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It's a Wonderful Life | Year: 1947 Classification: Drama Directed: - Frank Capra Actors/Actresses: - James Stewart - Donna Reed Obviously, it is also a wonderful film It was produced and directed by Frank Capra who collaborated with Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, and Jo Swerling on the screenplay. Nominated for five Academy Awards (including Best Picture) it won none. Over the years, however, it developed a loyal following, largely comprised of those who appreciate Capra's films. Only in recent years has it received the recognition and praise it deserves. How to describe this film? It focuses on a thoroughly decent man named George Bailey (James Stewart) who, after being financially ruined by his evil rival Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), becomes despondent and attempts to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. George is rescued by his guardian angel, Clarence Oddbody (Henry Travers), and permitted to learn what would have happened if he (George) had never been born. Only then does George fully appreciate how precious life is. Of course, the film has a happy ending. Many people think this is a corny film but I do not. As in other films (notably in Meet John Doe), Capra celebrates certain basic values which guided and informed George throughout much of his life. When facing financial disaster which involves not only him and his family but countless others who entrusted to him their limited funds...and their own dreams for a wonderful life, George temporarily loses his faith in those values and his will to live without them. He regains his appreciation of life only after a near-death experience and a realization of how important his life had been to others. I am reminded of the situation in Thornton Wilder's Our Town when Emily Webb fully appreciates only in death what she had not previously while alive in a town very much like Bedford Falls.. It is noteworthy that Leo McCarey, a contemporary of Capra's, affirms many of the same values in films he directed such as Going My Way and The Bells of St. Mary's. When It's a Wonderful Life appeared in 1946, the World War II had only recently ended. Moreover, only 17 had years had passed since the stock market crash. Several contemporary accounts of American society during the mid-1940s note an excitement about opportunities which had been denied by the Great Depression and then delayed by the recent war. An entrepreneur, George Bailey's dream is to enable as many people as possible in Bedford Falls to own their own home. The film traces his efforts to make that dream a reality while he also marries Mary Hatch and they start a family. Yes, George is idealistic and somewhat naive but has business acumen. Regrettably, he is vulnerable to.... I am among those who cherish this movie and the values which it affirms. I am especially grateful for the documentaries, "The Making of It's a Wonderful Life" and the special tribute to Frank Capra, "A Personal Remembrance" from "Frank Capra Jr.," which accompany it in its DVD format. Until recent years, seeing it again was among the highlights of my holiday season. What happened? By way of concluding this brief commentary, My Favorite Movie of All Time... This is the kind of story that transcends all generations and ages and speaks to each individual. It is associated with the Christmas holidays and rightly so. Yet the movie's story about a good man who is frustrated with his life to the point of suicide speaks as loudly today as it did in 1947. Some critics of "It's A Wonderful Life" call it "Capracorn" (making reference to the movie's director, Frank Capra), and say that it is unrealistic sentiment, but I disagree. The story basically shows how a man's life unfolds through a period of years in the town in which he was born. What he thinks are disappointments and cruel tricks of fate actually lead him to the place he always wanted to be. He is shown what the lives of his loved ones and friends would have been like had he never been born. He realizes that those small acts of kindness and love that he has given to people were not insignificant, but made major differences in each and every life. Particularly moving is the scene where the protagonist, George Bailey, superbly played by Jimmy Stewart, prays a silent, but desparate prayer in the town bar. The answer to that prayer gives George Bailey some unexpected twists and turns, but shows the fabric of his life is so carefully interwoven with those he loves and cares for. This is American filmaking at its very finest. I highly reccomend this for the whole family. WAKE UP! This is a lousy movie! This movie never won any awards. It was so bad that the studio could hardly give it away when they first puit it on tape, then they let it be colorized just so they could sell SOME copies of it, and suddenly the big war cry from the Hollywood liberals was -- "OOH! Save a classic black and white film!" Baloney! No one liked this movie when it was made. No one liked it the 1950s. No one liked it in the 1960s. No one liked it in the 1970s. No one liked it in the 1980s, then SUDDENLY! -- it's an American classic. NOT! It's Communist propaganda about the "evils" of American free enterprise from a guy who made a lot of pinko films but never thought HE should have to live like this "common man" he kept making pictures about. Buy It's A Wonderful Life at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  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