This is my all time favorite Christmas movie and is considered buy many a Christmas classic. But what's so great about it? Why is it my favorite out of all Christmas movies? On With The Review!
I know I been doing this a lot, but since it's a timeless story and I'm going to divide this review into segments.
THE ANGELS
After seeing wonderful Christmas cards play out as the opening credits, its Christmas Eve and we hear people praying for a man named George Bailey. The angels in heaven hear the prayers and discover that George is going to commit suicide, so they send an angel in training named Clarence to help him.
The cinematography is shot in glorious Black and White and it beautifully scopes the town of "BedFord Falls" as we hear these dramatic and yet so haunting prayers. I don't know who George is yet, but after hearing the people express their concern about him, I'm crying for him. I even like the angel’s voices since they sound holy and pleasant. When we're in outer space, we see galaxies twinkle as the angels talk to each other. And I hate to say this, but I think the special effect for those scenes are lame, and the planet we pass on our way to see them is obviously a model. As a kid I began to think this movie is going to suck. However, this is just the introduction, maybe the film will get better.
MEETING GEORGE BAILEY
The head Angel shows Clarence a series of flashbacks of George's life by order for him to help him. The flashbacks go through every little thing George has done for his friends and family; as well as his troubles and dreams in life.
I guess I might as well start out with talking about our hero George (James Stewart). George is a man who has brilliant ideas for his future and wants to become a rich successful man. However, this man thinks more with his heart and as a result makes sacrifices to save his father's Building And Loan from the greedy old man Mr.Potter. James Stewart as the character has to be one of the best acted performances I ever seen in film history. He makes the character completely likable and identifiable by having a good hearted personality and showing his struggles with his life that most of us go through. Every speech, monologue and lines he says are just so powerful and emotionally played out that it shows how great of an actor James Stewart is. I even find the character as a good role model for audiences because he's basically the same as you and me. He has dreams of doing big things, but has so much difficulty with his life, dreams, and himself that it makes him forget the kindness he's done for others. He's truly one of the best characters in cinema history.
His love interest Mary (Donna Reed) is another character that you love. You can tell since her childhood that she's in love with George and will do anything to marry him. She's just one of those girls that sticks to the person she's in love with since day 1. Every scene with her and George is magically romantic and brings tears of joy. My personal favorite scene is when they're by an old house making wishes; singing "Buffalo Gal"; joking around; and George telling Mary he’ll lasso the moon and give it to her. There are also plenty of other great scenes of them together such as the dance scene; when Mary turns an old wrecked house into a dream house; and whenever they're sharing the house phone together that many of critics love to analyze they're love and connection through those few scenes. This is one romance that is impossible not feel any love.
Our Villain Mr.Potter (Lionel Barrymore) is one of the best cinema villains in cinema history. He's greedy, mean, and enjoys acting like that everything revolves around him. He's the Scrooge that will never ever change even when you do send three ghosts to his home. If the future doesn't concern him and only others, he'll just smile and wave the spirit off. I'm not going to go too much in detail about the villain because I want to save it when I talk about him on my villains list. But just trust me when I say this, he maybe a crippled old man, but money is his power.
The supporting characters are as lovable and memorable as the two main characters are. You have the absent minded bank worker Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell); the cop Bert (Ward Bond) and his buddy Ernie (Frank Faylen) the cab driver; George's ex boss Mr. Gower (H.B. Warner); Mr.Martini (William Edmunds) the Italian immigrant; the flirty blonde Violet (Gloria Grahame); and so much more. They're all just wonderful characters, where even the characters that only show up for a short period of time leave this huge impression on you! Take my favorite films the first two Godfather films for example. Every character in that film (including the characters that show up for a short time) is so well played and is so important to the story, that you just can’t forget them, and not see the actors themselves just putting on a performance. That's exactly what this film brings. It’s just so perfectly casted to help make these characters truly shine! By the way, do you know that's a grown up Alfalfa (From "Our Gang" Aka The Little Rascals) as the jealous annoying boy dating Mary at the school dance?
One of the many reasons why I enjoy this film is the historic fiction. Notice that most of the events that are happening to George are what happened to people in history. The school dance scene takes place in the roaring twenties, which shows the fun that people had at the time. The famous run on the Bank scene takes place during the "Great Depression” which shows the people’s struggles at that time and how poor the banks were. And the film shows the trouble the country had during World War 2 in a montage of our main characters helping out the country. The war also becomes one of the big reasons why George is important to the lives of people around him. The historic fiction doesn't just play big part in the plot, but also plays a big part in one of the many morals that this film brings. It shows life's ups and downs as it is seen through the eyes of this one man that we can relate too.
The cinematography is once again fantastic by visually showing our characters emotions; and showing things that will be important later on. What I really enjoy in the flashback of George's life is we're watching this with the angels. At first it's blurry, but then shows a clear picture, and on a few occasions the angels would say a word or two; narrate what's going on; and even stop the picture. The use of black and white fits the film so well as other classic black and white films ("Casablanca", "Citizen Kane", "To Kill A Mockingbird", "Raging Bull", "Schindler's list") by help giving the film it's atmosphere and emotion, that if it was colorized it wouldn’t be as effective.
CHRISTMAS EVE
Potter has stolen the 8,000 dollars that Uncle Billy misplaced and will result with George going to jail and foreclosure on the Building And Loan. George is depressed and is ready to throw away his greatest gift...his life.
This is the most depressing part of the film. George's emotions are so strong that it's hard not to cry or feel his pain. Every scene with him in this part is just flat out sad. The scene that always gets to me is when George comes home all sad and angry. He's yelling at his kids; complaining about his house and family; upset that his youngest daughter is sick; and destroys his blueprints and model of the bridge, which symbolizes his dreams of becoming rich, going around the world, and building things that are larger than life being shattered into tiny pieces and are impossible to put back together. It’s a very sad sequence. The scene when he's praying at the bar is also another painfully heartbreaking moment thanks to how well Stewart perfectly sells out the sadness so authentically. Donna Reed's acting is just as emotional as Stewart’s. Sure she's not as dramatic as Stewart is, but when you look at her face throughout the whole scene when George comes home, you can sense that she feels a disturbance about her husband and is legitimately worried.
GEORGE'S WISH
The guardian Angel Clarence (Henry Travers) rescues George from killing himself and tries to comfort him. George, still discouraged, wishes he was never born. Clarence grants his wish and shows him an alternate reality.
Henry Travers as the child like Angel Clarence plays the role as lovable as James Stewart is. He's friendly, humble, and always remains claim. He's not over the top; he's not boring; he's played just right. The scenes that are really haunting is when he tells George what happened to his friends and relatives as he keeps on reminding him that he's not born. James Stewart's performance in this whole sequence is as amazing as all the other scenes. At first he denies that he hasn't been born, but as this part moves on, he starts believing his wish has been granted and realizes how much of a huge impact he left to the people around him, and he just A plus’ every single reaction that help make this alternate timeline so grim.
This whole entire sequence is like a mixture between "A Christmas Carol" and "The Twilight Zone". It's one of the most nightmarish sequences ever created for film. Every thing changed for the worst including the characters we all know and love, where the cinematography, the acting, the writing, and use the black and white are all what make it so intense. I'm not going to tell you what happens, but I will share one scene that's just sad and haunting. Just to give you an example on how effecting this movie is, George sees the grave of his brother who drowned in an ice pond at the age of 9. He rejects this fact and tells Clarence that he was a war hero who saved the lives of his fellow troops. Clarence regrettably tells George that those men died at war because George wasn't there to save his brother. This puts George in shock as Clarence tells George that he did have "A Wonderful life" and what a waste it would be to throw it away. This whole sequence tells the viewers that we all play an important role and that sometimes we have a tendency to forget that, which is execute so flawlessly.
Some people question why Clarence didn't tell George where the money is, since he saw Potter steal it? My answer to that plot hole is George wouldn't learn anything. The goal for Clarence to help George is to show him what a wonderful person he is. If he just gave him the money, he'll be relieved but he wouldn't realize what a good person he is and if something terrible happens to him again, he'll try to kill himself again and not realize how he effects the lives of other people. It'd be like if Glinda just told Dorothy in “The Wizard Of Oz” that she always had the power to go home once she met The Wicked Witch. What would she learn if she just went home without the journey, nothing. She would just go home; still feel miserable; and will just runaway again. The journey was for her to realize that "There is no place like Home" and that you can't run away from trouble because trouble will keep following you. This part is the film's journey and without this journey, there's no moral, no lesson, and no point in telling the story. I'm not going to tell you how it ends, but I will say it's one of the best endings in film history that touches your heart strings.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
"It's A Wonderful Life" is not only one of the best Christmas films ever made, it's also one of the best movies ever made. This film never gets old and only gets better and better. The story is so timeless that's it been done to death many, many times and yet still does not live up to the greatness to this film. It's also been made fun of to death by doing it the other way around by having a bad life and finding out that the worlds better without you. That doesn't just kill the moral but it's also depressing and unfunny. I can't find a single funny twist on the films story that's funny. Even my favorite critic Doug Walker couldn't make that twist funny, but it still had a few moments. This is one film that can't be remade because its fine the way it is. You can duplicate the story all you want or try to make a crappy sequel or spin off of this (Sadly, they did in the 90's with the angel Clarence), but it won't match up to the beauty of this film. If you haven't seen this film yet, see it in its original glorious black and white. It truly is a wonderful Christmas film.
RATING 5/5
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
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