It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) - The all-time favorite Christmas movie

Review No. : 0022

Title : It’s A Wonderful Life (Colorized version)

Year : 1946

Director : Frank Capra

Country : United States

World’s Verdict : Rotten Tomatoes – 94% out of 100%; IMDB – 8.6 out of 10.0; Academy Award – Technical Achievement Award.

My Verdict : 3.7 out of 5.0.

It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) is about George Bailey (played by James Stewart), a young man full of ambition who finds himself trap in his small town.  He plans to travel the world and go to college but events in his life make him forgo his plans.  He stays in town to continue his father’s loan business, a trade that helps a lot of the people in town even though it provides very low margin.  He then marries Mary (Donna Reed), a beautiful woman in town who has been in love with him since they were young, and starts a family with her.  A mean and rich businessman named Henry Potter (Lionel Barrymore) has been trying to compete with George’s loan trade so he can monopolize the town’s businesses.  One day Mr. Potter sees an opportunity to destroy his loan business and reputation.  George sees no way out to escape this problem.  He decides to end his life by jumping off a bridge into a freezing river when an angel saves him.  The angel shows George what the town would look like if he wasn’t born and he realizes that his life makes the community better.

                                       

The Good

• Wonderful story and theme – A life lived for others is never a waste.  What I like about the story is that it shows a man full of dreams but because of life’s circumstances, priorities and love he failed to achieve his goals. In retrospect, though he failed to live his dreams he was able to build the dreams of others.
• A realistic protagonist – What I like about the character is that he is no pure good guy.  George Bailey has an optimistic and charming personality but he does get frustrated and gets mad when the going gets tough.  Unlike other good guy in cinemas this one has dreams, frustrations and a little bad side.
• Postcard cinematography – I watched the colorized version of the film and all frames look like straight from a Coca-Cola vintage commercial.  To some who says that the film was desecrated because of colorization, sorry, the film is much better in colorized format.

You probably have seen this film too many times, I suggest you keep the tradition watching it every Christmas!