Why has the film It's A Wonderful Life overtaken every other Christmas fable--including A Christmas Carol, Charlie Brown and the Grinch (with or without Jim Carrey)--as the story of the season?
As a tale of redemption, it is no better than so-so; the revelation that George Bailey's world was better off with him in it has none of the social message or the moral urgency of Scrooge's ghost-bed conversion. The angel-wing stuff is silly. James Stewart, Donna Reed, Thomas Mitchell and company are all terrific in their parts, but that would not explain the near mythic stature of the thing, or...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
