Capra Versus Riskin

Even on Frank Capra’s death, the Riskin conspiratorial theorists insist on the last word (Letters, Sept. 22).

But the same question that Capra himself asked in his letter to The Times in 1977 has yet to be answered: Namely, if Robert Riskin was responsible for Capra’s big success, then why was Capra still successful without him? Riskin had nothing to do with Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” or the Hepburn-Tracy classic “State of the Union.”

Obviously, film is a collaborative medium, and even Riskin’s staunchest defenders grudgingly concede that his best work was done with Capra. But a screenplay is not a film, and the inimitable Capraesque style could, and did, come from only one person: Frank Capra.

MICHAEL T. CREIGHTON

Claremont