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It's that time of year again when you're likely thinking of settling down for a traditional rewatch of It's a Wonderful Life. (It's streaming via Channel 4 online this year). When we think of Christmas movies, the movie will inevitably come up alongside the likes of Miracle on 34th Street and A Christmas Carol. Most Christmas movies follow a similar enough pattern: something dire happens and only a Christmas miracle can save the day. In the case of It's a Wonderful Life, that miracle actually came many years after the film's initial debut. When the movie bowed in 1946, it...

We think of It's a Wonderful Life as a great American movie, a great Jimmy Stewart movie, a great Frank Capra movie — and, of course, as a great Christmas movie. We don't think of it as a great Italian-American movie. But we should, especially at Christmastime, when Italian-Americans — of Capra's generation and beyond — can be heard in every shop and restaurant singing many of the songs that define the season. Capra was born in Sicily, and at age 6 moved to Los Angeles. It's a Wonderful Life is spiced with subtle but significant references to his fellow...

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a classic 1939 American political comedy-drama starring James Stewart as wide eyed scout leader Jefferson Smith, who ends up being chosen as the replacement for a recently deceased U.S. Senator. In over his head when he arrives at the capital, the earnest head of the Boy Rangers is expected by the corrupt leaders of his state to be an easy mark but when Mr. Smith’s first order of business is to open a national boys camp in his home state, he unknowingly stumbles into a political machine bent on using the same land for...

Jimmy "All American Hero" Stewart was being slandered and fighting corruption to exhaustion back then. At that time, in reality, the US Senate tried to stop the movie from being released. http://www.tcm.com/ We the People!

When Philip Van Doren Stern passed away in 1984, his New York Times obituary eulogized him as “a historian, novelist and editor who was widely respected by scholars for his authoritative books on the Civil War era.” But while Stern authored a number of historical titles – including “They Were There: The Civil War in Action as Seen by Its Combat Artists,” “Secret Missions of the Civil War,” and “An End to Valor: The Last Days of the Civil War” – his most notable work was a short story that had nothing whatsoever to do with the Civil War. It...

This year marks the 70th anniversary of Frank Capra’s beloved Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. It debuted December 20, 1946, just a year after World War II ended. (Remember, the film begins and ends with the expected return of war hero Harry Bailey.)The film offers several Catholic perspectives. How many movies today would begin with eight people praying? But, in a world afflicted by the culture of death, I want to salute the pro-life focus of this film.In response to those eight prayers heard in heaven, God summons the angels—his messengers—to help. “At exactly ten forty-five p.m. earth...

The Christmas Eve showing of “It’s a Wonderful Life” may be intended to make you believe in the importance of even an ordinary person’s life, but underneath that, what are the film’s secret hidden messages, the ones that become apparent only after two or three eggnogs? Let’s mull over some of the wackier possibilities. It’s a salute to atheism. It’s “the least religious but most humanist film you could ever see,” said David Wilson in The Guardian, because it suggests people should fix their problems on Earth rather than waiting for God to help out. Regarding Jimmy Stewart’s character George...

Film buffs could make a case that the art of film has deteriorated with the prevalence of film school grads working in it. After all, , the men, and they were mostly men, who made the 70- and 80year old movies we still watch managed to avoid it. Case in point: director Frank Capra, whose It’s a Wonderful Life is a Christmas staple while, for the remainder of the year, TV viewers still devour his other classics: Mr. Deeds Goes To Town, Meet John Doe, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Today, Capra’s outlook would not get him past the...

We’ve seen Ted Cruz’s story before. In 1939 Jimmy Stewart and Frank Capra teamed up to produce the classic, ”Mister Smith goes to Washington.” What started out as a nice little “what if” movie about one man’s influence in Washington and ended up being an enduring reminder of the power of truth to destroy lies. The parallels between Stewart’s Senator Jefferson Smith and Texas Senator Ted Cruz aren’t exact, but strong enough to make the point Capra was trying to make. Both are young, intelligent, fearless and idealistic. When Smith tries to pass a simple, wholesome sounding bill he is...

Today being Christmas Eve Eve is the inspiration for today's feature. The beloved perennial Christmas classic about a man who sees what life would've been liked if he had never been born. Starring conservative Republican and WWII veteran James Stewart and directed by Republican, pro-American director Frank Capra. Possibly my favorite film of all time.

This week's feature is an excellent portrayal of how the cynical media manipulates(or at least certainly tries to and often succeeds at) the masses to advance their own agendas. From 1941 and involving 3 classic Hollywood legends (Cooper, Stanwyck, and Capra) who were all Republicans.

One of the best films ever made is Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night, starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. The 1934 comedy features an heiress on the run from her father, and the reporter who joins forces with her. The two fall in love and, alone in hotel rooms, to guard against temptation, they hang a blanket between their beds. They call it “the walls of Jericho.” When the couple finally ties the knot, the “wall” comes tumbling down. In the 1930s, a plotline that precluded premarital sex was a wise idea. Movie-makers who flouted the Motion Picture Production...

A brilliant scene from the end of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", when Jeff Smith, after 23 hours of talking sense to the nation, gets hit with 50,000 phony telegrams demanding that he resign. If this scene doesn't move you, then you have a stone heart and a leather soul!

the case of It’s a Wonderful Life. When the film was released in 1946, it was given a 28-year copyright term which was eligible for a 28-year renewal. For whatever reason, a request wasn’t put in for renewal, and it was believed to have fallen into the public domain in 1975. Had it not connected with the American people on its rediscovery, it would have become a resident of dollar DVD bins, like other public domain mainstays such as the Fleischer Superman cartoons or Bill Cosby’s TV movie Tell All My Friends on the Shore. However, the movie studio smelled...

When it comes to a Christmastime movie, a perennial favorite of most everyone is It’s a Wonderful Life. Jimmy Stewart made no secret it was his favorite film and favorite role as George Bailey. The poignant slice of Americana is on the Vatican’s film list and No. 5 on the Register’s 100 best films list. No matter how many times we watch it, the story remains fresh and remarkably uplifting. And with strong spiritual implications whose foundations were laid before filming began. Before Stewart became George Bailey, his guardian angel surely watched over him during harrowing combat missions in World...

Lots of people love this movie of course. But I’m convinced it’s for the wrong reasons. Because to me “It’s a Wonderful Life” is anything but a cheery holiday tale. Sitting in that dark public high school classroom, I shuddered as the projector whirred and George Bailey’s life unspooled.

Many people suggested after the nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential candidate that she was comparable to Jimmy Stewart's character in the Frank Capra movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". The character in one of the other movies in the unofficial trilogy that included "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" is somewhat similar to the Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. "Meet John Doe" is about a man plucked from obscurity because of his inspiring speeches. In the movie set in the Depression, Barbara Stanwyck plays columnist Ann Sheridan who is one of many employees fired from "The...

As explored here this past weekend, the Clarion Fund has paid dozens of newspapers across the country -- almost solely in "swing" election states -- and The New York Times to distribute the "Islam terror" DVD "Obsession" with their home delivery packages. Among the larger cities where this has taken place: Miami, Philadelphia, Denver and Pittsburgh. An estimated 28 million copies have been distributed so far, also through the mails and other magazines. An article at the group's site, www.radicalislam.org, all but endorsed John McCain this past week, then was pulled down. But at least one newspaper turned away the...

Robert J. Anderson, a former child actor best known for playing the young George Bailey in the 1946 Christmas film classic "It's a Wonderful Life," has died. He was 75. Anderson was 12 when director Frank Capra cast him as Jimmy Stewart's youthful counterpart in the heartwarming tale set in Bedford Falls. As the adult George Bailey contemplates suicide, his life is told in flashback so his guardian angel Clarence can get to know him. Young George rescues his brother from drowning, dreams about being an explorer and saves the town pharmacist, Mr. Gower, from accidentally poisoning a customer. The...