I think this is a pretty bad film.
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P.Error — 1 year ago(December 14, 2024 08:58 AM)
When this first was released, it got poor reviews.
I think it's positive rating today has more to do with nostaglia and its legacy around Christmas time. Society is sort of indoctrinated into thinking this is a good film because it reminds them of happy season.
The ending of the film, the guardian angel sequence, is also the best part of the film and what people remember from it - despite being only in the final 15 minutes of a 2 hour and 10 minute runtime.
I just did some research and find out the angel sequence was in itself a short story.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greatest_Gift
The short story OPENS with George PRATT attempting suicide. The angel takes him on a journey to show him what life was like if he'd never been born.
This part of the story should be feature-length. It doesn't reach its full potential here because it's simply glossed over too quickly.
Mary should've been married to another man, not simply an old maid - I'm not believing a woman looked like that in 40s and she didn't marry. She was even married in the original short story! It would've been more heartbreaking to George to see her being married to another man. Having her be unmarried gives George the chance to be with her again, so the stakes aren't really that crucial.
Never lose your desire. -
MovieManCin2 — 1 year ago(December 15, 2024 03:25 AM)
A lot of great films got poor ratings when they were first released. That means nothing. It's a great film and loved by most people. But then that's why they make chocolate and vanilla.
MAGA! FAFO!
Schrodinger's Cat walks into a bar, and doesn't. Dumbocraps: evil people who celebrate murder. 
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PygmyLion — 1 year ago(December 14, 2024 04:26 PM)
I hadn't watched the movie for many years (10-20), until I watched it last year just before Christmas. I found the movie to be very uplifting. So I think its rating of 8.6 on IMDB is justified.
It was nominated for an academy award in 1947, losing out to
The Best Years of Our Lives
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WarrenPeace — 1 year ago(December 14, 2024 11:38 AM)
George's own wife is reduced to an old maid that runs from him in just a minute of screen time.
Yeah, and she ends up wearing glasses just because she didn't meet George!
LOL
I guess that means that masturbation is bad for eyesight!
"Please vote to preserve the unique character of Warren…" - Robert Duvall -
LucasBrown295 — 1 year ago(December 14, 2024 11:43 AM)
It's not a bad film at all. Just say you don't like or understand it. To spend that much time trying to trash it (unsuccessfully) shows you have no heart or (seemingly) have never known the deep support of friends and family.
Maybe someday you'll get it. I wish that for you. -
LucasBrown295 — 1 year ago(December 15, 2024 09:47 AM)
Your response pretty much confirms that he successfully trashed it. You can’t even counter his points and instead resort to ad hominem attacks.
Wrong. As I said, he
tried
to trash it. He failed miserably.
The same goes for your accusation that I employed ad hominem. I didn't. -
PygmyLion — 1 year ago(December 14, 2024 10:42 PM)
The sequence, while ingrained in popular culture, is in itself a take or rip-off of a A Christmas Carol. Instead of Past, Present, and Future, it's Never Been Born. I'd even argue that Potter is Scrooge here, and George is Bob Cratchit, and they switched who gets the spirit.
Charles Dickens is considered by many to be a great novelist, and his story
A Christmas Carol
(1843) is one of his better stories, so the fact that
It's a Wonderful Life
bares some similarity to it, might be considered as a positive by many.
In the end, I think there are enough differences in the story of
It's a Wonderful Life
to make it not a take-off or rip-off of
A Christmas Carol
.
