It's a Wonderful Life

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Summary: See this movie like you've never seen it before.......
Review: I've seen this movie a ZILLION times. On TV, on tape and even in theaters, it always looked and sounded worn out with missing frames, scratches and pops and awful sound. Watching this DVD was like seeing this movie for the first time! The print is beautifully restored, NOT colorized, but in pristine Black and White. The sound is crisp, clear, and they've even made the music sound amazingly less like the "tinny" sound you'd expect from a motion picture from it's time period. I had my doubts when I read the "digitally THX Mastered" banner at the bottom of the DVD container....but they really did do a great job on restoring this Holiday classic. If you love this movie, you won't be disappointed in this DVD.

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Summary: Holiday Movie Wacthing at its Finest
Review: It's a Wonderful Life is a movie that is synonymous with the Christmas season. This classic film from director Frank Capra is still as heartwarming today as it was decades ago when it was first released and it continues to charm more and more generations each and every holiday season.

This movie works on every level, thanks to the story line, the directing, and the actors and actresses involved. Actor Jimmy Stewart plays the likable yet frustrated George Bailey, showing how one man can have it all and almost let it all slip away. Henry Travers plays the role of Clarence, George's guardian angel, and his appearance fits the part perfectly. The same is true of actor Lionel Barrymore in the role as the nasty Mr. Potter. With his evil smile and mean- spirited demeanor, Barrymore fits the role of the greedy CEO to a tee.

Capra's directing is the key to making this movie work and it's doubtful that many others would have been able to duplicate his work. The plot of this movie would seem a little silly at first: man works hard, starts to feel down and out, loses track of a large sum of money, feels he is no longer appreciated, tries to commit suicide, and is rescued by a man who claims to be his guardian angel and takes him back in time to see what life would have been like if he had never been born. But Capra pulls all the elements together and creates a cinematic masterpiece.

This movie is considered by many to be one of the greatest of all time. It certainly is a movie worth watching, during Christmas or anytime of the year. It's message is timeless, and it will continue to win over more and more fans with each passing year.


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Summary: This movie is the real deal: true cinematic magic!
Review: Readers, you most likely do not know me personally at all, but if you're doubting that this movie is one of the most magical movies Hollywood ever made, there's only one thing you need to know: That I was actually smiling by the end of this movie. My normally cynical heart usually balks at these kinds of uplifting movies with its feel-good endings that either seem tacked on or just plain false (heck, I'm one of the few that disliked the recent FINDING NEVERLAND, with its cheesy "just believe" philosophy; oh, and I'm not too keen on the engineered "Christmas spirit" either). But maybe I'm just a sucker for movies in which ordinary men like George Bailey find themselves so disappointed in their lives that they must be reminded---as indeed he is, in genuinely heartwarming fashion---how much of a difference they truly made in the ordinary world. Akira Kurosawa's IKIRU had a similar theme, and I was moved to tears by parts of that movie too (although some of it was admittedly sentimental and slick). And remember the ending of Alexander Payne's ABOUT SCHMIDT, with Jack Nicholson's character feeling worthless until he picks up a letter from a little kid in another part of the world? That final shot of Nicholson welling up with tears is comparable to the final scene of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, in which nearly an entire town congregates in George Bailey's house to remind him of what an important man he truly is in the small town of Bedford Falls. Who doesn't want to feel important in some way? And that final quote from Clarence: "no man is a failure who has friends." Truly a maxim to live by, if you ever feel down about yourself and your place in the world!

As you can probably tell, then, I love this movie. Director Frank Capra never seems to be pushing for audience goodwill the way he did towards the end of his 1938 Oscar-winning YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU; this is probably Capra's masterpiece. And James Stewart, as the American Everyman George Bailey, gives a performance that is stunning in its wide emotional range. You can see why people would like him, and yet you can feel the disappointment he feels in himself. Okay, so the movie is a little long, and the opening shot of the stars talking to each other is laughably cheesy. In the face of the sheer magic this movie conjures forth, those are mere nits. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE is a wonderful movie. Highly recommended.

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Summary: Why didn't this movie win and Oscar?
Review: I watched this show some year back and it brought me to tears, not of sorrow but of joy. Joy that I am reminded that how fortunate I am to love and be loved. It is a true reflection of how one is important to those around you and to treasure them. The saying of 'what goes around, come around' is befitting of this show. I am from Singapore and there is no snow, with sunshine year round, but after watching the show, it also brought to me the spirit of Christmas and with it, the warmth. I recommend this show to anyone who needs a 'boost' in life who feels down and that the whole world is against him.

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Summary: The quintessential feel-good Christmas movie
Review: Everyone has their films that they must watch during certain holidays. For some reason, at my house we always watched "Uncle Buck" on Labour Day weekend. Likewise, Roger Ebert apparently watches "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" every Thanksgiving. My wife likes to watch "When Harry Met Sally" on New Year's Day. But Christmas is the time most saturated with films that the season wouldn't be the same without. "A Christmas Carol," "White Christmas," and some version of "The Grinch" are holiday necessities for many people. My personal favourite of all these films is Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life."

Because the airwaves are saturated with it (because the copyright was not renewed when it expired in the '70's) it's easy to flip by and watch bits until a commercial comes on. People who have only seen the film this way are missing the joy of the film - it is a finely-crafted vision of a town, the progress of years of the characters in that town, and the steady wearing down of one man's dreams until one Christmas Eve he decides to take his own life. What he hasn't noticed is all the good he done, and he's momentarily forgotten how much he is loved - by his extended family, by the people in the town touched by his basic goodness. He is not a Scrooge or Grinch remarkably transformed by the meaning of Christmas, but a good man worn down and worn out that is then rejuvenated by the Spirit of Christmas.

Capra and Jimmy Stewart evoke such a sense of place and timing that you can't help by be immersed in the story. The extended cast weaves in and out of the story, without intruding on the primary narrative. It's suitable for all ages - in 1947, the MPAA didn't allow anything questionable through - but I suspect that younger viewers will grow bored since the film is mostly dialogue and "grown-up" events.

This DVD edition looks very good. The sound is okay, but as usual, the visuals were cleaned up much more than the sound. There are a couple short (20 minutes) making-of featurettes, one of which is the same as on the VHS edition that came out many years ago (with Tom Bosley as host). But the main reason to buy the DVD is so you don't have to sit through the ads and suffer the cuts television stations make to cut down the running time. This film deserves much better than that!