 One reason Frank Capra (qv) made this film was to help him get  over the loss of his infant son who had died following complications  from a tonsillectomy. Initially, he wanted to make a film about  Chopin but Columbia head Harry Cohn (I) (qv) nixed that on the  grounds that it would be too expensive. Capra and Cohn were  constantly at loggerheads over budgets, despite Capra being  Columbias most successful director with 