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DVD Tuesday: It's a Wonderful Life — Why It's Really Wonderful
It's a Wonderful Life courtesy Paramount
DVD Tuesday: It's a Wonderful Life — wonderful, not sappy!
Don't groan! I'm recommending holiday perennial It's a Wonderful Life because I think a lot of people refuse to see it because it's picked up a reputation for sentimental uncoolness that it in no way deserves. Far from being the epitome of Capra-corn, It's a Wonderful Life has an edge that never fails to surprise the unsuspecting.
In case you don't know the story: Born and raised in small-town Bedford Falls, George Bailey (James Stewart) always dreamed of traveling the world, but his dream kept taking second place to family responsibilities, especially to the savings-and-loan association his father established — without Bailey Savings and Loan, heartless banker Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) would be the only game in town. George married his high-school sweetheart, Mary (Donna Reed); they have more children than they can comfortably afford and a handsome old house that needs repairs beyond their finances. Out of family loyalty, George continues to employ his Uncle Billy when a more ruthless manager would have canned him, and during the Christmas season, with bank examiners on the way, Billy repays him by losing a significant deposit. Without those funds, Bailey Savings and Loan will be declared insolvent, and George's attempt to appeal to Mr. Potter's better nature ends with the banker calling him pathetic and declaring that he's worth more dead than alive.
It's all too much for George: No matter how he adds it up, his life is a string of miserable failures. He wishes he'd never been born, and since he can't undo what's been done, he decides to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. He's rescued by an old man named Clarence Oddbody — who jumps off the bridge first, forcing George to save him, and then claims to be an angel, albeit an angel second-class, which is why he doesn't have wings. George dismisses him as a lunatic, until Clarence grants his wish: George finds himself in an alternate Bedford Falls, the one that would have existed if he'd never been born. Let me tell you, the tour of Bedford Falls — now Potterville — is truly grim: The streets are lined with pawn shops and dive bars, George's widowed mother is barely getting by and Mary is an embittered spinster; his brother Harry died when he was 9 in an accident from which George would have saved him; and George's troubled childhood friend Violet (professional slattern Gloria Graham) has become a "dancer."
It goes on and on… by the end of the parade of misery, Clarence's gentle observation that "Each man's life touches so many other lives.... When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole," doesn't sound sappy at all. It's pure relief.
Unlike many Christmas tales that tell superficially similar stories about characters who undervalue their lives and learn what really matters and what doesn't, It's a Wonderful Life doesn't feel like a condescending lesson. George's despair rings utterly true because by many standards he is a failure: He's not financially successful, he didn't follow his dreams, he isn't famous (His brother Harry, a war hero, is being honored by the president) and he isn't saintly — when the pressure is really on, he even snaps at his loyal wife and their children.
But he's fundamentally decent, a highly underrated virtue and a very real one. Most of us don't know anyone whose foundation cleans up minefields or who pulled three families out of a burning building. But most of us do know people who, faced with a choice between selfishness and thinking of others, do the right thing. And that's not maudlin or sentimental at all.
Things to consider:
What's your favorite Christmas/holiday movie and why?
Send your movie questions to FlickChick.
Hear Maitland on the weekly podcast TV Guide Talk.
See Maitland McDonagh and Ken Fox review this week's new flicks on the Movie Talk vodcast.
Previously in DVD Tuesday:
Waitress
Laura
Cop
All About Eve
Severance
Sweet Smell of Success
Daughters of Darkness
The Crazies
Blade Runner
Zodiac
Manhunter
A Simple Plan
Taxi Driver
Renaissance
Blowup
Hot Fuzz
300
Ace in the Hole
Eyes Without a Face
Apocalypto
Citizen Kane
La Jetée
Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)
Bob le Flambeur
Near Dark
Perfect Blue
Pan's Labyrinth
Les Girls
The Girl Who Knew Too Much
The Queen
Expresso Bongo
I'm Not Scared
Shocking Grindhouse Double Bill! — Scanners and The Candy Snatchers
Don't Look Now
Re-Animator
Casino Royale
http://community.tvguide.com/thread.jspa?threadID=800073953#comments">Pi
The Prestige
13 Tzameti
The Departed
Suspiria
Kiss and Make Up
Kiss Me Deadly
The Long Good Friday
What Alice Found
The Devil's Backbone
The Descent
The Devil Wears Prada
Pandora's Box
The Thief and the Cobbler
Nashville
Panic in the Streets/Jack Palance Interview
The Pusher Trilogy
Scarface
Slither
Sunset Blvd.
In Cold Blood
Brick
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Dec 10, 2007 4:47 PM
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It's not a movie, but Futurama's "Xmas Story" is my favorite holiday fare. Hilarious, and just what I need when I feel like crawling in a hole until the season ends.
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Dec 10, 2007 4:58 PM
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It's a Wonderful Life - although a bit sappy also has its dark parts and is a terrific holiday flick. In some ways it does remind me of Harvey, another great Stewert movie. Both are a bit off-the-wall and quirky but both leave you rooting for the underdog - Stewert!
My favorite holiday movie is none other than the hilarious National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Who can enter the holidays without a dose of Uncle Eddie and the RV parked out front!
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Dec 10, 2007 5:08 PM
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There is NO need to ever apologize for liking this movie. It's not overly sentimental. That's pretty much all saved for the end of the final act... and if any movie ever worked hard enough to deserve a little sentimentality, this is it!
Of course, the best way to see this movie is over the entire month of December catching 5 minutes here, a half hour there and another 15 when possible while you are preparing for the holiday season. There was nothing better than wrapping presents while watching Jimmy and Donna flirt on their way home from the dance. Then making cookies the next day while Old Man Potter steals the money from Uncle Billy. And hunkering down a week later with some hot chocolate while Sheldon Leonard hands out wings in the bar! Ah, winter!
But those days are long gone. Now you can watch it on DVD or on just two nights of the year (but one is Christmas eve and who has time then?). Damn you Republic Pictures!
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Dec 10, 2007 5:42 PM
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Oh yeah, favorite Christmas Movies? I am down for the standard classics.
Holiday Inn (best opening song ever!)
The Bishop's Wife (the boys' choir and skating scenes always put a lump in the throat)
Christmas in Connecticut (gotta love Uncle Felix!)
Miracle on 34th Street (saw it for the first time on the big screen last week)
Hiedi ("Grandfather! Grandfather!"... I'm a big, freakin' SAP!)
And Albert Finney or Reginald Owen as Mr. Bah Humbug!
Yeah, I'm a sucker for some simpering nostalgia... but no apologies! 
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Dec 10, 2007 5:50 PM
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"professional slattern Gloria Graham"
I love that -- perfect! I totally agree with your praise for this movie, Maitland.
achy, I love all of those scenes you mentioned -- and so many more! I always liked the dance floor opening up over the pool.
And I used to watch this movie like you did -- a little bit at a time during each of its 35 showings during the month.
I miss stumbling across It's a Wonderful Life on a nightly basis.
When it isn't around, it leaves an awful hole....
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Dec 10, 2007 9:16 PM
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It's a Wonderful Life for many years had been one of our family traditions. Of course, everyone would moan and groan at the mere mention, but we never missed a least one complete viewing.
Ranger99-Don't tell anyone, but Mom made us kids where those fake "Uncle Eddie' turtle necks for years!
Yeah, I'm a sucker for some simpering nostalgia... but no apologies! -ackyfakey
????? You're preachin' to (The Bishop's Wifes'?) Choir!!
I miss stumbling across It's a Wonderful Life on a nightly basis. -Chappy
Try some stronger eggnog!!!
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Dec 10, 2007 10:33 PM
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Oh, you never need to apologize for It's A Wonderful Life. It's my #1 all-time favorite movie, not just a favorite Christmas movie. Whenever I have felt down over the years, I've just popped in It's A Wonderful Life , and without fail I felt great by the time Harry Bailey said "To my big brother George, the richest man in town". It's like an instant therapy session!
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Dec 10, 2007 11:41 PM
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Despite this being my favorite movie that I watched annually since 1981, it wasn't until five years after that that I noticed that the person Mary ditched for George at the graduation dance was none other than Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer several years after he left Our Gang (a.k.a. Little Rascals). Must've been his changed voice!
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Dec 11, 2007 12:23 AM
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I agree that It's a Wonderful Life is a great film that gets a bum rap for being sentimental schlock. Though even if that's all it was, that's okay, too! Everyone is entitled to have their favorites, especially at such a sentimental time of year.
Which is why I feel comfortable sharing one of my more recent favorite holiday movies... Eloise at Christmastime! I am fast approaching 30, have no children, and had never even heard of Kay Thompson's Eloise books before stumbling upon this made-for-TV movie on ABC Family a couple years ago. But something about it appeals to me. There's Julie Andrews as Eloise's very un-Mary-Poppins-like nanny. And Sofia Vassilieva is perfect as the precocious but not too precious Eloise. Cheesy, trite, overly cutesy... yes, probably all those things. But I can't help it; I just love it.
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Dec 11, 2007 3:04 PM
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I'd have to agree with you about It's a Wonderful Life, Maitland.
It's one of the darkest Christmas movies ever made - and the finale isn't the least bit sappy. It's a necessary contrast to what has gone before.
I tend to like the darker Christmas movies. It's a Wonderful Life, the Alastair Sim A Christmas Carol, and even the comedy take on Dickens' classic, Scrooged all hook me every time.
I recognize that Scrooged isn't a great film, but Bill Murray and Karen Allen are great in it, and the conceit of a TV mogul Scrooge is a very good one [especially this year].
I have to say that I also like Snow Wonder, the TV-movie based on a Connie Willis novella. It's a bit tacky, but as I watch it, I'm recalling the original novella, which isn't tacky at all. Willis is an amazing writer [and winner of more awards for writing than almost everyone except Harlan Ellison...].
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Dec 11, 2007 4:55 PM
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So now it's time for me to confess my secret Christmas comfort viewing. And it's not even a movie: It's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.The island of misfit toys makes me cry everytime. Every single time. For years.
And Rudolph is super cute.
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Dec 12, 2007 3:45 PM
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I'm cude! I'm cude! She said I'm cude!
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Dec 12, 2007 5:51 PM
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I'm cude! I'm cude! She said I'm cude!
Hey, Achy-If you meant crude, I've been telling you that for months!!!
I've mentioned this before, but I think I belong on The Island of Misfit Toys.
I mean, if no one wants a water gun that shoots jelly, or bird that can't fly who would want a blogger who can't type or spell?
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Dec 12, 2007 7:25 PM
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Wonderful movie! One of my favorites (with "Christmas in Connecticut"), and I agree with almost everyone. As for "stumbling across", that's what happened to me and my friend the night it was on NBC. We accidentally found it (never really look since we naturally have the DVD), right when Uncle Billy was about to lose the money, and we were immediately sucked in. We sank down on the couch and just surrendered to it. And, yes, we both (even tho he's a "macho guy") cried at the end. Ah, what a wonderful memory. Merry Christmas, everyone!!!
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Dec 20, 2007 5:49 PM
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