Its a Wonderful Life may well be Frank Capra's masterpiece. It is the film where his positive outlook on life, his humanity, his humane portrayal of the characters, shines through most brightly. All of Capra's works present his philosophy on life and love, but this film defines that philosophy, and still stands as the greatest Christmas movie of all time.
The nostalgic inner child in you may disagree and cite A Christmas Story or How the Grinch Stole Christmas or even It's Christmas Charlie Brown! The cynic in you will jokingly cite Die Hard or Lethal Weapon as the greatest holiday film ever made, but those sides of you are both wrong! When it comes to a holiday film, you need to go with your heart and soul, and that points you towards It's a Wonderful Life.
The film deals with the darker side of the holidays, the depression, the self pity, the nihilism, despair and disappointment that so few filmmakers have the courage to address. In fact, the second act begins with Jimmy Stewart, the warmest and most friendly actor in history, attempting suicide! To start from such an incredibly low point takes confidence.
Capra digs Stewart's George Bailey a pit of sadness and pain, and watches as he learns to live again and climbs himself out. This is true positivity, true life affirming hope. Any old lifetime channel original movie can be positive and optimistic by simply never facing the hero or heroine with any challenges, but Capra knew that the only time optimism counts for anything is when the whole world is telling you to only see the worst side of things.
This film and Rocky rank as the all time great "Tears of Joy" films. If you're not crying by the end, then sorry, but there's probably something wrong with you, no offense. The film is simply so human, so humane, yet so honest, that it can't help but dash any trace of negativity and pessimism you might have been feeling when it began.
The movie actually flopped on release for some reason or other. Capra was always a director you could rely on to make a lot of money for the studios, but for whatever reason, this one just didn't grab the initial audience. Luckily, it did go on to become one of the most popular movies of all time on cable, in second runs, and on video and DVD. Still, at the time, it almost sank the director's career.
Film legend has it that Capra had pegged Stewart from the start and would accept nobody else in the lead. Not true. In fact, he WANTED Henry Fonda, but Stewart was a close second. Fonda would have been a great lead in Bailey's shoes, but Stewart owns and defines this role better than any other actor possibly could have. We can imagine what might have been, but we can't imagine loving Bailey so much as anyone but Stewart.
There were actually several alternative endings written, and one or two filmed. If you've ever seen the Saturday Night Live episode where Bailey leads the whole town to Potter's home to give him his comeuppance... That was actually based on an ending that was filmed by Capra! The one filmed for the movie probably wasn't quite as goofy, but nevertheless, it WAS filmed! - 40731
The nostalgic inner child in you may disagree and cite A Christmas Story or How the Grinch Stole Christmas or even It's Christmas Charlie Brown! The cynic in you will jokingly cite Die Hard or Lethal Weapon as the greatest holiday film ever made, but those sides of you are both wrong! When it comes to a holiday film, you need to go with your heart and soul, and that points you towards It's a Wonderful Life.
The film deals with the darker side of the holidays, the depression, the self pity, the nihilism, despair and disappointment that so few filmmakers have the courage to address. In fact, the second act begins with Jimmy Stewart, the warmest and most friendly actor in history, attempting suicide! To start from such an incredibly low point takes confidence.
Capra digs Stewart's George Bailey a pit of sadness and pain, and watches as he learns to live again and climbs himself out. This is true positivity, true life affirming hope. Any old lifetime channel original movie can be positive and optimistic by simply never facing the hero or heroine with any challenges, but Capra knew that the only time optimism counts for anything is when the whole world is telling you to only see the worst side of things.
This film and Rocky rank as the all time great "Tears of Joy" films. If you're not crying by the end, then sorry, but there's probably something wrong with you, no offense. The film is simply so human, so humane, yet so honest, that it can't help but dash any trace of negativity and pessimism you might have been feeling when it began.
The movie actually flopped on release for some reason or other. Capra was always a director you could rely on to make a lot of money for the studios, but for whatever reason, this one just didn't grab the initial audience. Luckily, it did go on to become one of the most popular movies of all time on cable, in second runs, and on video and DVD. Still, at the time, it almost sank the director's career.
Film legend has it that Capra had pegged Stewart from the start and would accept nobody else in the lead. Not true. In fact, he WANTED Henry Fonda, but Stewart was a close second. Fonda would have been a great lead in Bailey's shoes, but Stewart owns and defines this role better than any other actor possibly could have. We can imagine what might have been, but we can't imagine loving Bailey so much as anyone but Stewart.
There were actually several alternative endings written, and one or two filmed. If you've ever seen the Saturday Night Live episode where Bailey leads the whole town to Potter's home to give him his comeuppance... That was actually based on an ending that was filmed by Capra! The one filmed for the movie probably wasn't quite as goofy, but nevertheless, it WAS filmed! - 40731
About the Author:
Concentrate on things like expression, dynamics and tempo. Rent Movies Online com Adware 6.0 will scan your computer and clean it from existing Adware. Everything that was done to produce, record, mix, and master the song is right there in front of you.
No comments:
Post a Comment