I was going to post this on Monday before events occurred just outside the theater Sunday night. So here goes…
Veronica and I went to a screening of this It’s a Wonderful Life in Sunday night. This was not only my second time seeing it in the theater, it was also just the second time I’ve seen the movie from beginning to end.
As a child of the 80s, I grew up in the time when it’s a wonderful life was basically available to any TV station in the country who wanted to air it. So what time does it seem like it was on every channel every year at Christmas time. In recent years, NBC Universal snatched up exclusive rights to Airing the movie. but there were many a holiday season where I would stumble across the movie on channel 62 in Detroit. Most years, however, I only caught about the last half hour of the movie.
The plot
For those you’ve never seen it it’s a wonderful life is the story of George Bailey, a big dreamer with a heart for adventure, George’s one character flaw is that he is selfless to a fault. He puts the needs and wants of everyone else around him before his own. Because of this tendency, George often helps other people live out their own wants and dreams, at the expense his own .
After taking over his family’s Building and Loan business, George’s uncle accidentally misplaces $8000, for which George is responsible. Desperate and seeing no other way out, he contemplates suicide. Just before it happens, he’s encountered by his guardian angel who shows George what the world would be like if he was never born. If this plot sounds familiar, you’ve probably either caught a clip of the movie somewhere along the way, or watch one of countless TV sitcoms over the decades that have told their variation of it’s a wonderful life.
The overall theme of it’s a wonderful life hits like a Mack truck: the idea that every life is important and that everybody plays a part in the lives of others. There’s nothing subtle in this film
For a lot of modern film goers, the fact that the movie was made in 1946 and shot in black-and-white would immediately take them out of it. Like a lot of old movies, one has to take off their 2025 glasses in order to really appreciate it. at times the title is very quick and it feels like there’s a lot of story to unfold, as Clarence, the guardian angel essentially watches most of George’s life unfold until that faithful night on the bridge in Bedford Falls
Veronica and I may have been among the younger couples in the audience. But I was absolutely amazed the way the theater fell silent as George Bailey was standing on the bridge, pleading first to Clarence, then to God Himself to get his life back. a lot of the dialogue and the humor is dated, there are still few zingers that still connect almost 80 years later.
FINAL TAKE: recommended, for fans of classic films, fan of Christmas movies and students of film in general. If you’re the kind of casual film or who has turned off by black-and-white movies or “old movies“ give this one a pass. But if you have the opportunity to see this on a big screen, take it.
Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, 👍 comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related (and perhaps, not-so-related) posts:
- Teacher Armor and the Saturday Clearing
- The Extra Day: A Ten-Year Memory
- Of Training Wheels and Christmas Lights
- Charity Starts at Home (And I’m Back in My Childhood One)
- The Muscle of Empathy
The article “Rob’s Retro Review: It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.
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