It’s Christmas, snow is falling, and James Stewart’s protagonist is contemplating suicide, driven to despair by financial misfortune. Those who know director Frank Capra’s film only by its reputation as a sentimental seasonal favourite are often taken aback by how unflinchingly it shows ever-amiable Stewart’s kindly local banker brought low by the machinations of a cruel world. True, the story involves a certain angelic intervention to show him that his travails have all been worthwhile, yet it’s only because this modern parable plumbs the depths so vividly that its vision of redemption proves so persuasive. Its enduring popularity may indeed derive from Capra’s insistence that friendship matters more than material gain, a telling message of solace in a secular capitalist society.
It's a Wonderful Life (1947)
Undervalued on its initial release, this small-town drama has become a Christmas favourite, though its tearful affirmation is laced with darker emotions.
- 1947 USA
- Directed by
- Frank Capra
- Produced by
- Frank Capra
- Written by
- Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra
- Featuring
- James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore
- Running time
- 129 minutes
Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll
Who voted for It's a Wonderful Life
Critics
- Sam Clements
- UK
- Rich Cline
- UK
- Jake Cunningham
- UK
- Louise Dumas
- France
- Cristina Formenti
- Italy
- Caden Mark Gardner
- USA
- Philip Horne
- UK
- Aleksandar S. Janković
- Serbia
- Christian Keathley
- USA
- José Luis Lorenzo
- Argentina
- Kevin Lyons
- UK
- Michael Newton
- Netherlands
- John Nugent
- UK
- David Pirie
- UK
- Pablo O. Scholz
- Argentina
- Kimberley Sheehan
- UK
- Paulo Henrique Silva
- Brazil
- Margaret Smith
- Fabio Troncarelli
- Italy
- Sam Wasson
- USA
- Tom White
- USA
- John Wyver
- UK
Directors
- Giuseppe Pupi Avati
- Italy
- Pete Docter
- USA
- Daniel Kokotajlo
- England
- Alex Lehmann
- USA
- John Paizs
- Canada
- Benny Safdie
- USA
- Emma Seligman
- USA
- Nicolas Winding Refn
- Denmark
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