There is charm in old movies and charisma in old actors. After seeing Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, I wonder why such movies don't get made more often. From expressions to delivery, both James Stewart and Donna Reed are an absolute pleasure to watch.

George Bailey has given up his dreams of seeing the world to take over his father's business. There is always one opportunity to step out of the town, even if briefly, but is always foiled by some or the other event that he puts before his wishes. Mary, on the other hand, has always loved George and has always been happy around him in the town they were born and brought up. It is the story of how he stands up for the town and how generously townspeople reciprocate. It is a Christmas movie and boy! it's a happy, wholesome one.

Such movies are comfort food. The hero is passionate and good, the heroine is beautiful, smart and supportive. The villain doesn't have a redemption arc but his plans are foiled at the end. All the supporting cast ends up helping the hero at a crucial juncture. All this fills you with a warm cozy feeling.

It also made me introspective. I started thinking about the impact I have on the world around me and is the net sum positive. [spoiler]There is a point in the movie where George's guardian angel shows him a world without him ever being present and he realises, that even if his aspirations of world travel haven't been met, there is a strong positive influence he has had on this world. Upon that realisation when comes back to the real world, the sense of gratitude fills him. He stands strong to fight whichever battle he needs to.[/spoiler]

That sense of gratitude is an immensely positive force. It remained with me for a long time. I started thinking positively too. It could be the nature of the film, being all Christmas-y, but I cherished that warmth while it lasted, and it lasted long.

It was a pleasure to watch a black and white film after a long time. Those high-contrast frames made the emotions more potent for me.

Recommended.

This was another one on my IMDb top 50 filling-the-gaps journey. 9 more to go.

It took me forever to finally watch this, and now that I have, I don’t get why this is a Christmas classic. Sure, it commences on Christmas, but it could have ended on any other day, and the story would be the same. Anyway, that's more of an aside.
Okay, so, _It's a Wonderful Life_ is really two movies: one is a typical 1940s' saccharine love story; the other is a fatalist, and oddly Christian, episode of The Twilight Zone.
As is, the movie doesn’t get interesting until the third act, which is the aforementioned twist that the film is best known for, but it just didn't work for me and really feels like a lazy deus ex machina. Honestly, without the twist, I would have liked the movie more, but there is no way it would have ever become the classic it is without it.
The bulk of the story is spent going through the life of George Bailey, from a boy to a man. He "falls in love" with Mary Hatch, in a way that could only be seen as charming in a movie, especially one from that era.
The first and second act are a slog, however some of the dialog with James Stewart, and Donna Reed was rather touching, and funny.
I mentioned before that this is two movies in one. What I mean is without the supernatural component it's the story of a man who has affected others, by merely existing, and sometimes by being a good person. As a result, people care about him. Nice. I like it.
The other part - the ending - shows us a different present: one where George had not existed. Turns out life in his little town would be radically changed, not just that, but detrimentally so. Which, okay, this is fiction, and that works if you don't think about it too hard, but I tend to do so. I reckon that's why the movie doesn't land with me. If you're going to place a mundane story in the scope of the supernatural and want people to come away with a message, well, you're on a tightrope of movie reality versus reality.
This takes us into the land of fatalism: Just think of all the people who do not exist who could have. Consider the butterfly effect of events, and how life events could happen in any number of possible ways. For instance, let's say your brother were to fall into a frozen lake. Now, if you were never born, what's to say he would have fallen into said lake? What's to say he wouldn't have been saved by other boys if he still fell in? Can good never come from bad? Can bad never lead to good? I'm reminded of the Chinese proverb, which looks at the circumstances of life, remarking "maybe so, maybe not. We'll see."
If people want to look at this as an endearing classic about kindness and community, great, do that. Trouble is, suicide doesn't unmake someone's past. We all die, and once we do, it doesn't unweave our life, as if we were never here.
Lastly, the idea that tragedy was always there, waiting to happen, if not for one person in particular, has greater theological problems that I do not want to get into. I'll leave that to the... believers out there.

Oh my goodness, I am not going to spend much time describing this gold standard of Christmas movies. If you have seen it, you know what it is. If you haven’t seen it, stop reading this and watch it now. It is funny, tense, sentimental, romantic and downright Capra-esque.

I have liked Jimmy Stewart in everything I have seen him in. Was he that good, or did the camera just plain love him, like I heard said once about Steve McQueen. But it doesn’t stop there. If you notice the ensemble cast, you see represented some of the finest character actors out there. Between them it’s seems like we have seen one of them in every great classic movie.

I don’t watch this every year any more - there is just too much to see out there this time of year. But I watch it every two or three years and besides, if I have some time to spare, I can practically review every scene in order in my mind. It is part of my Christmas consciousness. Wait, are you still reading this?

Lovely film.

'It’s a Wonderful Life' is enjoyable, hearty and well crafted. It takes longer than I would've predicted to get to 'the event', but it's very much worth seeing the journey that comes before - as we see the arc of James Stewart's George. It all crescendos with an ending that you can't help but smile at.

Stewart is excellent in the lead role, you really do see every single emotion that his character goes through. He is, by far, the standout performer, but there are of course good performances from the likes of Donna Reed (Mary), Lionel Barrymore (Henry) and Henry Travers (Clarence).

I did notice a few weird cuts in there, not that I hold that against it or did it affect my enjoyment - it's just noticeable. I see, via other reviewers, that there's a colour version - Channel 4 showed the black-and-white version over here in the UK. I can't say I felt the need for colour, which is always a good sign.

Wholesome. Not that it, evidently given the average rating, needs to be said by someone like me, but: I'd certainly recommend this.

I am not one of those snobs that thinks Black and White is always better... but don't watch the colored version of it, there is something about it that just doesn't look right. Maybe it's because the colors are off, maybe because I'm not as used to it, but something doesn't sit right with it.

Anyway, still the best Christmas movie ever made. It's still about redemption. It's still heartwarming and family friendly and... perfect...

... perfect save some of the hard cuts. I don't know why people don't mention those. They are pretty glaring, they are pretty horrible.

But... it's still just about the best Christmas movie ever made.