The life is wonderful, is not it?
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The life is wonderful, is not it? |
| Original title | It's a wonderful life |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1946 |
| length | 125 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Frank Capra |
| script |
Frances Goodrich Albert Hackett Jo Swerling Frank Capra |
| production | Frank Capra for Liberty Films |
| music | Dimitri Tiomkin |
| camera |
Joseph F. Biroc Joseph Walker |
| cut | William Hornbeck |
| occupation | |
| |
The life is wonderful, is not it? (Original title: It's a Wonderful Life ) is an American tragic comedy directed by Frank Capra from 1946, based on the short story The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern . The feature film, starring James Stewart , was produced by Liberty Films and distributed by RKO Pictures . The life is wonderful, is not it? tells the story of the committed citizen George Bailey, who loses his courage to live on Christmas night because of an accident and wants to throw himself off a bridge - until he is saved by an angel and shown what his hometown would look like if he had never been born . Despite commercial failure, the film became a classic over time and is considered by many critics to be one of the best films of all time.
action
On Christmas Eve of all times, George Bailey, resident of the American town of Bedford Falls , loses his courage to face life. Worried prayers for assistance for the beloved George are heard. Two heavenly forces (presumably Saint Joseph and Jesus or God ), symbolized by two galaxies conversing with each other , hear the prayers and advise on what to do. A guardian angel is needed, but unfortunately only the childlike, naive angel Clarence is on duty. Even after almost 200 years in service, Clarence is still waiting for his grand piano, which makes him an "EZ2" (Angel Second Class). He only has an hour left before George tries to commit suicide - in the meantime Clarence is informed in detail about George and his life story. Then there is a big flashback in the film .
In 1919, 12-year-old George saved his younger brother Harry's life when he collapsed into the ice while sledding. During the rescue operation, he caught a bad cold that permanently lost the hearing in his left ear. After his recovery, he works in the afternoons at old Mr. Gower's local drugstore. One day, George receives an order from Mr. Gower to deliver a drug for a seriously ill boy. Gower, who learned of his son's death that day and got drunk as a result, accidentally gives him a portion of poison instead of the medicine. George notices the mistake and thereby saves both the child's and Mr. Gower's lives.
As a young adult, George Bailey worked for his father's company, Building and Loan, which helps Bedford Falls residents realize their dream of owning a home. However, George finally wants to realize his childhood dreams and leave his hometown to study, travel the world and become a millionaire. His father, whose life's work is "Building and Loan", regrets these plans because he wanted to see George as his successor. At his brother Harry's high school graduation, he meets Mary Hatch, the younger sister of a former classmate. While dancing together, they accidentally fall into a swimming pool. On the way home, George talks to Mary about his future plans and a love affair develops between them. Surprisingly, Mr. Bailey suffers a stroke the same evening, from which he dies a little later. George has to give up his dream of traveling the world to put his father's affairs in order.
A few months later, the hard-hearted Henry F. Potter, the wealthiest businessman in town, wants to close the Building and Loan because he sees it as a threat to his rental income. George gives a fiery speech against Potter, in which he defends his father's ideals and speaks out in favor of the continued existence of the "Building and Loan". The board of directors decides to continue the "Building and Loan", but only under the direction of George, who sacrifices his dreams for the continued existence of the company. While George stays in town, his brother Harry can go to college . George hopes that when Harry graduates from college, Harry will take over the company and finally move out into the world. But when Harry comes back after graduating, he has brought a woman from a wealthy family with him and is supposed to work in her father's business. The "Building and Loan" remains dependent on George, who is now finally stuck in Bedford Falls.
However, George finds new happiness with Mary, who has also returned from college and is now marrying him. George and Mary want to go on a big honeymoon around the world, but Black Friday comes in America. The banks have closed and the “Building and Loan” has also been canceled. Investors are demanding their money back because they cannot get any money from the bank. George has to find a solution, otherwise they would sell their shares to Mr. Potter, who offered them half the price. This would have achieved his goal and swallowed the "Building and Loan". Mary suggests that George do without the honeymoon and distribute the money intended for it to the customers. George can restore customer confidence and save the bank. He and Mary set up a dilapidated house as a place to live and have four children. With Bailey Park, George founds a residential area for poor families, whereby Mr. Potter increasingly loses his power over the city. When Potter flatters him and offers a tempting four-year contract in his bank with a high salary, George refuses after a brief hesitation, since he correctly suspects that Potter only wants to eliminate him as a competitor.
At the beginning of the Second World War , George is not drafted due to his deaf ear and is active on the home front in Bedford Falls, while Harry as a fighter pilot shoots down fifteen enemies and saves a US troop transport. For his courage, Harry was awarded the Medal of Honor on Christmas Eve 1945 and invited to an honorary dinner in New York. On the same Christmas Eve , the mishap happened that made George doubt the meaning of his existence and made him think of suicide : due to an mishap of his shabby uncle Billy, a cash amount of 8,000 dollars fell into the hands of Potter, of all people, who maliciously suppressed the find. As a balance sheet review is taking place on that day, the Building and Loan faces bankruptcy and George faces jail. Desperate, he asks Mr. Potter for help, but he coldly rejects him and files a complaint against him for falsifying accounts. Potter also saw George giving his childhood friend Violet Bick a sum of his own money so that she could start a new life outside of Bedford Falls. Potter uses this fact to portray George as an unfaithful husband and to substantiate the accusation of fraud.
In the Martinis bar , George tearfully asks God for help, but is knocked down by a man whose wife he had recently insulted in his troubled state. A little later he also drives his car into a tree while drunk. He goes to a nearby bridge and wants to plunge into the water. At that moment an elderly man falls into the river and calls for help. George saves him - it's the guardian angel Clarence. When this man tries to make it clear to George that he is an angel, George doesn't believe him. Instead, George explains that he wishes he had never been born because he only brought bad luck to all people. Clarence grants him this wish and transforms the city into a state in which it would have been if George had never existed.
The tranquil little town of Bedford Falls has become a den of vice dominated by gambling dens and strip clubs called Pottersville , and most of the people in town are gruff and unhappy. Mr. Gower spent twenty years in prison for the mistaken poisoning of the little boy, which George could not prevent, and is now a despised drinker. Violet, who helped out George with money, works in a cheap strip club and is arrested by the police. Where Bailey Park should be, George only finds a cemetery with Harry's grave - Harry drowned as a child in the ice-cold water and was therefore unable to save the troop transport. After Mr. Bailey's death, the Building and Loan went bankrupt, which affected his brother Billy so much that he has lived in a mental hospital ever since . George's mother, who no longer has a family, runs a boarding house . The city is completely in Potter's hands, so the population has to pay high rents for their decrepit apartments. Mary has become an old maid, the four children do not exist. George is taken by surprise at not being recognized by his loved ones and desperately knocks down the police officer Bert, who also does not recognize him, who is in pursuit. George flees to the bridge from which he wanted to throw himself, regrets his wish and wants to live again. Clarence then restores Bedford Falls to its original state. When Bert finds George at the bridge the next moment and calls him by name, George is overjoyed to have his old life back.
Full of new zest for life, George walks through Bedford Falls and even wishes the mocking Mr. Potter a Merry Christmas. He then returns to his worried family, where the bank auditor and the police are already waiting for him; George doesn't care, however, that he might go to jail innocently as long as things are back to normal. But at Mary's call, all his friends and relatives have gathered to help out with money. A lot more is collected than is needed, and even bank auditors and police give a small sum. In the festive mood, Harry, who left the gala prematurely in his honor, appears and says “a toast to my big brother George, the richest man in town”. As one after another Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and Auld Lang Syne are intoned, a bell rings, whereupon George's daughter Zuzu says: "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings". Clarence, who disappeared after completing his mission, has finally earned his wings.
production
Background and script
The film is based on the short story The Greatest Gift by the American author Philip Van Doren Stern , which he wrote in November 1939. After Van Doren Stern could not find a publisher for his story, he sent it to 200 of his friends as a Christmas card in 1943. The Greatest Gift also caught the attention of producer David Hempstead, whose film studio RKO Pictures initially wanted to film the story with Cary Grant in the lead role.
RKO bought the film rights for US $ 10,000, and three different scripts were made, none of which were satisfactory from the studio management's point of view. While Grant made another Christmas film with Every Woman Needs an Angel (1947), director Frank Capra read Van Doren Stern's story, recognized its potential and bought it from RKO. The film was shot by Capra's own, independent production company Liberty Films - however, RKO was later responsible for distributing the film in the cinemas again.
Capra and his screenwriters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett also used the three previously discarded scripts and the original story as a basis for their script. The writers Jo Swerling , Michael Wilson and Dorothy Parker , who were supposed to put the finishing touches, also helped on the script . Parts of the three scripts and the original story were finally combined by Capra and its authors into one story, which instead of The Greatest Gift has now been renamed It's a Wonderful Life . However, the script had to be changed during the shoot.
In the 1940s, the strict Hays Code , which was established by the Motion Picture Association of America and was intended to prevent “indecent” subjects in films , applied to US films. Words like “damn”, “impotent”, “idiot” or “lousy” had to be deleted from Capra's script. Another point of the Hays Code stipulated that criminal acts in films always had to be punished. However, Capra ignored this part of the code, so Mr. Potter is never punished for embezzling the $ 8,000 in the film. Capra therefore had to pay a fine to the MPAA.
In an earlier version of the script, the scene in which George saves his brother Harry as a child is different. Here the boys play ice hockey by the river on Potter's property, which the latter regards with contempt. When George shoots the puck at the "No Trespassing" sign and the puck lands on Potter's lawn, Potter gets angry and lets his dogs loose on the boys. They flee, but the ice of the river breaks and Harry falls into the water. Then George saves him, similar to the movie.
Other scenes have also been changed and shortened. For example, Capra initially stipulated that George would pray the Our Father at the end of the film . He deleted the prayer from the script, however, as he came to the view that an overly religious tone did not explain why George is being saved from distress by his friends and family - that is, by people, not by God.
occupation
Because Frank Capra shot the film with his independent production company Liberty Films , he had to borrow almost all actors from other film studios. James Stewart was quickly the favorite for the leading role, especially since he had played leading roles in two Frank Capra films in the late 1930s. Stewart had interrupted his film career for five years because of his military service in World War II and made his comeback with this film . At times, however, Henry Fonda should also have been in conversation as George. Casting for Mary Hatch was much more difficult. The first candidate was Jean Arthur , who had been under Capra's direction several times, but Arthur was committed to an engagement on Broadway. Also in conversation were Olivia de Havilland , Martha Scott , Ann Dvorak and Ginger Rogers ; The latter thought the role was too bland. In the end, the still relatively unknown Donna Reed won the part.
Numerous candidates were also traded for the role of Henry F. Potter: Edward Arnold , Charles Bickford , Edgar Buchanan , Louis Calhern , Victor Jory , Raymond Massey , Vincent Price and even Thomas Mitchell , who later played Uncle Billy. Finally, Oscar winner Lionel Barrymore got the role, especially since he was very successful at speaking Ebenezer Scrooge from Dickens ' A Christmas Story on the radio every Christmas . Because of his arthritis , Barrymore was dependent on a wheelchair. So this was also the case with Mr. Potter in the film. In the supporting roles, Capra preferred to cast actors with whom he had previously worked frequently, such as Beulah Bondi , Charles Lane or ex-silent film star HB Warner , who played the pharmacist Mr. Gower here and who had a medical degree in real life. Stewart's character in the film also plans to build skyscrapers as an architect - Stewart also had a degree in architecture.
Filming
The film shooting began on April 15, 1946 and ended on July 27, 1946, the budget was almost 3.2 million US dollars, which was a very large film budget at the time.
Was filmed Isn't life beautiful? in the San Fernando Valley , Los Angeles , in the Encino neighborhood . The approximately 89 acres Encino Movie Ranch of RKO Pictures was built there in the 1920s for film shoots. A 275 meter long main street (Genesee Street) was built for the film city. The film city consisted of three blocks with 75 shops, a residential area, an industrial area, twenty oak trees and a poor district on a total area of 16,000 m². The construction time was two months. This set was one of the longest movie cities ever built for a movie in Hollywood . Large parts of the set came from the western Pioneers of the Wild West (1931), for which its production designer Max Rée had received an Oscar in 1932. Encino Movie Ranch was demolished in 1954 and soon gave way to new housing developments. Many of the trees that were planted for Bedford Falls still exist today and grace Lake Balboa Park next door. Two locations from the film still exist: The gym at the prom, the floor of which opens on both sides and under which there is a swimming pool, belongs to Beverly Hills High School in Los Angeles and is still used today. The "Bailey Park" settlement is also still in the Californian town of La Cañada Flintridge and is almost unchanged.
Animals such as birds, cats and dogs were allowed on this mammoth set, so that the city of art appeared more authentic. Capra also had the raven " Jimmy the Raven " appear as Uncle Billy's pet in the film . The raven had appeared in every Capra film since Lebenskünstler (1938) and is said to have made a total of around 1,000 films. In order to simulate snow, cornflakes were colored white back then, which looked convincing, but the crunching of the cornflakes disrupted the recording of the dialogue and usually made dubbing necessary. However, Capra insisted on the original sound. So Capra had a new artificial snow developed for the set , for which a fire-extinguishing foam-soap-water mixture was used. Almost 23,000 liters of it were used during filming. There were also 300 tons of plaster of paris, 300 tons of plaster and 3000 tons of crushed ice to give the impression of a snow-covered city. The effects department of the RKO received a technology award from the Motion Picture Academy for the development of the new film snow.
In the scene at Harry's reunion and wedding party, George shows his drunken Uncle Billy the way to his house with his finger. The camera focuses on George, who is amused by his drunk uncle, but suddenly you hear a distant crack and Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell) yells: “I'm all right! I'm all right! ". This was actually unintentional, only accidentally someone had knocked something on the film set. Capra left Thomas Mitchell's improvisation in the film and amplified the crack with later added sound effects.
Model for Bedford Falls
The name of the fictional city "Bedford Falls" results from the real cities of Seneca Falls and Bedford Hills in the state of New York . Seneca Falls advertises itself with the slogan of the "real Bedford Falls". In Seneca Falls there is an annual "It's a Wonderful Life Festival" in December, a museum about the film and the Hotel Clarence, named after the Guardian Angel. In the film, the city of Rochester is mentioned by Sam Wainwright. It is only 70 km from Seneca Falls. The bank auditor notes that he would like to celebrate Christmas with his family “at home in Elmira”. Elmira is also near (90 km) from Seneca Falls. Roads and a bridge in Seneca Falls are also very similar to the sets in the film. Capra himself never said which city served him as a model, but he is said to have visited both places personally in 1945 while he was writing the script.
Cameo
Because of his Italian origins, Frank Capra also included a great deal of understanding for immigrant families in his film. When an immigrant family moves from their rented apartment to their own house, Capra lets a goat get into the car with the people with their belongings. A subtle form of cameo : la capra = the goat.
synchronization
The German synchronized editing was created in 1961 on behalf of ARD . This was carried out under the overall direction of Gyula Trebitsch in Hamburg, at Realfilm-Atelier Betriebsgesellschaft mbH. The German dialogue book was written by Rosemarie Riegner, the editing was done by Gerhard Kossinna and the German dialogue director was Hans Harloff. It was first broadcast on television on December 16, 1961 on ARD.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| George Bailey | James Stewart | Günther Dockerill |
| Mary Hatch Bailey | Donna Reed | Marion Degler |
| Mr. Henry F. Potter | Lionel Barrymore | Heinz Klevenow |
| Uncle Billy Bailey | Thomas Mitchell | Martin Hirthe |
| Angel Clarence | Henry Travers | Manfred Steffen |
| Violet Bick | Gloria Grahame | Eva Maria Bauer |
| Harry Bailey | Todd Karns | Charles Brewer |
| Pharmacist Mr. Gower | HB Warner | Joseph Offenbach |
| Mother Bailey | Beulah Bondi | Ida honor |
| Father Peter Bailey | Samuel S. Hinds | Heinz Engelmann |
| Sam Wainwright | Frank Albertson | Uwe Friedrichsen |
| Bartender Nick | Sheldon Leonard | Friedrich Schuetter |
| Angel Joseph (voice) | Joseph Granby | Eduard Marks |
| Angel Franklin (voice) | Moroni Olsen | Fritz Schröder-Jahn |
reception
Contemporary reactions and rediscovery
The film premiered on December 20, 1946 with mixed reviews in New York. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times praised some actors such as Stewart and Reed, but criticized an excessive sentimentality, unreality and an illusory concept of life. Other critics also criticized similar points as Crowther. However, there were also positive reviews like the one in Time , which called it a “pretty beautiful film” and rated it as the best film of the year alongside The Best Years of Our Life . In particular, Frank Capra's wealth of ideas, his sense of humor and humanity were highlighted by Time . In total, the film grossed around 3.3 million US dollars in America, making it the 26th most successful film of the year, one place ahead of another Christmas classic, namely The Miracle of Manhattan . Mainly because of the high production costs, however, the film became a commercial flop , with a significant loss of 525,000 US dollars.
At times the film was targeted by the FBI , which examined it for its criticism of capitalism and wrote in a memorandum in May 1947 : "With regard to the film" It's a Wonderful Life ", [Edited] said above all that the film was quite obvious attempts makes to discredit bankers by making Lionel Barrymore the most hated man in the film as the " Scrooge type". This is a common communist trick, according to these sources . Also said [Edited] that in his opinion this film is deliberately targeting the upper class by trying to show that people who have money have mean and despicable characters. “ Isn't life beautiful? marked the beginning of the decline of Capra's career, which was no longer able to build on its huge successes from the 1930s and early 1940s with critics and audiences.
The rights to the film initially held Capra's short-lived production company Liberty Films , after which the owner of the film rights changed several times after its bankruptcy. The National Telefilm Associates had in 1974 the rights to the then almost forgotten film. The film rights had to be renewed every few years, but the NTA made a formal error that invalidated the copyrights . Numerous US television stations then began to broadcast the film because it was an inexpensive alternative to the otherwise expensive Christmas films. The broadcast of the film was not entirely free, however, because Philip Van Doren Stern extended the rights to his original story The Greatest Gift in 1971 , thus protecting the rights to the plot. In the 1980s, the film became a classic film and a typical Christmas film. In 1993 Republic Pictures sued the court for copyright and has owned the exclusive rights ever since. Since then, the film has been shown less often on US television because it now costs the channels even more money. The rights have been with Paramount Pictures since 1998, which Republic Pictures bought in 1998.
Today's reviews
"Masterful Capra comedy with a lot of imagination, amiable naivety and a strong shot of sentimental melancholy: a hymn to neighborhood spirit and small-town intimacy, which not least tries to counter the socio-political hangover mood in America in the first post-war years."
“A typical Capra film. Typical in his optimistic belief in the good in people and the power of solidarity; typically also in the imaginative style, which combines realistic and fairytale motifs with skill and taste. Capra has set his story back on the fine line between humor and emotion, skilfully avoiding pure sentimentality by almost always ending soulful scenes with an ironic gag, as it were with a wink. "
“With this film, director Frank Capra once again demonstrated his mastery in lively comedies with socially critical undertones. Born in Sicily, he began as an assistant director and screenwriter in Hollywood and has been convincing with above-average comedies since the early 1930s, including highlights such as ' It happened in one night ' (1934) or ' Arsenic and lace cap ' (1944). With the sentimental-intelligent story 'Isn't life beautiful?' took up Capra once again as a propagandist of the politics that became known under Roosevelt as the ' New Deal ' by denouncing exploitation and the pursuit of power. The director cleverly packaged his attacks into entertaining film stories in which sentimental passages are brilliantly mixed with biting irony. Incomprehensibly, the film initially failed in the USA . Capra, who had just started its own manufacturing company, lost more than half a million dollars. It was not until the beginning / middle of the seventies that the value of this film was recognized as an ideal Christmas story, which from then on was and will be shown regularly. Leading actor James Stewart brought the convincing role at least a nomination for the Oscar for best leading actor. "
Awards
The tragicomedy was unsuccessfully nominated for an Oscar in the following categories:
- Best film - Frank Capra
- Best director - Frank Capra
- Best Actor - James Stewart
- Best editing - William Hornbeck
- Best tone - John Aalberg
- After all, there was a special Oscar for technical merits for the development of artificial snow.
The film received the following awards / prizes :
- 1947: Golden Globe Award - Frank Capra
- 1949: Cinema Writers Circle Awards - Best Foreign Film
- 1990: Entry into the National Film Registry
Honors from the renowned American Film Institute :
- 2002: In 8th place of the 100 best love movies of all time Isn't life beautiful? elected
- 2003: The role of George Bailey , played by James Stewart , made it to the 9th place of the top 50 heroes of all time. At the same time, the role of Mr. Potter played by Lionel Barrymore made it to number 6 of the top 50 villains of all time.
- 2006: The film reached number one in the list of the 100 most inspiring films of all time
- 2007: 20th place of the 100 best films of all time (1998: 11th place)
- 2008: In the top 10 best fantasy films of all time, the film reached 3rd place
Other awards
- In 2004, the BBC television magazine “Radio Times” voted the Christmas film second among the best films that never received an Oscar ( Best Film Never to Have Won an Oscar ). The 1993 film drama The Condemned was voted first place.
Post-coloring
Frank Capra met with Wilson Markle of Colorization, Inc. in the mid-1980s after the colorized version of the film Topper Goes on a Trip ( Topper , 1938) had been very popular. The company's artistic director, Brian Holmes, prepared a 10-minute post-colored preview, and Capra signed a contract with the company for the full post-coloring, according to which he was willing to pay half of the $ 260,000 for it himself. However, after believing the film was in public domain ownership at the time , Markle and Holmes returned the order and refused to allow the director any further artistic influence over the coloring of his film, which led to Capra agreeing to it turned to the campaign against changing the film.
There are now three colorized versions of the film. The first was created by Hal Roach Studios in 1986 and also released on VHS video in 1989. The second version was authorized and produced in 1989 by the then owner of the film, Republic Pictures , with better quality, which, like the 1986 version, was criticized by Capra and James Stewart. A third, significantly improved color version was produced in 2007 by the Legend Films company with the approval of the Capra estate administrators and released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in 2014 by Studiocanal GmbH from Berlin.
Adaptations and remakes
As early as 1947, two radio adaptations of the film were made in which Stewart and Reed represented their roles again. In the 1980s, Sheldon Harnick (text) and Joe Raposo wrote a musical called A Wonderful Life , which premiered at the University of Michigan in 1986 . In addition to this version, there were several pieces that were also based on the film. In 1977 the television film It Happened One Christmas was released , in which Mary is the main character and managing director of the bank and other - formerly male characters - were "made" female. The leading roles were taken by Marlo Thomas as Mary Bailey Hatch, Wayne Rogers as George Hatch, Cloris Leachman as Angel Clara and Orson Welles as Mr. Potter. The remake was quickly forgotten, as was the television film Clarence with Robert Carradine as the angel Clarence, who is confronted with a new case.
In 2013 an unofficial sequel called It's a Wonderful Life: The Rest of the Story was announced, but has not yet materialized. Karolyn Grimes would play her role as Zuzu Bailey again.
Occurrence in other productions
As Is not life beautiful? Considered one of the most popular Christmas films, it has been referenced in numerous later Hollywood films. Is in various films Is not life beautiful? watched by the characters, for example Gremlins - Little Monsters (1984), Schöne Bescherung (1989), Menace to Society (1993), No Panic - Good hostages are rare (1994) or Mensch, Dave! (2008). In the movie Kevin: Home Alone (1991), Kevin watches the movie briefly before realizing that his family is no longer there. While the McAllister family is in Paris, a version dubbed in French is also on television when George Bailey declines Mr. Potter's offer to work for him and says, "Non, non et non!" In the sequel Kevin - Alone in New York (1993), the film is shown on television in Spanish when Kevin's family members are in Miami for Christmas. Numerous clips from the film appear in the film Elmo saves Christmas . For example, there was a scene in which Ernie and Bert walk past a television, where the film is running, and you can see the scene, asks in the George "Bert, Ernie, what's the matter with you?". In 2011 Christmas Magic - A Christmas Kiss, he is named as one of the protagonist's five favorite Christmas films.
Also in TV shows like Navy CIS , Family Guy , Warehouse 13 , How I Met Your Mother , Everyone Hates Chris , A Terribly Nice Family and King of Queens , characters - mostly in episodes that deal with Christmas - watch the film. In the Flintstones Christmas special Steihnachten with the Feuerstein family from 1993, Fred Feuerstein watches “Isn't Stone Age life beautiful?” On TV. As a result, Christmas Cheers series Cheers , the bar guests complain repeatedly that "Is not life beautiful?" At Christmas and is played, and you can not escape the film. At the end of the episode, however, all visitors to the bar see the scene in which all the residents of Bedford Falls sing Auld Lang Syne and finally get into the Christmas spirit.
In 1994, on the occasion of Donald Duck's 60th anniversary, Don Rosa drew the comic book No Day Like Any Other , which is based on the basic idea of Isn't life beautiful? based.
The film The Greatest Muppet Christmas Spectacle of All Time from 2002 is a Muppet parody of several films, but above all of Isn't Life Beautiful? . Due to a mishap, the Muppet Theater is threatened with sale. In a scene from the 2003 film Bruce Almighty , the main actor Bruce Nolan uses his divine powers to catch the moon with a lasso to draw it closer. This is an allusion to the flirting scene in Isn't Life Beautiful? in which George promises this to Mary.
Various films and television series also parodied the popular classic film or adopted the basic idea for their plot: The sitcom A terribly nice family parodied “Isn't life beautiful” in the episode “Merry Christmas” (4/12, original title: “It's a Bundyful Life “), While Al Bundy, desperate that he could not buy presents for his family again, meets his guardian angel, who initially rebels against this task, but then wants to show Al Bundy how to be in order to earn his wings House would look like without him. Unfortunately the family world is much better without Al than with him. In season 7 of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory , the characters develop various possible scenarios based on what their life would be like without Sheldon. They come up with this idea because Bernadette suggests looking at “Isn't life beautiful?” Together. In one episode of Hannah Montana , Miley wishes to be Hannah Montana forever, and an angel shows her what this life would be like and that she would never have met her friends Lilly and Oliver. In the iCarly series A Scrap Tree for Christmas , Carly wishes that her brother Spencer was born a normal person and not the slob he is, and an angel shows her how terrible her life would have been then. The animated series The Simpsons shows in the episode The Favorite Unhappy Family (season 9, from 1997) in the Simpson family's house, an identical collection of donations as those towards the end of the film Isn't Life Beautiful? . The character Lisa Simpson also plays a Christmas carol on the piano, just like one of Bailey's children. In the TV series The Model and the Snoop , Season 3, Episode 8 ( It's A Wonderful Job ), Maddie wishes she had closed her City of Angels detective agency . An angel appears in a bar where she wants to drown her frustration and tells her that he has granted her wish and shows her what has become of her friends and herself. She then changes her mind and wants to keep her life the way it is. In the television series Highlander , the last episode is about a world in which the protagonist never existed. The main character's best friend, who died a few years earlier, comes back as an angel and shows a dark version of the world, causing the protagonist to rethink his or her life. In the final episode of the Red Ribbon Club season two , Leo wishes he'd never had cancer. The late friend Alex shows him the life he would have had without cancer. Leo enjoys the freedom that a healthy life offers, but is shocked that the other club members do not know him and sometimes vegetate in a terrifying state.
Filmmaker Kurt Kuenne was made strong by Isn't Life Beautiful? influenced, in particular his black and white short film Validation , which reads It's a Wonderful Life on a neon sign in a cinema , and the black and white film Shuffle .
In January 2010, some US celebrities started a campaign aimed at getting US citizens to withdraw their money from the big investment banks and put it in small local banks. The “Move your Money” campaign was supported by a video with excerpts from Isn't Life Beautiful? uses the conflict between Bailey and Potter as a symbol for the "bad big" and the "good little" banks.
In 2016, the opera It's a Wonderful Life by Jake Heggie , based on the film and its novel The Greatest Gift , premiered in Houston .
Soundtrack
- Dimitri Tiomkin : It's a Wonderful Life. Reconstructed Motion Picture Score , on: Sundance Film Music Series, Vol. 1: It's a Wonderful Life A Christmas Carol Miracle on 34th Street . Telarc, Cleveland 1988, phonogram no. CD-88801 - digital re-recording of the film music by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of David Newman
literature
- Thomas Klingenmaier: Isn't life beautiful? In: Andreas Friedrich (Ed.): Film genres. Fantasy and fairy tale film. Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-018403-7 , pp. 43-47. (E-book, ISBN 978-3-15-960122-9 )
- Jeanine Basinger (Eds.): Leonard Maltin , Frank Capra , Frances Goodrich , Albert Hackett , Philip Van Doren Stern : The 'It's a Wonderful Life' Book. The Behind-the-Scenes-Story of the Making of Frank Capra's Christmas Classic . Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1994, ISBN 0-394-74719-4
- Victor Scherle, William Turner Levy: The Complete Films of Frank Capra . Citadel Press (Carol Communications), New York / Secaucus 1992, ISBN 0-8065-1296-2 .
Web links
- The life is wonderful, is not it? in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- The Making of 'It's a Wonderful Life' in the Internet Movie Database (English)(TV show)
- Film description and criticism at Filmstarts.de
- Detailed analysis in the podcast "Spätfilm"
- It's a wonderful Life movie poster at e.snmc.io
Individual evidence
- ↑ christmas.lovetoknow.com
- ^ RKO Encino Ranch. In: theStudioTour.com. Retrieved December 29, 2020 .
- ↑ retroweb.com
- ↑ trivia. Internet Movie Database , accessed May 22, 2015 .
- ↑ vannuysboomers.blogspot.com
- ↑ christmas.lovetoknow.com
- ↑ therealbedfordfalls.com
- ↑ syracuse.com
- ↑ Program for Saturday, December 16, 1961 . tv-programme.net
- ^ Criticism in the Times
- ^ Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, The RKO Story. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p. 215
- ^ FBI considered It's a Wonderful Life Communist Propaganda
- ^ The Curious Copyright Case of "It's A Wonderful Life": The Studio Shell Game - It's a Wonderful Life gets the Corporate Shuffle Treatement , filmmakeriq.com, January 27, 2018
- ↑ Paramount Threatens Legal Action Over 'It's a Wonderful Life' Sequel Plan , hollywoodreporter.com, November 20, 2013
- ↑ It's a Wonderful Life: From festive flop to Christmas classic , BBC, December 23, 2016
- ↑ Isn't life beautiful? In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ^ Dieter Krusche, Jürgen Labenski : Reclams film guide. 10th edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1996, p. 311.
- ^ Roger Ebert: It's a Wonderful Life . In: Chicago Sun-Times , January 1, 1999. Retrieved February 24, 2008.
- ↑ Isn't life beautiful? Special Edition , filmreporter.de, accessed on December 25, 2018
- ^ "It Happened One Christmas" (1977) at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Clarence (1990) at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ http://variety.com/2013/film/news/its-a-wonderful-life-sequel-in-the-works-exclusive-1200850705/
- ^ "It's a Wonderful Life: The Rest of the Story" at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ Don-McDuck.de - »No day like any other«. Retrieved December 24, 2018 .
- ↑ Michael Höfling: 'Move your money': Campaign calls for a boycott of large US banks . In: THE WORLD . January 9, 2010 ( welt.de [accessed December 12, 2017]).