Its A Wonderful Life Movie and DVD Review

Its A Wonderful Life

Movie and DVD Review

When the end credits of Its A Wonderful Life rolled (well i say rolled, but they were static), I imagined that I was sitting in a smoke filled movie theatre beside a zoot suited man puffing on a cigar. He turns to me and says, his voice full of gravel and New York “Kid, they don't make 'em like that anymore”. And, after wondering what a zoot suit is, I agree with him.

Films as genuinely heartwarming and life affirming as IAWL are thin on the ground at the moment and its a compliment to Capra's classic that all movies touching this subject matter (the value of the individual) feel like clones of this classic. The most recent that springs to mind is “The Pursuit of Happyness” which, despite being a powerful statement of the American Dream, is one capful of Capra wallowing in a litre of the pursuit of wealthyness.

The story concerns the life of George Bailey, as viewed in flashback by two angels discussing his upcoming “big night”. You see, George has always done the right thing, regardless of the impact upon his own life. The flashbacks show that he saves his brother's life as a young boy, at the cost of the hearing in one ear. When his father dies, George steps up again and delays first a much anticipated trip to Europe, and then college, to keep the Bailey savings and loan from being closed down. His life continually gives him lemons and he drinks down the bitter lemonade which seems destined to be his lot.

When George's big night arrives (which culminates in an attempt to throw himself off of a bridge), his guardian angel is sent down to intervene and shows him what his hometown would be like if, as George wishes, he hadn't been born.

“Your money's not here, its at Bill's house, and Fred's house”

Fresh out of uniform as a World War II pilot, Jimmy Stewart turns in an achingly brilliant performance as George Bailey, the young man who wants nothing more than to spread his wings and fly away from a small town which slowly and inexorably digs its claws into him.

Capra was looking for a new actor to star in his first post war picture, having used Cary Grant and Clark Gable in his previous pictures, and in Jimmy Stewart he said he had found his quintessential leading man.

Stewart adeptly flits from comedy to tragedy to romance and back again. The scene in which he and Mary, his future wife (played by Donna Reed) share a telephone receiver to talk to her current boyfriend, is my personal favourite. Between them, they melt the screen with unenunciated longing.

The supporting cast is excellent. Donna Reed is by turns funny, heartbreaking and palpitation inducing and Lionel Barrymore is aptly repugnant as the small town Machiavelli, Henry F. Potter.

Capra's not a fancy director. If you see one of his movies expecting Hitchcockian use of camera and film technology, you will be disappointed. Rather his talent lies in the sheer strength of his scripts, the quality of his casting, and his ability to get every last emotion up on screen.

The extras on the one disc version I watched were slight but reasonably interesting. There's an introduction by the underwhelming Frank Capra Jr, who brought the phrase “Capra-corn” to my attention (used to describe Capra's movies, which were deemed schmaltzy and saccharin by some critics) and a making-of featurette hosted by Happy Days' Tom Bosley. Bosley details the usual rundown of people who declined parts, stars recounting their time on set and some “Did you knows?” (for instance, did you know that most of the snow filled scenes featured in the movie were shot in the midst of a heat wave?).

The most interesting tidbit is that IAWL was not incredibly popular during its initial theatrical run. Its popularity has stemmed from the fact that the films copyright expired accidentally in the seventies, which meant that TV stations could run the movie while avoiding some royalties, something which they have been doing ever since (although I can't remember a Christmas screening on Irish TV despite the monotonous regularity with which Santa Claus: The Movie is replayed).

To say that IAWL is a great Christmas movie is to sell it short. Its a great movie regardless of setting or the time of year its watched. If you don't feel at least a little emotional during the final scene you need to buy a stethoscope and check whether the thumping in your chest has ceased.

Movie: 9/10

Extras: 5/10