It's A Wonderful Life [1946] | ![It's A Wonderful Life [1946]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51N2H9TGXGL._SL500_.jpg)
| Director: Frank Capra
Actors: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers
Studio: 2 Entertain Video
Category: Video
New (5) Used (9) Collectible (6) from £1.00
Rating:  55 reviews
Sales Rank: 6
Format: Black & White, Pal
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Universal, suitable for all
Media: VHS Tape
Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 125 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8 x 4.7 x 1.3
UPC: 044001008030
EAN: 5014138210939
ASIN: B00004R6XB
Theatrical Release Date: January 7, 1947
Release Date: December 1, 2003
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Now perhaps the most beloved American film, It's a Wonderful Life was largely forgotten for years, due to a copyright quirk. Only in the late 1970s did it find its audience through repeated TV showings. Frank Capra's masterwork deserves its status as a feelgood communal event, but it is also one of the most fascinating films in the American cinema, a multilayered work of Dickensian density. George Bailey (played superbly by James Stewart) grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger (Henry Travers) arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born. The sequence is a vivid depiction of the American Dream gone bad, and probably the wildest thing Capra ever shot (the director's optimistic vision may have darkened during his experiences making military films in World War Two). Capra's triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and disappointments of life, while affirming--in the teary-eyed final reel--his cherished values of friendship and individual achievement. It's a Wonderful Life was not a big hit on its initial release, and it won no Oscars (Capra and Stewart were nominated); but it continues to weave a special magic. --Robert Horton
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| Customer Reviews: Read 50 more reviews...
 An original twist on A Xmas Carol suggesting there SHOULD be more to life than money (but in the end there isn't) February 10, 2008
Lou Knee (England)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Yes, it is a great life affirming movie with its heart firmly in the right place...BUT...personally I would have prefered not such a happy ending, or a very different kind of happy ending - I just feel that the miraculous turnaround of George's fortunes at the end, while rightly suggesting that all good deeds may be remembered, and returned in kind, missed a real chance to state that happiness didn't have to depend on material wealth at all - After all, when he was given his old life back, George's euphoric happiness was based soley upon his family and friends, regardless of his dire financial state! This was a real chance to bang the point home about the real dangers of capitalism, but it was totally spurned. Indeed, this ending almost suggested, after roundly attacking corporate greed and rampant materialism for much of the film, that our happiness really DOES depend on material wealth after all, and I was a tad confused, and quite disappointed. This movie so nearly did what hardly any movie has dared to do, certainly before Michael Moore and co. and that is attack the American model of corporate based, free market capitalism, the most dangerous and destructive and corrupting of all economic systems, and it did have a go against banks run by those without a shred of a social conscience for the humans who ARE their customers and shareholders, as many critics believe we have become mere units of commerce in the overall run of things now, so impersonal is our rampantly capitalist culture. It's just a real shame it didn't follow through, and went instead with the expected Hollywood ending.
Now would be very apt time to remake the movie with a much more natural ending than this one dared to have. It would make a far stronger point about what real happiness is, and put another shot across the bows of greedy corporate businesses and banks, and even free market obsessed, business led governments (the crazy and unfair boom and bust economies of the US and UK in particular). That movie will never be made in Hollywood though.
Beware - this is not the colour version November 24, 2007
RagBear (Kent, England)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Absolutely brilliant .... but it says 'colour' on the description of this film. I used to have a VHS 'colorized' version of this which was superb.
I suspect the DVD in colour has yet to be released.
 amazing film October 25, 2007
R. beard (uk)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I just want to say to anyone considering buying 'It's a wonderful life ' , do it now , its brilliant . Christmas wouldnt be the same for me if i didnt watch this film every year , i love it . My husband aged 43 watched it last christmas for the first time and loved it too , in fact he had tears in his eyes when it finished .
 Don't buy this version September 17, 2007
strangelad (London United Kingdom)
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
I have no idea why people are giving this excellent reviews, it's an awful quality version of the film, you can hear static on the soundtrack throughout and the picture is dreadful. Try to find a remastered version which will have cleaned up audio and video, as this is just unwatchable.
An excellent film though.
A real "feel good film" with tears. July 26, 2007
Sanibla (UK)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
One of my favourite films even though it is a rael tear jerker. A film to watch when its cold outside and you are feeling sorry for yourself.
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