Amongst all the great Christmas films ever made, Its a Wonderful Life is, without a doubt, the very best of them, and Frank Capra's best film, period. All of his films portrayed his positive, life affirming philosophy towards the world, but this film defined that philosophy, and while it has had more than half a century's worth of competition, it still stands as the greatest Christmas film ever made.
Yes, yes, the nostalgic, inner child in you wants to say A Christmas Story is the greatest holiday film, or maybe How The Grinch Stole Christmas. The cynic in you chortles and says "No, Die Hard and Lethal Weapon are the best Christmas movies, LOL!" But no, sorry, this film is the greatest holiday film of all time, with Miracle on 34th Street being a distant second.
The film manages to succeed on so many level because it is fearless. From the first act, it deals with subject matter and themes that are much darker than you expect to see in a holiday film. It is because of this courage, the bravery to start at such a low point, that the movie is so triumphantly positive. Heck, the movie's second act starts with an attempted suicide!
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.
The film ranks with Rocky as the greatest Happy Tears movies of all time. If you're not crying by the time the film ends then... You probably weren't actually watching the film! Put down your Nintendo DS or crossword puzzles for just a couple hours and actually watch the film! It is a triumphant display of how optimism and hope always trump negativity.
Interestingly, the film was a flop on release. The director had always been a popular, money-making film maker, but for some reason, this one just didn't grab the movie-going audience. Of course, the movie has since become one of the most successful of all time on video, DVD, second runs and, of course, cable, but at the time, it almost sank Capra's career.
One more interesting point: They say that Stewart was Capra's only choice for the role of George Bailey, but that's not true! In fact, his "only choice" was Henry Fonda, but Stewart was a second choice, when push came to shove. We can say Fonda would have been great in the role, but it's hard to imagine anyone but Stewart playing the character to such perfection.
The movie had a number of alternative endings written, and one or two of them filmed. Interestingly, the "spoof" ending shown on Saturday Night Live, with Stewart leading the entire town to Potter's house for a good old fashioned whoopin', isn't far off from one of the alternative endings that was actually filmed by Capra's cast and crew!
Yes, yes, the nostalgic, inner child in you wants to say A Christmas Story is the greatest holiday film, or maybe How The Grinch Stole Christmas. The cynic in you chortles and says "No, Die Hard and Lethal Weapon are the best Christmas movies, LOL!" But no, sorry, this film is the greatest holiday film of all time, with Miracle on 34th Street being a distant second.
The film manages to succeed on so many level because it is fearless. From the first act, it deals with subject matter and themes that are much darker than you expect to see in a holiday film. It is because of this courage, the bravery to start at such a low point, that the movie is so triumphantly positive. Heck, the movie's second act starts with an attempted suicide!
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.
The film ranks with Rocky as the greatest Happy Tears movies of all time. If you're not crying by the time the film ends then... You probably weren't actually watching the film! Put down your Nintendo DS or crossword puzzles for just a couple hours and actually watch the film! It is a triumphant display of how optimism and hope always trump negativity.
Interestingly, the film was a flop on release. The director had always been a popular, money-making film maker, but for some reason, this one just didn't grab the movie-going audience. Of course, the movie has since become one of the most successful of all time on video, DVD, second runs and, of course, cable, but at the time, it almost sank Capra's career.
One more interesting point: They say that Stewart was Capra's only choice for the role of George Bailey, but that's not true! In fact, his "only choice" was Henry Fonda, but Stewart was a second choice, when push came to shove. We can say Fonda would have been great in the role, but it's hard to imagine anyone but Stewart playing the character to such perfection.
The movie had a number of alternative endings written, and one or two of them filmed. Interestingly, the "spoof" ending shown on Saturday Night Live, with Stewart leading the entire town to Potter's house for a good old fashioned whoopin', isn't far off from one of the alternative endings that was actually filmed by Capra's cast and crew!
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