A Happy New Year! “May you all get what you want and want what you get in 2001.”
Now in keeping with the holiday spirit, over the next few weeks I’ll endeavour to review some of the classic films that have Christmas plots as their central theme.
The best known Christmas movie has to be Frank Capra’s 1946 “It A Wonderful Life.” The film was nominated for Best Picture, (lost to “Gentleman’s Agreement”) Best Director (lost to Elia Kazan) and Best Actor (lost to Ronald Coleman).
The cast includes: Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey. Donna Reed as (the wife) Mary. Lionel Barrymore as proverbial Christmas (Potter) Scrooge. Henry Travers as the angel, Clarence.
Only in Capra’s hands does this sentimental tale of George's stuggles in a small town work.
On Christmas Eve finding himself in financial ruin and believing himself a failure George tries to commit suicide when an angle intervenes.
Jimmy Stewart personal favorite among his films. Originally written by Philip Van Doren Stern as "The Greatest Gift" a tale send to his friends as a Christmas card and subsequently published. Capra purchased the tights from RKO and began developing the script.
Frank Capra (May 1897 - Sept 1991)started his career in 1926 with “The Strong Man” and it was evident from the beginning that he had a personal attachment to the average man.
His film masterpieces were mostly comedies, believing he did not have a flare for drama.
”I made some mistakes in drama.” Capra explained years later. “I thought drama was when the actor cried. But drama is when the audience cries.”
Capra’s Christmas story of Dickensian proportions with Lionel Barrymore’s Potter the equivalent of scrooge.
Stewart was called upon to portray a complex set of emotions as the small-town dreamer continually forced to bow before harsh reality.
The film provides numerous magical moments such as Stewart and Reed dancing the Charleston and wind up in the college pool.
Stewart falling in love with Reed during a shared phone-call is pure film genius. However, it is the unshaven Stewart gripped by panic and on the brink of suicide that tested his ability as an actor. For until now Stewart was famous for his light comedies, and a time before, Alfred Hitckcock cast him in “Vertigo,” “Man Who Knew Too Much” and “Rear Window.”
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