It's a Wonderful Life [Blu-ray]
by Frank Capra
![It's a Wonderful Life [Blu-ray]](/images/It-a-Wonderful-Life-Blu-ray-B001UHOWXI-L.jpg)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Donna Reed, Henry Travers, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas MitchellDirector: Frank Capra
Brand: Paramount Pictures
Producer: Frank Capra
Writer: Frank Capra
Writer: Albert Hackett
Writer: Frances Goodrich
Writer: Jo Swerling
Writer: Michael Wilson
Writer: Philip Van Doren Stern
Blu-ray: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: Black & White, Color, Dubbed, Original recording remastered, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 130 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: 2009-11-03
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Paramount
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: Blu-ray
- Black & White; Color; Dubbed; Original recording remastered; Subtitled
Movie Reviews of It's a Wonderful Life [Blu-ray]
Movie Review: It's A Wonderful Blu-Ray
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are reading this review you likely already know and love this movie. For me, it is the epitome of holiday movies with great acting along with a terrific script and tight direction. If you have never seen it in some ways I envy you - just buy it and enjoy!
As I was growing up this film was shown repeatedly on television as it had lapsed into the public domain. Somehow, it was retrieved from public domain with some legal wrangling - and though at first I thought of that as a bad thing the quality of the film has benefited now that there is money to be made on this old classic. The initial DVDs available for this film from the public domain era were very poor quality and only recently were better scans completed. That process has been taken to "the nth degree" for the blu-ray release.
For this review I did watch the first few minutes of the Republic Pictures DVD version which last time I checked into this was the best transfer available. I recall when first seeing it that it was far superior to other versions and light-years ahead of the worn prints that used to be shown on TV. I played it on an upscaling player (actually my Sony Blu-Ray player). I then put in the Blu-Ray version and I was blown away at the improvement. The quality is really striking with facial detail and readable text, for example, on the bottles in Mr. Gower's Pharmacy. The print is totally clean and is as others have pointed out shown in the correct aspect ratio in which it was made. This means there are black bars at the sides on a wide-screen TV and this is normal and how it should be. To fill a wide screen TV would mean either stretching things so that the thin James Stewart starts to look more like Alfred Hitchcock or cutting off the top and bottom of the picture. Either of those options would go a long way toward destroying this classic. Sound quality is also excellent and clean.
As I write this I am watching the colorized version which I feel is less impressive. While colorization has come a long way and looks less like paint-by-numbers than it used to it is still obviously added color and just distracting for us purists that love the original B&W. That said, I wonder if the colorized version will be something that might make this film more accessible to kids (though I am planning on showing the original to my 5 and 7 year old kids!)
All in all, this is a fantastic buy and is a must-have for those that love this film and have a blu-ray player. I highly recommend it.
Summary of It's a Wonderful Life [Blu-ray]
George Bailey has so many problems he is thinking about ending it all ? and it?s Christmas! As the angels discuss George, we see his life in flashback. As George is about to jump from a bridge, he ends up rescuing his guardian angel, Clarence. Clarence then shows George what his town would have looked like if it hadn?t been for all of his good deeds over the years. Will Clarence be able to convince George to return to his family and forget suicide?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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