It's a Wonderful Life

link: http://www.culturecourt.com/Ajo/film/Kafkashorts.htm

What??????

Everyone is gone or asleep so I am going to drink a bottle of wine and watch this wonderful film. I may be back with thoughts on the film later.

It's a wonderful film indeed, those who complain about the schmaltz kinda miss the point. It's a fairy tale, of course it has schmaltz, but I don't see how that would make it any worse. Would it a better film if George never woke up from his nightmare, or if he'd manage to kill himself? I don't think so.

The only movie that makes me cry.

it's not the schmaltz that gets me. it's the nasty undercurrent of cynicism and misanthropy running through everything. plus "mr. potter" is a really thinly veiled ugly anti-semitic stereotype shoehorned into a story that could chug along perfectly fine without him, but that's not republican enough.

also clearly his wife needs glasses because she's an unmarried librarian reading all day instead of chasing around all the bailey-spawn he made her pump out

and on top of that how the fuck does the ready availability of credit at the expense of a poor sucker like George keep the town from turning into a ghetto? that shit ain't sustainable!

george bailey, the man who ran a bank so crap he never had any cash and had to rely on his debtors to DONATE money to stay afloat. yes, every town should be so lucky to have such a citizen

How come if George Bailey was never born, his wife would have to wear glasses? Is he a Lasik surgeon?

1) Because George was not there to save brother he died.
2) Because brother died, every man on his platoon died.
3) One man on the platoon hurled rock upwards in dying action.
4) Rock hits exotic bird, disrupting its flight movement.
5) Bird lands dead on platform of Navy warship; crew men marvel.
6) One of the crew members decides to take dead bird to "Pottersville", where famed taxodermist (not existing in George's regular world) lives.
7) One step away from being flattened by a truck driven by callous, heart-hardened Pottersville resident, Mary (walking home from lunch break from the library) pushes the sailor out of the way just in time.
8) Mary gets struck by truck in his place; suffers neurological disorder requiring glasses for the rest of her life.

Isn't it strange how one man's life affects others...

not really

If they made this movie about my life the only major difference would be that my brother would drive a Subaru instead of a Saturn

Capra's writers were often socialists, but he was a Republican.

only xmas movie worth watching, really.

pft

I'm with Tom on this one.

I like it in spite of myself. "Why'd we hafta have ALL THESE KIDS!?"

I like how the snow stops when George doesn't exist.

Tom, not sure what you mean about Potter - are you saying he's Jewish? I'm pretty sure he represents a robber baron oligarch who hates "garlic eaters" as he calls them. I'm pretty sure that codes him as a wasp.

This movie is all you really need to understand the truth of basic Freudian concepts.

its a wonderful life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbSBqwM3_2c

I'm with Tom on this one.

-- Rock Hardy, Tuesday, December 25, 2007 3:35 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

It's a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful liiiiiiiiiiffffe.

i am continuing my 28 year tradition of not watching this movie.

"a christmas story" ftw

ILX, had Ned Raggett never been born.

"Young George Bailey" dies at 75

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7442624.stm

Capra's writers were often socialists, but he was a Republican.

i don't know anything about capra's politics, but being republican in the 30s and 40s didn't automatically translate into being a reactionary by any means. the progressives didn't bolt to the democrats until FDR, and even then plenty of them (robert la follette jr., burton wheeler) stayed behind.

I saw the headline that the "child actor from it's a wonderful life" had died. I thought "oh no! not Fred Savage!", then I realised that I had mixed up the Wonder Years and It's a Wonderful Life. Can easily happen.

Thta's true, JD, but Capra increasingly became a populist-turned-reactionary the richer he got. Can easily happen.

James Stewart wasn't exactly Mr Liberal either.

The autobiog bookends here suck (it's the Times), but valid points made about restitution and the potential of Pottersville:

I checked my theory with Frank J. Clark, the district attorney for Erie County upstate, where, as far as I can tell, the fictional Bedford Falls is set. He thought it over, and then agreed: George would still face prosecution and possible prison time.

“In terms of the theft, sure, you take the money and put it back, you still committed the larceny,” he said. “By giving the money back, you have mitigated in large measure what the sentence might be, but you are still technically guilty of the offense.”

He took this a bit further: “If you steal over $3,000, it’s a D felony; 2 ½ to 7 years is the maximum term for that. The least you can get is probation. You know Jimmy Stewart, though, he had that hangdog face. He’d be a tough guy to send to jail.”

He paused, and then added: “You really have a cynical sense of humor.”

...Not only is Pottersville cooler and more fun than Bedford Falls, it also would have had a much, much stronger future. Think about it: In one scene George helps bring manufacturing to Bedford Falls. But since the era of “It’s a Wonderful Life” manufacturing in upstate New York has suffered terribly.

On the other hand, Pottersville, with its nightclubs and gambling halls, would almost certainly be in much better financial shape today. It might well be thriving.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/movies/19wond.html

My uncle has always maintained that the real person who deserves the viewer's ire here is not Potter, but Uncle Billy. S'troo.

Yeah, just look at what the MGM has done for Detroit.

is that a casino?

George again treats Mary cruelly, this time by chewing her out and bringing her to tears before kissing her.

Methods of Demanding Cunnilingus

btw, name the most specific thing IaWL has in common with The Godfather. (It's mentioned in that Times piece.)

― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, December 23, 2008 9:24 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Bells of St. Mary's

― There was even a brief period when I preferred Sally Forth. (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, December 23, 2008 9:50 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

good!

― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, December 23, 2008 9:51 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

nice!!

that's a good article morbius thanks for the link!
also I would like to point out that I have been otm in this thread.

we'll wait for you baby may be my favorite movie quote of all time

i don't know anything about capra's politics, but being republican in the 30s and 40s didn't automatically translate into being a reactionary

He liked Mussolini.

"trust the tale, not the teller."

that times guy shoulda pointed out that bringing all the presents back to whoville wouldn't have shielded the grinch from inevitable breaking and entering plus grand theft charges

and scrooge's relatives in real life probably would've disliked him even after his change of heart, you know how people are

there's nothing that indicates they didn't!

didn't walt disney keep a photo of mussolini on his desk? i think it had more to do with italian-american pride than high regard for dictators, at least in the early '30s.

possibly the highlight of the Carvey-Lovitz years

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7sqx2_its-a-wonderful-life-lost-end_shortfilms

the Capra biog on Faber, The Failure Of Success, is really interesting on Capra's politics - the author quotes Katharine Hepburn as saying something like "Everyone thought Frank was really 'left', but he really wasn't."

it also suggests that Capra's real-life misanthropy stemmed from a skin condition that left his penis red-raw for much of his life (unless I'm misremembering this, as it's been about 20 years since I read the book, but it's the sort of detail that sticks in your mind).

xxp perhaps rivaled only by the Conan sketch in which Bert the cop successfully guns down George Bailey as he runs away.

cf The Catastrophe of Success

also the recent Mark Harris book on Hollywood directors in WW2

gah, catastrophe, yes! great book

i feel like i've already said it on ilx but the whole sequence where uncle billy loses the money and george tries to find it is one of the most stress-inducing, nightmarish things i've ever seen in a movie. just that feeling of mounting rage and despair as he reaches the limits of what he can control. perfectly acted. i haven't seen this movie in years but thinking about that part still makes me kind of anxious.

yeah, otm. the moment when he finally completely loses it and starts screaming at uncle billy is seriously upsetting.

arguments about capra's personal politics are kind of irrelevant to me, i dunno. trust the tale not the teller, etc.

plus "mr. potter" is a really thinly veiled ugly anti-semitic stereotype shoehorned into a story that could chug along perfectly fine without him, but that's not republican enough.

― El Tomboto, Tuesday, December 25, 2007 1:07 PM (6 years ago)

this is so fucking stupid

Where did the phrase "Why I oughta pound you" originate?

Potter's never coded as jewish to me

nah me either, no way.

weird thing about this movie is just how much of a royal pain in the arse the hero is. he's pretty miserable to everyone! maybe that's why a heck of a lot of lot of folk relate to him. maybe that's the genius of the thing.

I can't really read or hear this title without saying in my mind "I'm the dog that ate your birthday cake"

Nah. The genius of this movie is that it tells the audience that their failure to live out all their adolescent dreams is all because they are such excellent, indispensable and lavishly beloved people who constantly sacrifice their happiness for others, who actually adore them for it. Which is pretty much the obvious theme it pounds home, too.

This message connects to that 99% of people, who never come within a thousand miles of fulfilling their adolescent dreams and who get bogged down in just keeping food on the table and the bills paid. They all just want to be loved and appreciated.

weird thing about this movie is just how much of a royal pain in the arse the hero is. he's pretty miserable to everyone!

why shouldn't he be! his every dream evaporated - he gave up on college to run the family business, gave up on it again so his brother could go on and be a success - i think part of the movie's power lies in the fact that George's sacrifices weigh quite heavily on him, even before the nightmarish middle section - his sacrifices have come at a cost!

very very dark til that sappy finale

this did come out in 1946 after all, the sacrifice theme is just as relevant as were those of The Best Years of Our Lives.

its like a noir film bookended by gentle comedy. i think the darkness at the centre 'earns' any sappiness in the finale, tbh, and is why that sappiness is so effective, but I love this movie to death.

i haven't seen that yet, i got a copy recently and have been meaning to. but yes, in context of the war, that's really a good point.

xxxp oh don't get me wrong i'm not saying he shouldn't be! it's just weird that such a miserable sod is the big hero of many people's favourite film. i love the film fwiw.

James Stewart has a fairly central Everyman role in 20th-century American culture; of course most people under 50 know him principally from this film.

No matter what you do in life, it's never enough.

Wonder why people hate this movie.

I'm sick of the "enforced recreation" aspect of my wife wanting the family to watch it at this time of year, every year. I'm not too fond of xmas and the bad association rubs off on a perfectly good film. I'm not going to dog the movie, but fuck if I ever want to see it again.

Maybe in August in New Mexico with the AC busted.

You will search, babe
At any cost
But how long, babe
Can you search for what is not lost?
Everybody will help you
Some people are very kind
But if I can save you any time
Come on, give it to me
I’ll keep it with mine

sick of the "enforced recreation" aspect of my wife wanting the family to watch it at this time of year, every year.

They are forcing people to watch this at gunpoint now? Wow. I'm glad I still live in an area where I can just change the channel.

looking forward to watching this on tv tomorrow. its been a while.

I own this movie so I can force my family to watch it whenever I want but honestly the holiday moviegoing tradition I enjoy more at this point is taking my daughter to the Castro Theater to watch Singin' In the Rain on New Year's Day

I've only seen this thing once.

My high school friends and I used to laugh at that Carvey-Lovitz skit. We also did lewd variants on the Campbell Soup ads:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdEfTmljBrc

That actually sounds a lot more fun, Shakey - I think Singin In The Rain is the 'better' movie, though It's A Wonderful Life is my own personal favourite, and speaks to my inner Charlie Brown.

In related news, our 7 month old lasted 15 minutes into A Charlie Brown Xmas this afternoon before getting teary and provoking the switching off of the DVD, though this may have more to do with a disturbed nap schedule than any issues w/Schulz's jaundiced wordview.

She is, however, bizarrely a fan of The Wonder Years, and is transfixed by Fred Savage's gargantuan melon.

i think what really won me over to theory was my professor's reading of the broken bannister and how it so obviously signifies Freudian castration - and how George kisses it in the end in his acceptance of his fate. It's just such a perfect Hollywood story hero challenges the norm, then embraces it at the end re establishing order (Frederic Jameson theory IIRC).

This film, more than any other, gives the audience valid reasons to favor order and sacrifice and that's why it's the greatest product of Hollywood. The ideology is so powerful, so "natural" and so satisfying. I'm glad some people don't like it because that means that perhaps there is a way to live outside of the norm. 'Unfortunately', I find it difficult at this point in my life to not surrender to it completely.

I don't really get the need for Freudian subtext here--the broken bannister is already a pretty obvious symbol of George's imperfect life, and his irritated reaction to it/eventual embrace of it still carries the exact same message without the added layer of "DO YOU SEE? IT'S A PHALLUS." Another example of why I often don't "get" theory.

Anyway, I love this movie, despite its rampant conservatism. I do think it's more of a bummer than not, though, for the same reasons already discussed.

Sometimes a broken bannister is just a broken bannister.

The broken bannister is an omen of Ed Asner's character in JFK, Guy Banister; George is a secret agent of history, hurling the country into the Cold War and a turbulent future.

http://i.imgur.com/Ai5PW5J.png

So heartwarming. Thanks Paramount Home Entertainment.