A mother?
- Mario – likeable? Did Edward G Robinson make him a genuinely humorous character? How? Why did he love Tony? His relationship to his wife Sophie?
- Sophie - as a typical American grandmother? Was she a humorous character? Why?
- Eloise - what kind of person was she? How lonely? Likeable? Did you hope that she and Tony would marry? Were you sorry when it appeared that they would not marry? Would she make a good mother for Alvan? Would she also live happily ever after?
- Shirl what kind of person? A kook? Was she likable? Did Tony love her? Did she love Tony? Even though it hurt her was it best that she left? Why?
- Jerry - as a businessmany as an American business? Did you like him at all? What was being satirised in Keenan Wynn’s performance?

5. The theme of money in the film? Gambling? How important is money?

6. The theme of true happiness. What was the formula for happiness at the end of the film? Was the final scene on the beach a happy one? Why did Mario and Sophie go walking along the beach?

8. How happy a film was this? How enjoyable? How much did it teach about the reality of human happiness?