IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE / CERT: U / DIRECTOR: FRANK CAPRA / SCREENPLAY: FRANCES GOODRICH, ALBERT HACKETT, FRANK CAPRA / STARRING: JAMES STEWART, DONNA REED, LIONEL BARRYMORE, HENRY TRAVERS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Welcome to Bedford Falls, where one Christmas Eve, friends and family pray for George Bailey. You know the story of It’s A Wonderful Life, which is contested only by Dickensian Muppets and a barefoot Bruce Willis for the title of Greatest Christmas Movie Ever, but that’s no reason not to return to it, especially with this newly remastered version now available on 4K and Blu-ray.
Frank Capra’s classic begins with the prayers being heard and George’s case being assigned to junior angel Clarence. George has been trapped in his small town all his life, his repeated attempts to get out and see the world thwarted by his heart telling him to stay and, via the building society reluctantly inherited from his father, help those in need. Clarence finds George in despair, wondering what he’s achieved and contemplating suicide. His solution is to show George how the world would have turned out differently had he never been born.
It’s A Wonderful Life is a wonderful movie, its script full of wit and wisdom, its craft showing Capra at the top of his game, its performances, particularly Jimmy Stewart’s central turn, endlessly charming. Plus, it celebrates kindness. “All that you take with you is that which you’ve given away” says an inscription George keeps under his father’s portrait; he lives by this mantra, a message more relevant than ever as our modern world has more than enough powerful figures reminiscent of Lionel Barrymore’s tycoon Mr. Potter.
But you’ve seen this film every Christmas. Why should you buy a new copy? Well, the remaster really is impressive. Paramount have worked from the original negative to make this crisper and more polished than any previously available versions, to the extent that you can see new details – George and Mary’s breath in the cold air as they walk under the moonlight, for example, and the snowfall, a pioneering effect which won an Academy Award at the time but has looked blurry on previous releases.
If you’re in doubt as to the improvement, 13-minute featurette ‘Restoring a Beloved Classic’ may convince you. The preservation team talk us through their painstaking work, including side-by-side comparisons; it’s a fascinating insight into what this process involves.
In the 22-minute ‘Secrets from the Vault’, Craig Barron and Ben Burtt take us behind the scenes of the film, from Capra’s founding of Liberty Pictures so he could avoid studio interference, to it being a commercial failure until it found its audience via television a generation later. They also praise the film’s craft, helping us appreciate its cinematography, sound, and effects. Finally, there’s an endearing insight into the past with an eight-minute montage of newly discovered footage from the wrap party, including the crew competing in a sack race!
The film would be enough to make this a recommended purchase, but the stunning remaster and the extras make this a necessary addition to this year’s letter to Santa.
