It's A Wonderful Life

I think there is a consensus out there that It’s A Wonderful Life is as close to perfect a Christmas film as there can be. There is also consensus that people either love it or hate it. People love it because it hearkens back to a by-gone era where things were simpler, less complicated and the emotion of the season just gets to people. People hate it for the same reasons. It dredges up bad memories of family get togethers, makes people feel uneasy and feel that the message is simply too… simple. For a lot of people, the setting is simply too perfect and there is no upheaval (or car crashes or explosions) to hold their interest. In fact, there is upheaval (a man considers suicide – a taboo no-no in the 1940s) AND a car crash.

I like to come at It’s A Wonderful Life from a different angle – as a film. This really is a great film. Even if it is overplayed every Christmas, it’s still great fun to watch. The message of living every day to its fullest, seems simple, maybe even cliché, but it is at the heart of this film and it shouldn’t be dismissed as too corny. The fact is, this simple idea morphed into a great story. Without that simple idea and a great story, this film would be a shell with no filling.

Fantasy and flashback have never worked so well together. The point where Jimmy Stewart’s character arrives at the bridge, then comes full circle back to reality is one of the great pieces of fantasy and time displacement in film history. Jimmy Stewart’s trademark ‘aww shucks’ character is shaken up here, especially when he goes off the deep end, and he does a great job of it. Donna Reed is perfect as his wife. Lionel Barrymore gives a performance so wringingly evil, he makes Hannibal Lecter look good. That voice and his actions are deadly.

The film is a bit too long at the beginning, but watching it again, you don’t mind.

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