It's a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition)
It's a Wonderful Life is a classic for a reason, and it is hard to believe that it was not always regarded as such! In fact, when the movie came out shortly after World War 2, it failed at the box office. I don't really know why. Maybe audiences no longer were interested in the trials and tribulations of 'the every man,' or maybe they were tired of director Frank Capra's sugary sweetness, but either way, the movie tanked. Oh, it got nominated for a few Oscars but I think that was just the Academy being polite to favorite son Capra and recently returned war hero and star Jimmy Stewart.
It's a shame that it did not do well because the movie is superb, possibly the closest thing to a flawless film that either Capra or Stewart made. It took a few years (maybe decades) of repeated television broadcasts to brand the movie into the brains of the next generation and the Christmas classic eventually emerged triumphant.
It's a Wonderful Life is the story of George Bailey, a small town banker who dreams of bigger things, a better life, and traveling the world. But the responsibilities of family and work have kept him home, where it seems his life is growing bleaker by the minute. When it seems the bank will fail, Bailey makes the fateful decision to kill himself, thinking that everyone in his failed life would be better off without him. In the nick of time, a goofy angel named Clarence pops up and decides to actually show the depressed banker what the world would be like without George Bailey.
For a Christmas film, this is fairly dark - not subversively so like Nightmare Before Christmas, but in a reality-based way. The problems of George Bailey and the town are problems we all recognize, especially today in the worst economy since the Great Depression. And I have a friend who hates this movie because of its bleakness. He doesn't understand it and thinks that the lesson of the film is, don't bother having dreams because they aren't going to come true anyway. You're just going to be disappointed in yourself and your life, so why try? I think he missed the point completely. Bailey's dreams don't come true, fair enough. But what the movie is trying to say is that even if your dreams don't come true, that doesn't mean you are useless, it doesn't mean that you don't make a difference in this world, that your life doesn't have value. Because it does. Every action we take effects someone in some way, and it is our actions that make us good people or not. It's a good lesson, and one worth remembering.
The movie has so many memorable parts - the high school party where the dance floor opens to reveal the school swimming pool beneath, Bailey offering to lasso the moon, the romantic telephone call/first kiss, the bank run, and Bailey's final dash through the town in the middle of a hard snowfall joyfully screaming "Merry Christmas!" The all-star cast brings out the best of the old studio system, with Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers, Ward Bond, and countless other faces you recognize popping up and doing what they do best. It's a terrific film, and it is almost the best Christmas movie ever...but one other film beats it...but still, It's a Wonderful Life is superb entertainment, and deserves a spot on everyone's movie shelf.
MVP: I have to give it to Stewart, which is ironic since he wasn't sure he could even play the role. Emotionally drained from World War 2, he was very hesitant to jump back into his movie career, but his experiences only made his performance all the stronger. He is the heart of the film. His George Bailey wears his heart always on his sleeve, whether full of joy or sorrow. This is a man who cares, and we should care about him. And as a sidenote, it is ironic that he lost the Oscar for Best Actor to Fredric March who was playing a veteran returning from World War 2 in The Best Years of Our Lives.
OSCARS: Nominations for Best Actor (Stewart), Best Sound, Best Editing, Best Picture, and Best Director (Capra).
BEST LINE: : Clarence: "Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"
TRIVIA: Now this one is a winner! In 1947, an FBI analyst submitted a memo on It's a Wonderful Life, in its file about Communist infiltration of Hollywood. The agent thought it was obvious that the film was an attempt to discredit the American banking community, "a common trick used by Communists."
I was talking to a friend at work last week. He said it wasn't until a couple of years a go that he had finally seen it. He had heard all this hype and didn't expect the film to live up to it. He said there was no denying that this was a classic film, let alone a classic Christmas film. I'm also interested to know who this person is that doesn't like this film.
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