Free Republic

While watching the new colorization of “It's a Wonderful Life" on DVD - this time they got it right; no longer do you get the feeling you're watching a black-and-white film through stained glass - I thought: you know who would love this? Why, that visionary American innovator Henry F. Potter. That's right, Mr. Potter - the unsung hero of “It's a Wonderful Life," the canny businessman who tried (and, alas, failed) to turn boring, repressed Bedford Falls - a town full of drunks, child beaters, vandals and racial and sexual harassers - into an exciting new destination nightspot called...

During World War II, Frank Capra made a series of films called "Why We Fight" to rally Americans behind the war effort. Imagine a filmmaker doing that today. Actually, it's impossible to imagine. Hollywood either prefers to stay away from the war on terrorism altogether (the film version of Tom Clancy's "The Sum of All Fears" changed the villains from Islamist extremists to neo-Nazis) or to use it, even in its pre-9/11 form, as a morality play to warn against lost civil liberties (see "The Siege," starring Denzel Washington). The film community — whose exquisite sensibilities are routinely outraged by...

Mr. Potter is WinningAll hail Pottersville! Above are two different articles that use the Jimmy Stewart/Donna Reed Holiday classic Its a Wonderful Life as a basis for attacking Republicans. This is a widespread meme, I've seen it in other places but couldn't find them online. Basically these articles suggest that mean old Mr. Potter was obviously a Republican because he worked to keep the people of Beford Falls poor and without the things they wanted. He was always out for himself and profits and paid no mind to the concerns of the little people. Personally I think it's disgusting that...

Once upon a time, there were people in Hollywood who loved America. And when America came under attack from enemies abroad, these actors, producers, screenwriters and directors put aside their partisan differences and created movies that -- unlike Michael Moore's new schlockumentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11" -- made all moviegoers proud to be Americans. During World War II, Tinseltown roused the country's fighting spirit instead of trying to stifle it. In February 1941, the entertainment industry convened an extraordinary Academy Awards ceremony. The president of the Motion Picture Association, independent movie mogul and World War I pilot and intelligence officer Walter Wanger, went...

Click to scroll to commentary. Pottersville Rocks! Salon.com ^ | 12/22/01 | Gary Kamiya Posted on 12/26/2001 7:08:20 AM PST by Clemenza All hail Pottersville! The "bad" town in "It's a Wonderful Life" jumps and jives 24/7 with hot bars and cool chicks -- while "wholesome" Bedford Falls is a claustrophobic snooze. By Gary Kamiya