So It 's Christmas...So It's Time for ' It's A Wonderful Life '

Christmas is coming , the goose is getting fat....and it ' s time once again for repeated viewings of the classic It' s A Wonderful Life '

Has anyone not seen this movie? I most certainly have---about 30 times. But I never tire of it.

Oddly, I saw a made-for -tv version of it starring Marlo Thomas way back when before I saw the original. It was ok for what it was but it couldn't hold a candle to it.

I wouldn' t go so far as to claim this was Jimmy Stewart's best film but it surely is the one he' s most remembered for . George Bailey is possibly the most sympathetic character in movie history.

 

I came down with the flu last Christmas and with my high fever that was one of the many films I watched. Love it every time.

 

Frank Capra directed that wonderfully powerful film. He masterfully pulled off two tear-inducing moments, boom, boom, at the film’s end; hard to do. A perfect movie.

 

Definitely a favorite of mine. I have it on blu-ray and always make a point of watching it this time of year.

Interesting though, it wasn't all that well received originally, and only became a "classic" when it aired as a Christmas TV staple through the 80's.

 

For years in my youth, I thought this was way overrated. I saw it on TV back when it was on ad nauseam, but I never watched it from the beginning. I always started it around when he got in trouble (which I thought was the beginning) through to the end and wondered what the big deal was.

In my mid-20s, I saw the whole movie in a theater uninterrupted (at The Jimmy Stewart Museum as it happens) and finally got the point. I was in tears at the end. Watch it every year now, and whenever I get a chance I see it in a theater.

 

You might know this already, but the only reason it received so many viewings on TV is that no one thought it was worth the trouble to renew the copyright, so it entered the public domain for a while. Smaller TV stations especially would show it constantly because it was free to them.

 

Yes, I was familiar with the copyright issue, but I didn't mention it because I wasn't sure about the details. Yet, it turns out that it wasn't free for stations to broadcast since there were still royalties paid to the author of the original story, who had renewed his copyright. But broadcast rights were still open ended until NBC acquired them in the 90's, or something to that effect.

 

Yeah, I guess I was fuzzy on the details. Probably a lot of urban legend added to what actually happened.

I notice it is being shown earlier and more often this year. For a while, it was on only twice a year. Once around Thanksgiving and once around Christmas Day.

 

It’s also currently on Amazon Prime, in both black-and-white and c. 2007 colorized versions.

 

I have not seen it. I understand Alfalfa from Little Rascals is in it...

 

I have not seen this movie and will not see this movie in colour. No , sir !

 

He is the guy talking to Mary that George cuts in on and blows off at the dance. He then opens up the floor of the gym to get even.

 

He plays the rival who opens up the swimming pool at the dance.

This entire dance section could IMHO be cut from the film with no harm to the narrative.

 

Wiki:

Theatrically, the film's break-even point was $6.3 million, about twice the production cost, a figure it did not come close to achieving on its initial release. An appraisal in 2006 reported: "Although it was not the complete box-office failure that today everyone believes ... it was initially a major disappointment and confirmed, at least to the studios, that Capra was no longer capable of turning out the populist features that made his films the must-see, money-making events they once were."​

It was also nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture.

 

Presumably this inspired Ted Turner to "manufacture" classic status for A Christmas Story w/24 hour marathons on TNT.

 

Liberty Films only release.

I bought a copy on Goodtimes VHS years ago. Beautiful print. But to fit it on one tape they cut it. From the dunking they cut the entire walk home, Buffalo Gals, George in the ill fitting football outfit, the hydrangea bush, and Uncle Billy telling George about his dad. It cut right to the meeting at the Bailey Brothers offices. EVERYTHING cut was important! The only time I complained to a company and they DID replace it with the full film on LP mode.

 

I’m afraid you’re going to have to call me Mr. Potter on this one. I still find this movie corny.

 

I get it. Though I will always prefer the black-and-white versions of things, I’m not against colorization. I think the 2007 colorization of It’s a Wonderful Life was well done. The technology and technique had come a long way since the ‘80s (and it’s gotten even better since 2007).

 

Great flick. Watch it about every other year. I'm convinced Scorsese borrowed a bit from Capra's techniques/narrative for Goodfellas.

I love the scene when George talks to his dad before the dance. Subtle scenes like this outweigh the admittedly ample portions of corny.

Stewart's first post-WWII movie. Same for Capra. Stewart was an incredibly brave mofo in the war.

My wife and I joke that "sinful" Pottersville looks fun. Especially Nick's bar where they had some excellent boogie-woogie playing.

This "freeze" scene is just so Scorsese:

 

“You on the nest?”

 

Am I the only one who expects Rod Serling and his cigarette to show up
"Meet George Bailey. A man on the edge........ of the Twilight Zone"

 

One year, Comedy Central tried to do the same thing with Bad Santa. It didn't catch on.

 

IAWL is essential, timeless and a gateway for youngsters to get into classic Hollywood. They used to run it on Xmas morning which is where I would encounter it while everyone had gone off post gift openings. Then I got my own VHS copy and wore it out to death before jumping into other Capra titles. Now it's a yearly tradition for me to view all the Capra classics every Christmas season. They're all perfect for the end of the year and it's a insane they aren't as well known and adored as they should be.

In almost every way IAWL is like the summation of Capra's career with elements from all of his previous pictures that are built upon.

It's nearly impossible to not breakdown in moments of Lost Horizon, You Can't Take it With You but especially for me in IAWL and Mr. Smith. Every time I think I'm going to make it without tears...and then comes the line "I guess this is just another lost cause Mr. Paine." and I'm done for.
It's impossible to not be bowled over by It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds, Arsenic and Old Lace, and the criminally underrated Meet John Doe which is still stuck in the public domain nightmare of bad prints that IAWL suffered from. I'm beyond glad they finally did a new transfer for IAWL but it's ridiculous you have to buy two copies to get both 4K and new Blu-ray discs-and each comes with that hideous abominable colorized version. Prior to this 4K restoration the best video version IMO was the old Criterion LD boxset.

 

Yeah, I seem to find all colorized versions of any original B&W film a bit odd, even those that are done reasonably well.

The copy of It's A Wonderful Life that I have has both versions, and I watched the color version for the first time last year. It's not bad, but it just doesn't look right after seeing the original B&W. I think the colorization tends to mess with the texture of the image.