newcritics - Latest Comments in It’s an Angry Life

Re: It’s an Angry Life

Tom Watson — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 14:09:16 -0000

It's an incredibly dark film, one of the finest ever made in American cinema - and too often dismissed by the elite as pablum for the masses. In truth, its style and storyline are accessible - but that's part of Capra's brilliance, cloaking a battle between the idea of human redemption and a cold existentialism in a small town (and what a set they built).

Also brilliant was the casting - it's an amazing group of veteran character actors. In some ways that's why the movie feels so familiar - there's Ward Bond and Henry Travers and Lionel Barrymore - and on and on. They're the familiar faces of OUR home town, the one we (used to) live in at the movie theater.

And MA, you're right about that face-slap - a huge, gut-wrenching cue that things can go very badly indeed in this (and any) little town.

Re: It’s an Angry Life

M.A. Peel — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 01:26:09 -0000

Karen, dark. That is the word for IAWL. The Mr. Gower hitting young George scene always chokes me up.

Re: It’s an Angry Life

Karen — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 21:16:16 -0000

Oh, Ms. Peel, thank you.

I've never entirely understood how IAWL became a Christmas movie (apart from the Christmas tree in the background of the final scene), nor how it got its reputation for mawkishness (apart from the saccharine mewl of ZuZu's final line). It's such a dark film, dark as the darkest parts of "Meet John Doe." Capra has a reputation for sentimentality and, yeah, you see it in stuff like "Mr Deeds Goes to Town," but the best Capra remembers the darkness of his earlier films, like "The Miracle Woman" or "The Bitter Tea of General Yen." He was knowing about relationships, too, and about the power of sexual attraction--just watch another great, early film, "Platinum Blonde," with its amazing performance by the tragically short-lived Robert Williams.

Capra's choice of Stewart was inspired as well. He needed a sympathetic actor, since he was going to send him so far down into Hell that the flames might not reflect well on him. But he saw the kind of darkness in Stewart that didn't really get drawn out again until the thrillers of Hitchcock and the westerns of Anthony Mann.

The alternate Bedford Falls that George Bailey sees is not so far-fetched, either. The roads not travelled are perhaps less likely for the lovely Mary, but the fate of Violet, for example, or the Martini family truly could be but for the grace of God and George Bailey. The movie came out not long after the end of the war, and most of the people in its audiences had probably seen just the sort of hard times that the alternate Bedford Falls presented; it wouldn't have been hard for them to believe, either.

I confess that the film still and always makes me tear up throughout, from the heart-wrenching scene with Mr Gower right through to the end. Perhaps it's the notion of redemption that makes it a Christmas film but, frankly, that's a message that's not unwelcome or unnecessary any time of the year.

Re: It’s an Angry Life

M.A. Peel — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 09:53:32 -0000

David, that's the great thing about Wonderful Life. It will be there waiting for you in 2015. There just isn't much you can count on like that :)

Re: It’s an Angry Life

David Halsted — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:05:26 -0000

I used to love IAWL, but during the 1980s, when the film was in copyright limbo and Ted Turner was on the prowl for cheap programming content, TBS ran it into the ground and I grew sick of it.
I think I'll be ready to enjoy it again in 2015. Eggnog at my house!