It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

James Stewart (center) in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life

I have heard about It's A Wonderful Life for years, but had never seen it. I finally gave it a chance a couple of nights ago. The film is directed by Frank Capra and stars James Stewart.

The film is based on a novel The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern and it shows the audience that while life may not go as planned, we all have wonderful lives.

In addition to directing the film, Capra produced it and wrote it with two other people. It was a flop when it initially premiered, but over the years has gained a following.

Cover for It's' a Wonderful Life

The film is long and filled with quite a bit of innuendos. This caught me off guard simply because of the time when it was written. Of course the main drive of this film is to leave the audiences in better spirits and it does.

This was my first time watching James Stewart and he does a good job. He carries the film as he is in it pretty much from beginning to end and his character goes through some rough moments. He starts off as a man dreaming of leaving his small town. to not getting to leave, to everything going to heck and in his most vulnerable moments he begins to think the unthinkable.

James Stewart and Donna Reed have great chemistry together as the main characters in the film. Lionel Barrymore plays Henry Potter, the richest man in town. He is the villain who only cares about getting all the money he can get his hands on, and Barrymore is as cold as they come.

Donna Reed is wonderful as Mary Hatch, the woman who has always loved George Bailey. The rest of the cast does a great job as well.

Scene from It's A Wonderful Life

Yes the film is long, but it gives us nothing but important information. All is revealed at the end.