The “It’s a Wonderful Life” ending gets me every time!

Also, forgot to mention that the guy who played his brother Harry was hot. Not shocked he left town and moved to NY.

OP I’ve always said it is one of the best film endings ever, and one of the most beloved and remembered. It’s a beautiful film that was hated upon its release but many years later was revisited and loved! It is now a Holiday classic that’s played every Christmas Eve. I remember when it would be shown on Thanksgiving and then Christmas Eve, sometimes Christmas Day too. Now it’s usually just Christmas Eve.

It’s still one of the most watched things in TV every year when it airs, all these years later.

Remember when that guy went crazy for colorizing classics back in the, what? 80s? 90s? It was ridiculous. He believed this is what people wanted but most people hated the colorized versions and never embraced them. In 2021 tv still shows the B&W lol.

I think the scene where Donna Reed is talking to Sam Wainwright and Jimmy Stewart is standing right next to her is the best scene in the movie. It looks so real her wanting him so bad. That gets me every time.

R4 that’s another brilliant one.

The entire film is well done.

This film student just watched it for the first time and made a YT video of it. He expected it to not be great but was surprised and said it was an “unexpected greatness” he wasn’t expecting

Corn? When did I eat corn?

The small moment when Sam Wainwrights telegram is read, "My office instructed to advance you up to $25,000." George ducks his head against Zuzu's chest and you see he thinking how lucky he is that Mary chose him.

Pottersville seems like a real swinging town

Zuzu’s petals

"I know Potter and all of'em!" I take that to mean Violet was fucking all the town bigwigs.

It's tinted, not colorized and looks ugly.Cheap. I only like beginning of the film up until Mary and George fall in love while she's on the phone with her boyfriend.

I thought it was going to be mawkish and sentimental the first time I watched it as a youth. Was surprised at how dark it was.

I had my annual good cry too.

"He's making violent love to me mother!" Sexual violence! Cancel this movie immediately!

A 1945 film had black and white people in the same room during that final scene, yet that same situation in 2021 sets the racists off on here and they say it’s woke. I guess they were woke in 1945 too.

R10 I always felt it was implied that Violet was a slut.

Another first time watch posted yesterday.

Violet is a slut as an adult, and it’s sort of not shocking because as a kid she was a flirt who asked George to help her down off her chair, as if she couldn’t do it, being a damsel and flirt for the males attention.

She knew what she was doing at 10 years old.

I thought she asked George for money because was pregnant and had to leave town.

I think the only thing less appealing than watching It's a Wonderful Life, would be to watch someone else watch It's a Wonderful Life.

Every time a bell rings, a snot-nosed brat gets a punch in chops.

The homophobic Nick was probably just jealous that George had a date and he didn't.

The old man who played the pharmacist who slaps "George" was silent movie star H B Warner who played Jesus in the first version of King of Kings. Method actor I guess, he slapped the child actor so hard in that scene he actually drew blood.

That scene always upset me as a child r22

"I serve girly drinks to whores who want to get fat and I don't need any characters around to give the joint atmosphere!"

[quote] Remember when that guy went crazy for colorizing classics back in the, what? 80s? 90s?

If the man wants to colorize movies, let him colorize movies. It's showBUSINESS for God's sake!

What was that guys name who colorized films?

Nick Martini was Italian… look at him. Ethnic.

R26, Mr. Ted Tanner

I have memories of it being dark when I watched as a kid, then watched it again when I was in college and bawled my eyes out. I've been afraid to watch it again ever since.

I know what I'm gonna do tomorrow, and the next day, and the next year, and the year after that.

Nick was played by Sheldon Leonard, who went on to produce [italic]The Andy Griffith Show[/italic] and [italic]The Dick Van Dyke Show.[/italic]

Thanks for the suggestion OP. I heard about this film for many years but never had any opportunity to watch until today ( I'm from Asia ) , A touching and well-deserved classic.

I giggled when George said "I'm going off my nut" LOL

And his brother Harry is cute.

They’re showing it over and over on E! They now show a marathon of it the way TNT/TBS show a marathon of A Christmas Story every year.

Seen it too many times. It’s really good, but not my favorite Frank Capra film. Give me Jimmy Stewart’s erotic suffering in Mr Smith any day. I think George Bataille compared his performance to Falconetti in The Passion of Joan of Arc.

[quote]It's tinted, not colorized and looks ugly.Cheap. I only like beginning of the film up until Mary and George fall in love while she's on the phone with her boyfriend.

No, it's colorized, and however one feels about that in principal, I think they did an excellent job of it with this movie. You have no idea what you're talking about. Merry Christmas!

[quote]Nick was played by Sheldon Leonard, who went on to produce The Andy Griffith Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show.

He also had lots of credits as an actor, including the movie of GUYS AND DOLLS.

I find it a bit too shmalzy...feel it would cut deeper if it were less overdone.

The part that never fails to choke me up is George in the bar crying and praying. Stewart was incredible in that scene. He later said he let out all the pent out emotion of all the loss he experimented in WW2 as a fighter pilot. So real and relatable.

R35 here to say sorry, I mean "principle."

Stewart's tears at the bar were genuine. He was still PTSD so soon after WW2 combat. Frank Capra wanted him to do it again but couldn't.

I saw some of the colorized version today and it is hideous. R35 must be in his cups.

Stewart's face at 4:18 when George realizes that he is never leaving Bedford Falls................

R41 that scene always makes me sad for him. He worked for years to save up for college so he could get a good job and travel the world. His dream was to travel the world, but in that moment it was all thrown away. At least he gave his brother that opportunity to go to college and he was able to live a good life traveling and living in NYC.

[quote]I disagree about the colorization. I've seen truly hideous examples of colorization, and this is not one of them. I think it's very well done.

Anyway, the only thing about the movie that's not great is the music. I think it was a mistake to use "Buffalo Gal" for the main title, and most of the rest of the music in the film is too melodramatic and/or too sentimental. Not Dmitri Tiomkin's best work.

Both the original version or the colorized version are on Prime. I only watch the B&W on TV and streaming but decided to give the colorized version a shot again (first time since the 90s when my grandma bought me the colorized version in VHS) and they did a good job but it just doesn’t feel the same. The B&W adds a charm to the movie and the romance.

[quote]The B&W adds a charm to the movie and the romance.

Agreed 100 percent, but I still sometimes like to watch some of the colorized version to appreciate how well they did it, and how much that technology has improved over the years. This year, I watched different sections of the movie in black and white and in color.

Jimmy Stewart was a major Reagan douchebag who campaigned for him for Governor and President. The Mr Smith goes to ....... was just a colossal fraud.

He wasn’t like that at all in real life.

R46 a fraud? He was an actor playing a part. It wasn’t a fucking documentary.

He was a terrific actor. Idc who he voted for in his old age. He was old and practically deaf by then, and a devout Christian who wouldn’t even say certain lines in later films because they weren’t right.

I always loved Jimmy Stewart. Between this one, Rear Window, Mr. Smith, Vertigo etc. he was brilliant.

Today, there’s no doubt he would be a deplorable Trumper

People don’t forget, it’s just in the past. It can’t be changed but it’s over. Life goes on.

Jimmy Stewart is so good in this you can start watching only from the "present day" part (when Uncle Harry leaves the $8000 with Potter and the bank examiner shows up) and it still hits all the feels. Stewart nails every minute of despair and shock at the world without him so well you don't even need all the backstories. Of course I have to laugh in disgust that the one change Clarence is afraid to show him--after George sees the horror of Mr. Gowar, his brother's grave, and his mother all alone--is that Mary is an... OLD MAID!

My favorite line is from George telling off Mr. Potter in front of the B&B board--a great principle that this country just abandoned in the post-war years:

[quote]Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn't think so. People were human beings to him, but to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they're cattle. Well, in my book he died a much richer man than you'll ever be.

I loved when George would tell off Mr. Potter.

Bring your tissues.

The kid playing Zuzu RUINS the final scene with that singsongy delivery - someone should have drilled her harder on that one line!

Hearing his ‘befuddled-golly gee’ voice is like nails across a blackboard

R54 I always found the delivery to add to the remembrance of the line and scene. When people quote the line they even say it how she did many times.

“You’re mother sucks cocks in hell” -?

R57 must have watched the wrong movie, and watched “Tits a Wonderful Life” instead

The scenes that do work very well in the colorized version are the scenes after Clarence shows up. The shots of him running through town and seeing all the businesses and lights, it looks gorgeous.

[quote] Hearing his ‘befuddled-golly gee’ voice is like nails across a blackboard

Yeah, a look would've been just fine.

George isn't the brightest bulb. During the final thirty minutes when it would be quite clear to even the dumbest among us that he is in a new version of the present where no one knows who he is, he still runs up to characters trying to get them to acknowledge him! "Surely you remember me!"

R61 I’m sure if that really happened anyone would freak out. Suddenly being a stranger to everyone who knew you isn’t a nice feeling, I’m sure. At least for most of us.

It flopped at the box office, and Stewart blamed Reed.

What an odd history this film has. It was a flop at the box office on its release, and received mixed reviews, and Frank Capra's clout in Hollywood took a hit. Yet it received 5 Oscar nominations, including Best Actor for James Stewart and Best Picture, though it didn't win any of them (Frederic March won Best Actor for The Best Years of Our Lives). There was a period when it fell out of copyright due to an office error, and anyone could sell copies of it. I remember buying a VHS copy for $1.95 at some discount store during that period. A Supreme Court decision involving "Rear Window" allowed Republic Pictures to claim copyright on the underlying story of the film ("The Greatest Gift") and thus the film as a derivative work of that story. Apparently Viacom now owns the rights to the film. The film has been colorized three times, in 1986 and 1989 (both of which Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart disapproved of) and again in 2007.

R64 there was a story in a very Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, and they sold that movie for $3 back in the 90s. But the colorized version, which I never liked.

The 2007 update did help a lot with the coloring.

This is the 1986 Color release. They sold this one for $3 near me and I wouldn’t buy it. Wanted the B&W

"It's A Wonderful Life" was awarded one Oscar - a technical one for the falling snow effect.

The Hallmark Channel owes them a debt of gratitude forever.

A wonderful movie . Who is looking to cancel it these days ? Can’t keep up

Somehow, it has taken on a different feeling. Our disgraced twice impeached ex-president is Mr. Potter. It is all there. Greed, avarice, and a disdain for humanity. And like him, he gets away with his stealing and lies. Perhaps in real life, Mr. Potter will finally get his comeuppance. Clarence, where are you?

Jimmy Stewart and Frank Capra can go fuck themselves.

No one will ever forget Stewart either. He’s the star of a handful of classics.

Anybody ever seen It Happened One Christmas?

Yes, R72, I remember watching Marlo's version with my mom and grandma in the early 80s. I recall it being darker than the 1946. Then again, that could have just been Marlo.

"They're serving cold cuts and lasagna at the Christmas party! You couldn't stop them because you were never born!"

As a movie I prefer "It happened one night" but it's hard to choose between George and Mary and Peter and Ellie for best love story. If there is something Capra could write is love stories.

I love R74

You must be r74 r76

The Thomas family were always trying to reiterate that they weren't Jews (which everyone thought).

Donna was lovely. I’m happy she lived long enough to see the film she starred in that flopped so bad went on to become a Christmas classic, watched by millions every year.

R68, no one canceled it. You freepers always bitch about cancel culture. Funny since Mr Potter is pretty much the ultimate Republican!

[quote]George ducks his head against Zuzu's chest and you see he thinking how lucky he is that Mary chose him.

Actually, he was thinking of how he's gonna make a woman out of Zuzu later that night.

R72, I saw It Happened One Christmas before seeing It’s a Wonderful Life.

Doesn’t anyone else prefer Miracle on 34th Street? I always get a lump in my throat when, to little Susan Walker’s astonishment, Kris Kringle starts singing to the orphaned Dutch girl in her own language.

I love that scene and the mail in the courtroom, R83. I always found IAWL depressing but I suppose very real in that way.

"[R26], Mr. Ted Tanner"

Actually, the name of the man who authorized the colorization of some black and white films was Ted Turner, a media mogul who also founded CNN.

As someone stated earlier, the scene where Mr. Gower slaps young George's ear is very upsetting.

^ And that you can see George's ear bleeding makes it all the more upsetting.

Another favorite moment: when Clarence sees George in person for the first time (on the bridge). Clarence has come to know him and you can see on his face how much he loves George and is happy to finally meet him.

This shot always got to me, too.

I forget exactly where it is in the movie, but it's after one of George's meetings with someone who doesn't remember him (his mother?).

It seems very Hitchcockian.

It's the moment George realizes his existence has been erased.

The dance hall floor opened into a swimming pool look like a death trap.

And what's wrong with an old maid?

The cutest dialogue is when George asked "Mary you're on the nest? "

The dance scene was filmed at Beverly Hills High and the pool still exists.

R90 a lot of schools had pools under the floors back then. At least out West.

R87 Prime has the 2007 digitally colored version, and I decided to watch it, and that entire sequence where he is forgotten looks gorgeous in color. The color is unnecessary in most of the movie, but it works beautifully in that entire sequence, especially the scene where the cops show up at the house and try to arrest Clarence. A lot of beautiful shadows you don’t see in the B&W version.

The 1986 and 1989 colorized versions looked cheap and terrible.

I've been watching this film for 45+ years and it really never ceases to amaze me, HOWEVER, if there's one glaring mistake, it's the alternate Mary (Donna Reed) ending up as a librarian. She was pretty, sexy and popular - why would Capra (or anyone) think she'd end up as an old maid, let alone not with Sam Wainwright?

R41, at 2:37 into that clip, you can see how Stewart was clearly wearing a toupee. A large one. Most people thought he didn't wear a rug until the 1960's, but he in fact started very, very early in his career. It's not noticeable here, except when hit by strong lights at the wrong angle (or the sun, in that scene).

Still of course, just a great, great film.

R93 because while Sam was “with” Mary he was actually cheating on her. We see he’s a cheat. He probably still ended up with one of those other women.

It doesn’t look like a toupee to me.

The smartass who opened the pool and dunked them all was Alfalfa from the Little Rascals. He was equally an asshole in real life.

Get your prescription checked R96. Stevie Wonder can see it's a rug.

R75, Capra was an egomaniac, a well-known liar who tried to take credit for EVERYTHING. He was one of SIX writers on the script, and it wasn't a happy colaboration.

Also the credit for his best movies goes to Robert Riskin who wrote 'It Happened One Night', 'Mr. Deeds Goes to Town', 'You Can't Take it With You' and 'Meet John Doe'.

"How did you get interested in doing a book specifically on Frank Capra?

It started with Capra’s 1971 autobiography (“The Name Above the Title”). His book about his life is like a novel, it’s very misleading. I found it was almost completely a lie. I wrote my book, “Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success,” to tell the truth about him. But it caused a lot of internal controversy, and when my original publisher, Capra’s archivist, and some members of his family sought to stop the book from being published, I kept it quiet. I thought it would be more effective to just get the book out."

Who cares about Capra? Truth is this was a brilliant film, as were other films with his name on them.

R53 that was beautiful!!! I wonder if Reed was invited

Was trying to post in the how was your Christmas day thread, and my post wound up here, AND, in advance of other earlier posts, at r21.

I'm in some kind of time warp. Off to see what other useless things I can accomplish in this state.

[quote]And what's wrong with an old maid?

Incredible how you completely missed the other poster's point, which was that there's NOTHING so horrible about a woman not marrying -- at least, not by present-day standards.

As for WHY Mary ends up as an "old maid" in the alternate reality, I think we're supposed to feel that she only was in love with George, and it was her choice not to marry anyone else.

Love this film, but "remember no man is a failure who friends" strikes me as an off coda.

The first time I watched "It's A Wonderful Life," I kept wondering, "how is this a Christmas movie?" The majority of the film does not take place on Christmas nor even mentions Christmas.

In that era, if a woman never got married, it was considered there was something wrong with her. Also in those days, being a divorced woman was a pretty big social stigma.

Mr. Potter is all things Donald Trump except for the wheelchair unless you want to look at the wheelchair as symbolic.

[quote]I think we're supposed to feel that she only was in love with George, and it was her choice not to marry anyone else.

Absolutely, but the glaring problem of the film is while that might work if George had died before they married (still a stretch though), it's just ridiculous if he'd never been born.

[quote]The first time I watched "It's A Wonderful Life," I kept wondering, "how is this a Christmas movie?" The majority of the film does not take place on Christmas nor even mentions Christmas.

The film begins at Christmastime, and the last 45 minutes or so take place at Christmastime. I guess you weren't paying attention.

R109, you have a good point, but still, I guess we're supposed to think that because Mary never met her "soul mate" (because he was never born), she never wanted to marry anyone else. That may not be terribly realistic, but I'm sure that was the intention. Although, come to think of it, the ending of the film might have been improved if George saw that Mary had married someone else, and it actually would have worked if we saw her husband treated her very well or very badly. Either way, the huge sense of loss would have been there for George.

[quote]I guess we're supposed to think that because Mary never met her "soul mate" (because he was never born), she never wanted to marry anyone else.

No, it's expected that the audience would understand that no one in town other than George would want to marry a "smart" girl with glasses. Without George, she would have been a spinster and not by her own choice. George saved her like he did all the others from a bad fate.

[quote]No, it's expected that the audience would understand that no one in town other than George would want to marry a "smart" girl with glasses.

Ha! But it's interesting that we only see Mary wear glasses in that one alternate-reailty scene -- we NEVER see her wear them in the real world! So I guess falling in love with and marry George improved her eyesight :-)

She was only ever into George. Without him there is no one there for her to want.

I finally watched It's a Wonderful Life this Christmas season, thinking it would be a hate watch. I really wasn't expecting to find it so charming and inspiring.

Although, being a bit obsessed with money, I was wondering how the money was going to be repaid to the donors...or if Mr. Potter just basically got away with stealing thousands of dollars...or if George could legally spend any excess donations on himself...

R110, It would have been so much more effective to see Mary in a bad marriage. E.g. married to Sam Wainwright with lots of money but he's screwing around and neglects their kids--would have been a nice callback to when George asked her why she married him instead of Sam who could give her anything she wanted and she replied she wanted her baby to look like George.

Sam was a cheat. I’m happy she stayed single.

[quote] I finally watched It's a Wonderful Life this Christmas season, thinking it would be a hate watch. I really wasn't expecting to find it so charming and inspiring.

Have you ever seen the original (b&w) Miracle on 34th Street? Equally - if not more so - charming and inspiring.

I've always wondered, even though George acquired the money courtesy of all the townspeople, wouldn't he still have been held accountable for the fact that the money WASN'T there when the bank examiner was auditing the Building and Loan?

It seems to me that the bank examiner "looked the other way" instead of performing an investigation.

Yes, he ripped it up in front of him to say he’s throwing it away.

Yes, one of the bank examiners gave money and the other ripped up the arrest warrant.

[quote]I was wondering how the money was going to be repaid to the donors...or if Mr. Potter just basically got away with stealing thousands of dollars...or if George could legally spend any excess donations on himself...

Yes, presumably, Potter got away with stealing $8,000. Though not in the Saturday Night Live parody sketch :-) Sheer brilliance.

Donna Reed really shades both Stewart and Capra without the audience knowing it because of the subtlety of her expression and her graciousness. A master class.

Robert Osborne was sitting at her table and said she looked upon it all very wryly not untinged by bitterness.

Mr. Potter is only in a wheelchair because the actor couldn't walk and you wanted him because he was the best.

It's a Wonderful Gang-Bang.

This You Call a Wonderful Life? The heretofore never-before seen precursor to It's a Wonderful Life, a Hanukkah-themed movie.

R125, that sketch has its moments but isn't very funny or clever overall. And how about that actress who only has about four lines and stumbles on two of them? Oy!

'It's a Wonderful Life' Jeanine Ann Roose Dead at 84

At 41 i watched it for the first time last week. What a great movie!! I loved it. It's a lot like A Christmas Carol I thought. But whatever, it was great

[quote]It would have been so much more effective to see Mary in a bad marriage.

That wouldn't have worked at all, to have Mary be soiled in an alternate timeline and then come back to George as if she were still clean. It was essential that Mary be a virgin in the alternative timeline. It would have ruined their marriage for George to always be thinking about some other man having been in her nasty place.

The child actress who plays Zuzu appears in two classic '40's holiday movies. She also plays Debbie, the daughter of Loretta Young's and David Nivens' characters, in "The Bishop's Wife."

I just can’t stand this movie. I dislike Stewart so much.

R129, your comment is disgusting, idiotic, and witless. Happy New Year!

I so agree about Mary marrying Sam in the alternate timeline, it would have been poignant and tragic, you could have had her and George share a moment of silent understanding, before she looks away, becoming consumed by the pain of the life she has with Sam, after being confronted by a man, who in another life, could have been her soulmate - she turns on George, he leaves, the camera lingers on Mary sipping a drink, quivering slightly, severe looking, yet on the verge of tears.

r130, funny you should mention that, I think the same actor who plays the young George Bailey also appears in The Bishop's Wife.

I can’t wait until Christmas season to watch this again.

And yes, I avoid certain movies until certain times of the year.

It is the same actor, R134.

I have mixed feelings about the film. Reed is lovely. Stewart is magnificent. That scene after the money goes missing and Stewart destroys all of the models in the living room in a fit of rage is heartbreaking. You can see that he’s never given up on his dream of traveling the world and building things, and in that moment he accepts that it’s all a fantasy. Stewart should have won the Oscar for his brilliant performance.

But I feel there’s a real bait-and-switch at the end that everybody misses. The townspeople don’t save George with their tip jar money. Sam Wainwright saves George. We are told earlier in the film that the townspeople don’t have enough money to rescue George; George admits that’s why he’s groveling before Potter when Potter tells him to go to the people for help. And when Potter suggests that he ask Sam for the money, George says Sam is in London and he can’t get through to him. But Mary somehow gets through to him. And I think the suggestion is that Sam jumped up and sent money to George when he got Mary’s call because he’s eager to do the favor for Mary. And there’s a wonderful little moment, if I recall correctly, between Stewart and Reed when Sam’s telegram is read that indicates a kind of embarrassment because both of them understand that to be true. So the message really should be something like, “No man is a failure who marries a woman a rich man was once in love/lust with.” If George had to rely on the nickels that his poor and working class friends were dumping on the table, the movie would end with him being led out of the house in handcuffs.

And R134, Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu in 'It's a Wonderful Life' also plays the daughter in 'The Bishops Wife.'

[quote]I feel there’s a real bait-and-switch at the end that everybody misses. The townspeople don’t save George with their tip jar money. Sam Wainwright saves George. We are told earlier in the film that the townspeople don’t have enough money to rescue George; George admits that’s why he’s groveling before Potter when Potter tells him to go to the people for help. And when Potter suggests that he ask Sam for the money, George says Sam is in London and he can’t get through to him. But Mary somehow gets through to him. And I think the suggestion is that Sam jumped up and sent money to George when he got Mary’s call because he’s eager to do the favor for Mary. And there’s a wonderful little moment, if I recall correctly, between Stewart and Reed when Sam’s telegram is read that indicates a kind of embarrassment because both of them understand that to be true. So the message really should be something like, “No man is a failure who marries a woman a rich man was once in love/lust with.” If George had to rely on the nickels that his poor and working class friends were dumping on the table, the movie would end with him being led out of the house in handcuffs.

Your interpretation is bizarre, and some of your facts are flat-out incorrect. George would never have gone directly to the townspeople for help, but when they hear he's in trouble, they all chip in -- and I'm sure that even small donations from all of those people would have added up to the $8,000 George needed to replace the deficit, even without Sam Wainwright's money. Also, we saw in a previous scene that, despite whatever rivalry may have ever existed between George and Sam over Mary, it had been smoothed over long ago and they have been friends since childhood.

Oh, and, umm, it's Mr. Gower, NOT Mary, who cables Sam Wainwright that George is in trouble. So maybe you should just slink back to the rock you crawled out from under, and stay there.

It was in select theaters for 3 days and earned $1.4 million despite playing on tv or widely available to stream or buy. People really do love this beloved classic.

Anyone notice Donna Reed's boyfriend, Freddie, was played by Carl Switzer? We remember him as Alfalfa in "Our Gang" comedies. He was 18 in this film. Listed as "Uncredited" on IMDB. Died by gunshot in 1959.

“Our Gang” aka The Little Rascals?

[quote] Every fucking year … makes me cry every fucking year!

OP Your first sentence has too much sentimentality and too much profanity.

I'm the town floozy. Some upstanding men in town are tender with me and I don't even fuck them.

[quote]Ha! But it's interesting that we only see Mary wear glasses in that one alternate-reailty scene -- we NEVER see her wear them in the real world! So I guess falling in love with and marry George improved her eyesight :-)

Clearly you've never heard that masturbation can lead to blindness.

I HATE that movie!!! The swimming pool opening up in the gym during the dance, they need to throw the switch and close the fucking pool. "DIE Jimmy Stewart DIE" All of you DYE!!!

I'm Sorry...DIE drown in the pool!..all of you Die!!

I LOVE 1942 Holiday Inn but it's very nearly cancelled these days for the black face, which is divoone, of course!

R145 that poster doesn’t seem to understand that Mary didn’t need glasses in real life, but did in the alternate universe

I hate that shit. Overrated. There are countless better classic Xmas movies than this shit. I don’t like Jimmy Stewart either.

R150 that’s your opinion. Happy for you.

Later that night, George fondled and fingered another set of ZuZu's petals while Mary waited for him to return to their room.

I hate that shitty R150. Overrated. There are countless better posters on this thread.

Yes, Jimmy Stewart was a right wing Reagan supporter but Frank Capra wasn't. IAWL actually has a lot of progressive messages embedded into it, about acceptIng newcomers and immigrants, providing affordable housing, and pooling community resources to help those most in need. Focus on that and not one actor's personal politics.

It's a great film.

IAWL came out decades before Reagan was even President. Who cares? Most people were Republican back then.

Although really late in the film the first scene between Jimmy and Clarence was sharply done and sharply written. First Jimmy humoring him while only half paying attention as he was drying off but then and finally becoming pissed off at Clarence's continuing lunacy. Very realistic and Jimmy at his acting best. Rest of the film was good and solid but still basically a long foundation to the short act three.

[quote]IAWL came out decades before Reagan was even President. Who cares? Most people were Republican back then.

Right. That's why Democrats held the White House for FIVE consecutive terms.

The courtship scenes are the best things in the film. Capra later conceded that he could have used Reed better in the rest of the film. The film is filled with character actors--which I usually like, but they mostly do schtick here and the sentimentality weighs down the movie.

[quote] Most people were Republican back then.

That's interesting.

[quote]Most people were Republican back then.

No, they weren't. IAWL was released in 1947. The following year the Democrats would win their 5th straight term in the White House.

They have been airing it on E! All day. Love it.

Just watched this last night again after about a decade.

George was a stupid, emotionally labile man

Hilarious that Mary become a spinster librarian without George in the town. Can we get any more stereotypical?

This was made in the 1940s. I don’t think it was a stereotype yet.

But, R164, you were alive in the 1940s.

It certainly was a stereotype then. Look at the library scene in "Philadelphia Story"., made 7 years earlier.

George isn’t all nice and sweet. He has a few shitty moments that reveals his temper. I personally don’t find him that sympathetic a character

I always thought Nick looked fucking hot and masculine

The only thing that ruins it is that kid's hideously singsongy delivery of her one line: "Teacher says that every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings."

They should have rehearsed the SHIT out of that kid to get a better delivery!! It's like nails on a chalkboard!

Nope. It’s perfect.

Nick is hot as fuck.

Ugh! Nick is chubby and a grouch. Pass.

The kid who plays young George was a good actor.

Isn’t Nick the hot brother?

Every time I take a big shit you try to smell it.

Why, R175?

For medical or coprophilic reasons?

Much is the tough-guy bartender R74. As pointed out above Sheldon Leonard spent a career playing bruisers and wiseguys, he also produced. He was actually born to middle class parents and graduated from Syracuse in 29 - so the streetwise thing was mostly an act, but he was gruffly masculine and ugly-hot.

^^Nick. Autocorrect strikes again.

Bedford Falls based on Seneca Falls, New York, is Frank Capra's version. Original story in the early 40s "The Greatest Gift," took place in Califon, New Jersey with bridge over the Raritan River. Merv Griffin and his wife lived in Califon. The company that created "Jeopardy" is Califon Productions.

[quote]Merv Griffin and his wife

I'm sorry, WIFE?

That BITCH!

Every time you suck a dick an angel gets its wings.

R182, so no angels for a decade I guess

I saw it for the first time last year.

Much ado about nothing. Didn’t feel there was much there.

Mawkish sentimentality. Hadn’t missed much in not watching it all these 50 plus years of mine.

The retractable basketball court covering a swimming pool from the film is still in use at Beverly Hills High School.

A lot of fucked up people post here.

The film had one weird construction. The bulk of the story was Thornton Wilder Americana, entirely realistic. But then the last15 minutes went screwball fantasy. It was only Stewarts performance in that 15 minutes that made the film a classic.

It’s no longer Christmas. Save it until December, bitch!

I just finished watching it again and once again the ending made me emotional. Such a beautiful film!!!