What I’m watching: a Christmas classic that has never looked so good

Date: 12/21/2021

On Blu-ray/DVD: “It’s a Wonderful Life”

Because this film fell into the public domain, many people have indeed seen the film, but they haven’t had the opportunity to see it, as director Frank Capra would have liked them to see it. Too many of the TV prints, VHS and DVDs were washed out duplicates.

Now thanks to this new re-issue from Paramount, audiences will be able to see the 1946 movie as it looked on screen at that time – perhaps the digital restoration is even sharper.

It’s difficult to imagine that both audiences and critics didn’t fall in love with the film at the time of its release. Capra was a very successful director, often making comedies with a dramatic core, such as “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” His films were dubbed as “Capra-corn” by some critics who were turned off by his brand of sentimentality.

This film was his first production as a civilian after entering the Army in WWII and making the “Why We Fight” series while in the Signal Corps. It was also significant as it was his first release from his own company Liberty Films he formed with directors William Wyler and George Stevens.

The movie tells the story of George Bailey who, after living a life with unfulfilled dreams, is considering suicide and questions if the world would have been a better place if he had never been born. Bailey is assigned to a guardian angel whose job it is to make him understand the true meaning of his life and to show him that indeed the world would have worse without him.

As detailed by the book and the Netflix documentary series “Five Came Back,” Capra had seen the horrors of war and had been affected by what he saw. While this film had many of the wonderful Capra comedic and romantic touches, it has a very hard core that at times borders on a horror film.

James Stewart, who was a combat veteran from the war, is asked to play a character who we first see as four years out of high school and who ages to his forties. I think this is one of Stewart’s best performances. His George Bailey has lived a life in which he postponed his own dreams to fulfill the expectations of others. While he is happy with his family, he is a man in great pain.

Capra uses some close-ups of Stewart to show this pain. Their inclusion is almost jarring and very effective.

Stewart’s co-star was Donna Reed playing Mary Hatch. She is an actress who is largely forgotten today, which is a shame. Reed appeared in many films in the 1940s and 50s before landing a long-running TV comedy that ran from 1958 to 1966. She won the Oscar for best Supporting Actress for her performance in “From Here to Eternity” in 1953.

Reed showed her range in this film, again starting out as an 18 year-old and aging along with Stewart. There is one remarkable scene with the two of them that just bowls me over. Mary has been in love with George since childhood. She is seeing him after her graduation from college and George doesn’t act very interested in her. In fact, George is angry about his frustrations in life and is clearly pushing that anger onto her. When confronted, though, with a phone call from her suitor George conveys this amazing mix of emotions of both love and anger. It’s an impressive moment.

While this film is sentimental, I think it also conveys the uncertainty that many Americans felt in 1946. So many had put their lives on hold while serving their country and now they had to figure out what they wanted to do while re-adjusting to civilian life. There is a hardness to the film that is completely appropriate.

The Blu-ray release comes with the restored film in beautiful black and white as well as a colorized version. There are several features about the film’s restoration, which add insight, as well as footage from the film’s wrap party.

The producers also included recipe cards of dishes the Bailey family might have had – an odd extra in my opinion.

No matter if you seen this film before, viewing this restored version is a fresh treat.