Amazon.com Essentials:
Now perhaps the most beloved American film, It's a
Wonderful Life was largely forgotten for years, due to a copyright
quirk. Only in the late 1970s did it find its audience through
repeated TV showings. Frank Capra's masterwork deserves its status as
a feel-good communal event, but it is also one of the most fascinating
films in the American cinema, a multilayered work of Dickensian
density. George Bailey (played superbly by James Stewart) grows up in
the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and
travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home
turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal,
George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly
messenger (Henry Travers) arrives to show him a vision: what the world
would have been like if George had never been born. The sequence is a
vivid depiction of the American Dream gone bad, and probably the
wildest thing Capra ever shot (the director's optimistic vision may
have darkened during his experiences making military films in World
War II). Capra's triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and
disappointments of life, while affirming--in the teary-eyed final
reel--his cherished values of friendship and individual
achievement. It's a Wonderful Life was not a big hit on its
initial release, and it won no Oscars (Capra and Stewart were
nominated); but it continues to weave a special magic. --Robert
Horton
