Monday, December 10, 2007
7:00 PM @ Cinema Paradiso
Admission is $5
Discussion to follow
Click here for synopsis and trailer.
Frank Capra | USA | 1946 | 130 min | G
Starring James Stewart, Donna Reed, and Lionel Barrymore
Originally entitled The Greatest Gift, Frank Capra’s inverted take on A Christmas Carol stars Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, a good man who’s spent a lifetime giving up on his dreams in order to keep life in his small town humming. When a guardian angel named Clarence finds a despondent George poised to jump off a bridge, he shows George what life would’ve been like had he never been born.
Awards and Accolades:
Golden Globe winner for Best Picture. Nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Acror, Best Director, and Best Picture.
In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked it #20 on its “100 Greatest Movies” list. The film has been deemed “culturally significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
One of the 15 films listed in the category “Values” on the Vatican film list.
Reviews:
“What is remarkable about It’s a Wonderful Life is how well it holds up over the years; it’s one of those ageless movies, like Casablanca or The Third Man, that improves with age.”
“As the hero, Mr. Stewart does a warmly appealing job, indicating that he has grown in spiritual stature as well as in talent during the years he was in the war. And Donna Reed is remarkably poised and gracious as his adoring sweet-heart and wife.”
“Director Capra’s inventiveness, humor and affection for human beings keep it glowing with life and excitement. Stewart’s warm-hearted playing of what might have been a goody-goody role is a constant delight. And if Director Capra’s Christmas-cheer ending is slightly hoked up to make it richer and happier than life, that is the way many a good fable .”
• Time
“The April-air wholesomeness and humanism of this natural bring back vividly the reminder that, essentially, the screen best offers unselfconscious, forthright entertainment.”
• Variety
Often remebered as sentimental, schmaltzy “Capra-corn”… but in fact is leavened by darker themes and more rigorous morals about self-sacrifice, disappointment, and the fragility of happiness and the American dream.”
Related:
GodSpy: The Gospel According to Frank Capra
Essay: On the deeper meaning of It’s a Wonderful Life
