It's A Wonderful Life DVD
Lionsgate/Fox
Rated: Not Rated
Genre: Family
Length: 132 minutes
Director: Frank Capra
Year: (1946)
Britt Gillette's It's A Wonderful Life DVD Review
The quintessential holiday Christmas classic, It's A Wonderful Life has dominated the seasonal television landscape with its story of love, friendship, and one man's exceedingly relevant life. Filmed in 1946, this Frank Capra masterpiece opened in theaters to a lukewarm reception, but quickly rose in stature following repeated annual television airings in the 1960s to present day. The film is centered around the life of George Bailey - a likeable, ambitious resident of Bedford Falls who harbors dreams of grandeur, but begins to question the meaning of his life when things don't work out according to his plan.
When the story begins, George is a young boy employed by Mr. Gower, the neighborhood druggist. Mr. Gower, having just received news of his son's death - and engaged in the act of getting drunk - inadvertently places poison in a medicine bottle. George discovers the mistake and doesn't deliver the medicine, thus averting a major disaster. The opening scenes also show George saving his brother from certain death by pulling him out of a frozen pond where the ice had broken.
From there, the story jumps several years into the future, where a grown up George harbors dreams of world travel, exploration, and the construction of large buildings. But he ends up staying in Bedford Falls to work for his father's business, a small savings & loan (and the only financial institution in Bedford Falls not owned by the miserly Mr. Potter). Eventually, George falls in love with childhood friend Mary and the two wed, choosing to renovate an old house in Bedford Falls.
When the Great Depression strikes, George uses his own money, ingenuity, and personal demeanor to stave off a bank run that threatens to close down the family business. In so doing, George keeps Mr. Potter from using his numerous resources to force a takeover bid of Bailey Savings & Loan. Thus, he saves the town's residents from being subjected to a Potter monopoly with possibly disastrous consequences. Along the way, George is tempted with offers of riches and travel by Mr. Potter, but he turns him down - opting instead to work for the benefit of the community.
Things seem to be going well for George until his Uncle Billy absentmindedly leaves the daily deposit of the business in a newspaper that he throws in Mr. Potter's lap (while boasting about the military honors bestowed on George's brother). While George and Uncle Billy frantically search for the misplaced $8,000, Mr. Potter sees his opportunity to ruin the Bailey Savings & Loan once and for all. When George appeals to Potter for help, Potter threatens to call the authorities.
Disillusioned, George leaves Potter's office and wanders into the night. After leaving the local bar, he runs his car into a tree and then walks over to a nearby bridge. While on the bridge, George contemplates suicide as a way out. But before he can commit the act, a man falls into the water below. George jumps in to save him, and later finds out that the man's name is Clarence. Clarence claims to be angel working to get his wings. He jumped into the water to save George, and when George wishes he had never been born - Clarence aims to show George exactly what the world would be like had he never been born…
What he sees leads George to believe that his life was more than worth living. He decides to return home to his wife and children and face the consequences of the misplaced money. When he returns home, he finds that people from all over Bedford Falls have come to donate their own money to bail out their good friend George and the community fixture, Bailey Savings & Loan. Clarence receives his wings, and George Bailey is thankful for his numerous blessings.
It's A Wonderful Life is almost magical in its idyllic portrayal of Depression-era, small-town America. The characters (with the exception of Mr. Potter), harkens back to a simpler time when public attitudes toward morality prevailed, where neighbors knew each other by name, and where communities helped each other out. In addition, George Bailey and his friends are likeable people, developing a rapport with the audience that makes the viewer actively root for them and care about what happens to them. This personal connection with the audience (and the audience ability to relate to questioning the meaning of one's life) may well be the key to the enduring success of the story. Having spent over five decades as the number one Christmas movie, It's A Wonderful Life ranks as one of the greatest films of all time.
Britt Gillette
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Posted on 7 December 2004