FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Frank Capra - It's A Wonderful Life 

Once upon a time Frank Capras It's A Wonderful Life belonged to the forgotten movies until he was rediscovered at the beginning of the 70s. He became a Christmas movie, an annual ritual of families all over the world. I loved It's A Wonderful Life as a child and still do - I think because Capra's work is so honest! But it's not just about the film, it's the memories that are connected to it! It's A Wonderful Life was the declared favorite of director Frank Capra and lead actor James Stewart. Then the worst happened: It's A Wonderful Life was colored and disenchanted afterwards. Stewart himself is said to have said about this version that it would make him sick. The wonderful black and white version is one of those timeless classics that improve over time. Other movies, even very good ones, can only be watched once - Frank Capra's comedy, on the other hand, keeps coming back! He grows close to your heart, becomes familiar. It's A Wonderful Life seems to me like a powerful, fundamental fairy tale. It's the inversion of Christmas Carol: we don't see an old man telling stories of happiness, but a young man throwing himself into misery. The hero is George Bailey (Stewart). He is one who never found out from his small quiet town Bedford Falls, where he was born. As a young man he dreamed of traveling and knocking the dust off his shoes. But there was always something that kept him at home. Most of all his family's savings and his father's building society, which enables ordinary people to have their own house. This building society is the only one that stands between the community and the greedy Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), the local banker. George marries his high school love (Donna Reed in her first role) and helps the poor realize their dream of owning their own home. But then his uncle loses a large amount of cash on Christmas Eve and the way seems clear for Mr. Potter. George is desperate, his face suddenly seems gloomy and thought-provoking. He stands on the bridge to throw himself down when an angel named Clarence (Henry Travers) saves him from it. Clarence shows George how life in Beford Falls would be without him. How would the world be without me? - That's the big question in It's A Wonderful Life. Frank Capra never conceived his tragicomedy as a Christmas film. It was the first movie he produced after his military service in World War II and he was supposed to be something special. It's A Wonderful Life celebrates the dreams of the simple American man who tries the best for himself and his neighbors. Capra had established himself during the 30's with a whole series of fantastic comedies in parable form and can be considered THE director of the Roosevelt era. For Stewart, who had also served in the war, it was the opportunity to work with Capra again. Like so many of his generation who embody the "boy next door", Stewart Capra owes the most important films of his career to Capra. At that time It's A Wonderful Life was no success and fell into oblivion. But the comedy isn't just there to warm our hearts! Remember the scene when George's younger brother breaks into the ice. Or the phone scene where angry James Stewart and Donna Reed suddenly face each other! Then the dark passages in which George staggers drunk through his hometown, which he tries to hate. Even the most greasy scenes, so the hint of heaven, work because they are so simple! I also often had to think of Berlin's banking scandal and the European misery, the "rescue" of the banks with taxpayers' money. Unfortunately the film could not inspire the post-war career of Frank Capra. He never again achieved the box-office results of his pre-war classics and staged his last work in 1961. Later, Capra was an esteemed guest professor at the film academy. Once he answered the question whether "nowadays" movies with the message of It's A Wonderful Life could still be realized with the statement that we would all have to give up immediately if we didn't...