It's a Wonderful Life
by Frank Capra
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Donna Reed, Henry Travers, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas MitchellDirector: Frank Capra
Producer: Frank Capra
Writer: Frank Capra
Writer: Albert Hackett
Writer: Frances Goodrich
Writer: Jo Swerling
Writer: Michael Wilson
Writer: Philip Van Doren Stern
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 132 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1995-09-19
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Republic Pictures
Movie Reviews of It's a Wonderful Life
Movie Review: Timeless classic
Summary: 5 Stars
Since I saw this movie several times before, when I decided to see it again I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. One sign of a truly great movie is that you can watch it more than once and enjoy it. This is a great movie.
It cuts to the heart of the question of what makes life worthwhile. The answer that it gives is that the kind acts that we do, the love we show, are what makes life worth living.
I like the way it portrays America as being run by greedy and power hungry men. The whole world is run by them. But they don't run everything. And I believe that the underlying premise of this movie, that there is a Heaven, that there is a God, even that there are angels, is very likely true, and that the purpose of living our lives here is not to amass the greatest fortune before we die. It's to build bonds of loyalty and love to take home to Heaven with us when we graduate from this school of hard knocks.
I don't want to claim that this movie is perfect. It never pays to do that. A good review, even if it's a rave, should have some constructive criticism in it. I haven't seen a perfect movie yet.
In that spirit I would say that even though Donna Reed's acting is good as George Bailey's wife, the script writer used her as a cardboard character who never falls off her pedestal. It was a badly written character, a non-person, just too perfect. I see no reason for that, considering that the writer showed us George Bailey at his worst, badgering a teacher on the phone, badgering his kids, occasionally being a dope. The writer should have breathed at least a little life and imperfection into Mrs Bailey too. She should not have been written as a robot. She could also have been given a sense of humor.
I got a kick out of the cabbie and the cop being named Ernie and Bert. I understand that the Sesame Street characters were named after them.
In today's world, where we only believe what we can see with our own eyes, I think we've lost some truths that are contained in this movie. I'm not kidding. I think there are angels, and I think there is a Heaven, and I think that those things are more real than the chair you're sitting on. We teach our kids to believe in Santa Claus, and then we pull the rug out from under them and let them know Santa isn't real, but I think you will be surprised to find out that Heaven is real, angels are real, and God is real. I don't think those are just children's stories.
I would also disagree with the director's decision to show Jimmy Stewart at his worst. In a few scenes he is really, and there is no other way of putting it, an obnoxious jerk. As soon as life deals him some legal trouble, he gets really bad. I'd prefer my heroes to show a little more poise under pressure, and George Bailey fails miserably in that department. While Donna Reed is far too goody-goody, with no blood running through her veins, Jimmy Stewart is at times a most unlikeable hero. We have to remind ourselves that he did save a life or two and make a few sacrifices earlier in life.
Another problem I have with this film is that I don't understand how a bank president (isn't that what he is?) and a real estate developer (isn't he that too?) is doing so poorly financially, and why the loss of $6,000 would be so devastating to his savings and loan. That's a bit much to swallow. When Uncle Stupid lost the money, I really don't think the roof caves in on a savings and loan.
In other words, we are being fed a sob story that can't be real.
Lionel Barrymore makes a wonderful villain. Actually he reminds me of Jim Backus as Mister Magoo, minus the myopia. He represents the Evil Capitalist, the greedy miser who owns everything. Did you notice that when George Bailey is removed from the picture, it turns out that Mister Magoo turned his town into a place full of girly shows? That is so funny. In those innocent post-war days, the way they painted a bad town was by putting girly shows in it. Drugs? Crime? Of course not. Those were innocent days.
There are times in all our lives that we want to escape our reality, we want to die, we wish we were never born, and so on. I feel that way a few times a day, actually. It is comforting to think that it really is important that we lived, that we really did have a good impact on someone. Did I? I don't know. I'm glad for George Bailey's sake that he did. Now if only he could learn to curb that obnoxious and self centered behavior of his, and be more sensitive to other people's feelings. Sometimes he's like a child, just popping out with the stupidest and most cutting things. Good thing he gave us reasons to like him, because it isn't always easy.
Summary of It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
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
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