The Movie Journal

  It's a Wonderful Life (1946) One of the best things to happen with It’s A Wonderful Life is to fall out of copyright protection and enter the public domain. That meant any television studio could take the movie and play it essentially for free. It also was a bad thing because of the colorization process which took the film’s magic away and was something director Frank Capra and star James Stewart opposed vehemently. At least I never lose that magic because I refuse to watch the adventures of George Bailey in color. But because the film was in public domain for nearly two decades, a forgotten film became popular. Popular enough where it became an annual Christmas tradition for many families. It was surprising to learn the film received mixed to negative reviews upon release. Today’s general consensus has the picture as a sentimental, sweet-hearted film that delivers an important lesson or two…a sentiment I can certainly agree with. Think A Christmas Carol but in reverse. Even a gr...

  The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) The Vietnam War brought the issue of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) to the forefront of people’s minds. In today’s combat, PTSD is a topic that is regularly explored. PTSD is nothing new, but its thematic exploration is only recent. However, there happens to be an honest, intelligent film depicting PTSD from before Vietnam…during World War II. That particular film is William Wyler’s The Best Years of Our Lives . The film began production a mere seven months after the war ended and Wyler wanted to bring an honest, authentic feeling to his movie. He even had the principal actors buy their own clothes. At nearly three hours long, you don’t feel the time passing. Wyler, the man behind Wuthering Heights and Ben-Hur , immerses his audience into his film with a timely topic, impressive, well-developed characters, and a wonderful film score composed by Hugo Friedhofer. Big-time American producer Samuel Goldwyn came up with this film’s idea when...