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DVD It's a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition)
Now perhaps the most beloved American film, It's a Wonderful Life was largely forgotten for years, due to a copyright quirk. Only in the late 1970s did it find its audience through repeated TV showings. Frank Capra's masterwork deserves its status as a feel-good communal event, but it is also one of the most fascinating films in the American cinema, a multilayered work of Dickensian density. George Bailey (played superbly by James Stewart) grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger (Henry Travers) arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born. The sequence is a vivid depiction of the American Dream gone bad, and probably the wildest thing Capra ever shot (the director's optimistic vision may have darkened during his experiences making military films in World War II). Capra's triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and disappointments of life, while affirming--in the teary-eyed final reel--his cherished values of friendship and individual achievement. It's a Wonderful Life was not a big hit on its initial release, and it won no Oscars (Capra and Stewart were nominated); but it continues to weave a special magic. --Robert Horton
Review(s): DVD It's a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition)
I love this thing, and I also hate it
Why hate this movie?
Well, a lot of the values it trumpets are dated, to say the least. In Bedford Falls (the "good" universe) women and blacks are only around to work for the white men. We're not supposed to mind that a 12 year old is left unsupervised to watch a store, or that the adult George drives drunk, or that he lets Potter refer to his friends as "a bunch of garlic eaters," and we're supposed to think it's cute and funny that an 18 year old smacks the rear end of his adult (black and female) servant. And then there are some values that no one seems to latch on to. (You'd think all the people who love "Wonderful Life" would have noticed that the wedding was small and inexpensive and copied it. You don't hear about people doing that, though.)
In the "bad" universe of Pottersville, blacks can be musicians and women can have careers. (And why does Mary never getting married lead to an almost unibrow?)
But the themes that one life can be important, that the love of family is precious, that friends can BE family, get me every time.
BTW, the French translation on the DVD is quite good, with the actors doing the dubbing working hard to sound like the characters and not just people reading.
the way movies should be
The perfect family movie. Rebuffs the classic charge against that era being unrealistic. It deals with real-life pain and regret but NOT in a cynical way. My sons loved it inspite of their dreading its lack of color.
It's A Wonderful Life
I remember watching this movie for the first time when I was in my early twenties. It has touched my life ever since and I always think of this movie as one of the best movies ever made. Not because of some big movie budget but because it is about everything in life that makes all of us strive to be good people. A true classic that revolves around God, kindness and the the way everyone of us should strive to live our lives. I will wach this movie during the holidays as much as 10 or 20 times. I often wish that I could have friends like George and that I could touch as many people's lives as he did. It is a pleasure to watch as he discovers his Life really is wonderful.
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