“You see George, you really had a wonderful life.”
The Frank Capra Christmas classic is given another go round and this one adds a colorized version to what was released before.
Technology has obviously improved since this new version looks much better than their first attempts.
George Bailey’s (Jimmy Stewart) life is in a shambles and he wishes that he wasn’t ever born. He’s about to jump off of a bridge and end it all when somebody crashes into the water. George jumps in to save the fellow. It seems that the prayers of George’s friends and family have reached the ears of the Almighty.
They’ve sent Clarence (Henry Travers), an angel first class, to earn his wings by helping out George. So he sits and listens to the story of George’s life and decides to show him what life would be like if he was never born. It’s a Wonderful Life has become a holiday classic and the film that Frank Capra is most know for. Ironically, the film was a box office flop and Capra’s fledgling movie studio folded after the box office performance of the film.
It was multiple repeat showings (sometimes at the same time on different channels) during the holiday season that would catapult Capra’s film into the public consciousness. Some people so closely associate it with Christmas that it just doesn’t seem like the holiday until they get a chance to view it (your reviewer has to watch Albert Finney’s turn as Scrooge to get into that holiday spirit – thank you very much).
I’m not a big fan of colorization and can recall buying a VHS copy of the job they did to It’s a Wonderful Life and the colorization was really atrocious.
The colors didn’t seem to follow the characters and would “slip” off on occasion. This new version is a sight to behold and the process has improved greatly. I’m not saying that I’m converted, but it does have a strange beauty like a hand colored photograph.
The film is also presented in a remastered black and white print (that’s one good thing about the colorization process is that now they have to have a clean B&W print to work their magic and we’re usually give both nowadays).
It’s a Wonderful Life is presented in fullscreen as it was originally shown. Disc one contains the B&W version and disc two has the colorized version. This release is exactly the same as the 2006 Sixtieth Anniversary Edition save the addition of the colorized version. Disc one also contains the special features.
They include the 22-minute “The Making of It’s a Wonderful Life” from 1990. It’s hosted by Tom Bosley and features footage of Frank Capra, Jimmy Stewart, and Sheldon Leonard. Next is the 14-minute “A Personal Remembrance” that has Frank Capra, Jr., Capra, and Stewart.
Finally there’s the 2-minute theatrical trailer and a preview for Last Holiday with Queen Latifah (um, that’s an odd choice).
If you don’t have this DVD in your holiday collection – what are you a Scrooge?!? This new release only adds a colorized version, that I’m a little ashamed to say looks really good but that’s all. I could’ve had more additions so since the film is excellent I still have to split it down the middle.
It's A Wonderful Life (Two-Disc Collector's Set) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for this version of the DVD in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
Your Talkback on this Story