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

But that's why Frank Capra's films were called "Capra Corn". They all had his nearly
perfect happy endings, and his "corn" made people , well, happy. And I love all of them.

 

I agree--'Meet John Doe ' is a terrific film , not too well known but one of Gary Cooper ' s best.
I didn' t quote your post in its entirety because I just wanted to make that one point but excellent post. You're obviously a true fan.

 

And don't forget his last film, 1961's "Pocketful Of Miracles". Bette Davis, Hope Lange, Glenn Ford all in
their prime and Ford (and Peter Falk) absolutely hilarious. Plus you get a young Ann Margret in her first role.
The ending, as with all of his films, I guarantee you will cause you to be "done for" and tear up.
One of my all time favorite films. Someone posted the entire film on youtube in HD if anyone's never seen it...

 

You know, now that you mention it , that story could easily be a Twilight Zone episode. And a damn good one too. All they' d have to do is eliminate some of the ' Capracorn' and some of the lighter bits , add an eerie musical score and , as you say , enter Rod Serling cigarette in hand to introduce it. He was so cool during those intros.

 

Thanks guys. I'm still needing to see the lesser known earlier titles that were in the Sony MOD DVD set. I'm dying to see Bitter Tea of General Yen again. I've read Capra's wonderful yet not so realistic autobiography and Joseph McBride's essential bio Catastrophe of Success many times over.

The wonderful thing is that all the film endings manage to work and not feel forced but more like discovering a ray of hope in the midst of darkness. And they're not all perfectly happy endings-especially Lost Horizon which manages to hit the perfect notes yet is left up to interpretation. The only one that doesn't quite fit is Meet John Doe which was intended to end on a dark note and they shot many endings to try and find a way out. To be honest it needed the dark yet spiritually redeeming original ending which in some ways was actually more akin to something like the ending of the Val Lewton masterpiece The Seventh Victim.

As for the post IAWL titles I don't watch them as often but they still have their charms despite Capra running into increasing interference. Pocketful is a good picture but for me it doesn't hold up to the original Lady For a Day. Most don't realize that Capra like Hitchcock remade his own hit 30's film decades later.

It should also be pointed out that credit should be also given to the incredible writers who helped form and perfect the Capracorn style, most especially Robert Riskin.

 

I remember this movie well. Good one but largely forgotten today.
I know Ann Magret is considered a ' sex -kitten ' but that Hope Lange ! Hey now! Always had a thing for her. You know , a thing.

 

But in this film, Ann is most certainly not a sex kitten, but a wholesome daughter to Bette Davis. And I agree about
Hope Lange...she is extremely attractive and "hot" in this.

 

I used to enjoy getting the TV Guide each week in December back in the 80s. I'd flip to the page with the list of that week's four-star ⋆⋆⋆⋆ movies. Since "It's A Wonderful Life" was always ⋆⋆⋆⋆, you could see every time on every channel for the next week.

 

Loved Hope Lange in The Best Of Everything, she had a wonderful voice as well.

 

I, uh, I saw the Beavis and Butthead take on it...

 

The 2007 colorization looks much better than the one that they did in the 80s. But the film is so beautiful in B&W that the color version seems pointless to me.

 

I never understood the colorization thing. These movies were shot in black and white, the makeup and lighting were applied accordingly. They look fantastic in their shadowy way.

 

It's time and It's in the pile for this week! I watch both the B&W & Colorized Blu-ray!

 

I agree, but the colorized IAWL is pretty decent...If you have it you should try it. : )

 

I agree, but I disagree about the pointless comment. ; )

 

The earlier part (after the heavenly prologue) of the movie looks sort-of OK in the colorized version. But in that opening and in the altered reality, things are so generally dark that colorization adds very little - in fact it's so bleak that they probably had trouble figuring out what to add color to. Snow? Night footage in snow? Stars in the heaven? Gloomy graveyards? I wouldn't think that would be a colorists dream job!

 

I can' t . I just can' t.

 

that's cool! ' )

 

Magic Shadows...

 

There are two we watch every Christmas - It's A Wonderful Life, and A Christmas Carol.

I'm not a fan of Stewart. His whiny drawl irritates me, but I put up with it in this case.

 

Quite so , my fellow Canuck.

 

We avoid all the showings until Christmas Eve when my entire family watches it together. How about Georges proposal to Mary? Stewart displaying his acting chops!

 

"I wish I had a million dollars. Hot dog!!"

 

Zuzu's petals....