Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1502 in DVD
• Brand: VHS Tape
• Model: 0534563
• Released on: 2007-11-09
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 130 minutes

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 feel-good 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 II). 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

Special Features
4:3
English
Region 2
Stereo English
Stereo
23 Minute Making Of Its A Wonderful Life Narrated By Tom Bosley
Introduction And Interview By Frank Capra Jr

Customer Reviews

Wonderful Life - Yes It Is.
I am a film fan and enjoy all genre's, but this is truly a cinematic masterpiece.

Black and white a dead format...be damned.

The medium is the message. Black and white does the film a big favour, but do we all dream in colour ?. Possibly not. But we must have all shared the emotions Jimmy Stewart has, as well as his hopes and dreams.

We, unlike him have never had the choice to correct things.

It's shared emotions that leak from the screen and infects the viewer. Every emotion explored and played with like a painter with a brush by the director.

I believe it was colourised at one point, and if you are a true movie fan avoid the colour.

This Chistmas Eve myself and my wife will get close, light a candle and have a mulled wine while watching this superb movie, without breaks or any other irrelevances.

Merry Xmas all.

Mattyj.

Simply the best all-year-round any-age film
It took me until I was 26 to realise just how wonderful this film, "It's A Wonderful Life", really is.

Set in the Boom and Depression years of the 20s and 30s in the US, the film centres on a character of genuine warmth and humility, the brother you always wish you had, the uncle you'd always enjoy seeing, or a friend who would be life-long, George Bailey. Although this film didn't really reach any great accolade until the 1970s, I think James Stewart deserved an Oscar for portraying the character is such a stunningly brilliant way.

The plot has twists and turns and you're left feeling a deep sympathy for George Bailey about how he never quite realises his dreams or achieve his ambitions in life. And when through a quirk of misfortune his business is about to go bankrupt and after trying to build it up over many generations, George decides the world would have been better off if he'd never lived.

The director, Frank Capra, took about five years to decide on the final script after the original, called something completely different, failed because nobody could make the script work. Well it certainly was worth waiting for as Capra not only delivers a stunning rendition of what is a simple storyline, his class in selecting characters perfect for their individual roll is so apparent from the outset. OK, the opening scene is simplistic with a couple of galaxies talking to each other, but it just about works and by the end you'll forgive the directors that.

I'll leave the rest for you to watch... suffice to say that the ending never fails to bring a tear to my eye, and I've watched it enough times to know the dialogue word for word. It's wonder is still living on in many households and (with a lot of persuasion) I managed to sit my littl'uns in front of it and tell them what a good film it is... I'm sure they'll tell me in a couple of years whether I'm a barking mad romantic or a optimistic dreamer or a down-to-earth realist that enjoys a good flick. Quite honestly, I think I may be all three.

Buy it, put it on the shelf, and stick it on when you have a quiet moment to yourself. It's simply breath-taking.

Cinematic utopia
Before watching this I had the same mis-conceptions as everyone else about films from this golden age and especially this festive flick. The film fortunately put such doubts to rest. Many will argue it is too sentimental, while partly true, such scenes are handled with the utmost care and NEVER feel corny. Being from this current generation of cynical drones, this film to me, was a revelation. Capra fills each scene with such aplomb that one cannot help but feel slightly moved. The film has the perfect cast especially the immortal Jimmy Stewart and the ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS Donna Reed (underrated, underrated). While labelled as a feel good christmas movie, such a label is disrespectful. The film encompasses a variety of values and emotions, from family, faith, hope, love, aspirations, despair to many others. Although it is a universal film and there are some lighthearted scenes, there are also long periods of darkness and depression (exploiting the talent of Stewart perfectly). If this is a happy, festive film, then it is the most depressing one I have ever seen. Every scene is excellently realised by a director at the pinacle of his craft and furnished with layers of detail and feeling. The film is also complemented by the best cast ever assembled (yep beating all others I think in my opinion). Every performance is refreshing and unlike 99% of all other golden age films (where acting is wooden and dated), the acting and dialogue is wonderfully accomplished and refreshing and has not dated in the least. Many polls do not consider this to be the greatest film ever after all it has to be something 'cool' something for the 'twenty something generation', something like the Godfather or Pulp Fiction. It effortless surpasses my previous favourites: Shawshank Redemption, Magnolia, Truman Show, Se7en and Memento. These films while excellent do not touch me personally in the same way as It's a Wonderful Life. They do not ignite that sense of joy and 'magic'. This is cinematic utopia, a film which breaks free from the boundaries of motion entertainment and into the realms of that little red beating muscle in your chest. And it feels nice.

Oh the DVD is nice nothing special, nice transfer, FUNNY Tom Bosley documentory and correct aspect ratio.