Part of Buddy the Elf, What's Your Favorite Color?

“Is this the ear you can’t hear out of? George Bailey, I’m going to love you till the day I die.”

George Bailey (James Stewart) was loved, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his affection was signed by the policeman, the taxi driver, the barkeep, and all the other citizens of Bedford Falls. Even the bank examiner signed it; and the bank examiner’s name was good for anything he chose to put his hand to. George Bailey was as loved as...well, as an angel.

It is a hoary old cliché to say that Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life is a sentimental ripoff of…

'Twas the week before Christmas, when all though the house
Not a creature was stirring; just me and my mouse
The decorating done; all the lights hung with care
I fancied a Yule film, so rose from my chair

The choices were varied; all classics the lot
The pick must be perfect to start the onslaught
The Trouble With Angles; my sweetheart Miss Hayley?
Oh wait just a minute, it must be George Bailey!

I flew down the stairs; DVD disk in tow
And slotted the plate; turned the lights way down low
The screen it did light with the Liberty marquee
My heart all aflutter with pure Christmas glee

We start in the stars where we hear there is…

Film #26 of Project 40

”Buffalo Gals won’t you come out tonight, come out tonight, come out tonight...”

Seeing the name of Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life on top of American Film Institute’s list of most cheerful movies is not surprising. Hope is the key word in Capra’s movies and here that optimism about life is what lights up the whole thing. This is not a movie that gives you a false or hollow image of hope, decency and happiness. It is so honest, so good-hearted and so sincere in its portrayal that you can genuinely feel all the joy and courage that Capra wants to transfer to his viewers. This is a movie that makes you feel good.…

It is almost unheard of for a person to have lived as long as I have and never seen It's a Wonderful Life. Every Christmas Eve the film airs on national television in the United States and somehow I missed it every time. It was not a fluke or accident, I just never had any desire to watch it. I knew all about an angel getting his wings when a bell has been rung, what happens if you were never born, and the romanticism about wanting to give a woman the moon, so much so that I had never really felt the need to watch it.

I am so glad that I have finally decided that I do not, in…

Things I noticed this time:

The big one I can't believe I never put together before:
The first defining moment of George Bailey's life is diving in the icy water to save his brother; and Clearance has him do it again to save himself.

How good is Samuel Hinds in his two brief scenes as Pa Bailey?

All the portraits that Potter has of himself hanging in his office and his home.

Love the scene where Potter offers George a job. It's been done plenty of times before and since, I suppose, but having the movie's villain be the single person who is able to articulate and sympathize with George's lifelong frustrations like that is such a brilliant stroke.

When…