The Greatest Christmas film of all time

Rating: 9/10 (28 January 2008)

The first time I became aware of this film I must have been in my teens and it was referenced in the sitcom "Cheers" with the normal cast mocking the film's sentimentality at the end and then uniformly bursting into tears. I guess when you think about it, that's what this film does better than anything else. It takes our jaded world weary selves and reminds us that their are better things in life than money and success.
I know I won't be the only person to say that the casting of Jimmy Stewart as the perfect George Bailley maybe the most fortuitous part of casting ever, and they may well be right. He is perfect as both heroic boy to disillusioned man that has ever been portrayed on screen, and he plays these myriad of emotions with the same intensity and passion that he plays every scene in the film. The scene in the bar where he is praying for help is one of the most heartfelt moments I have ever seen in film. As you watch it you are drawn into his plight as you know that his life and soul are on the line.
The script is dynamite and like most of the best films has had scenes stolen and reworked and spoofed a thousand times over (Hell one of the best Simpson's episodes is the Leftorium for Chrissake and that's the Simpsons!) If you had to pick a downside it would be the stereotypical black woman who seems to have walked off the set of the Tom and Jerry cartoons and straight onto the screen here, but that aside, it doesn't stop this your enjoyment and as long as people watch movies it probably never well.
M