New movie reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, and all things film.

Follow Me

• 2009 Oscars
• District 13: Ultimatum **1/2
• From Paris with Love **1/2
• Edge of Darkness **
• Fish Tank ***1/2
• Legion **
• When in Rome *
• More

• Adam
• The Bourne Identity [DVD/Blu-Ray hybrid]
• The Bourne Supremacy [DVD/Blu-Ray hybrid]
• The Bourne Ultimatum [DVD/Blu-Ray hybrid]
• The House of the Devil
• Import Export
• More Than a Game
• Ong-Bak 2
• Zombieland
• The 25 Best DVDs of 2009
• More

• 2009: The Year's Ten Best Films
• The Decade's Ten Best Films: 2000-2009
• My 2003 Interview with Brittany Murphy
• San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards 2009
• Richard Linklater
• John Woo
• Jared and Jerusha Hess
• Essential Halloween Movies
• Michael Stuhlbarg
• Jane Campion
• Bobcat Goldthwait
• Hugh Dancy
• Kathryn Bigelow
• Willem Dafoe: The 2009 CineVegas Interview
• David Carradine
• A 2002 Interview with Edward Asner
• Vinessa Shaw
• Henry Selick
• 2008: The Year's Ten Best Films
• The San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards 2008
• The 25 Best DVDs of 2008
• Bruce Campbell
• Darren Aronofsky and Marisa Tomei
• Josh Brolin
• A Tribute to Paul Newman
• Steve Coogan on Hamlet 2
• Manny Farber (1917-2008)
• Bernie Mac (1957-2008)
• Emily Mortimer
• Brad Anderson
• Don Cheadle at CineVegas
• Abel Ferrara at CineVegas
• Tina Sinatra
• My Top 100 Films [Updated]
• My Top 60 Directors [Updated]
• The Top 50 Movies of the Past Ten Years (1997-2006)
• Terry Zwigoff on the new Bad Santa Director's Cut
• Alfonso Cuarón Interview
• Guillermo Del Toro Interview
• Christmas Movies
• Combustible Celluloid's Big Guide to Halloween & Horror Movies
• Cult Movies
• Actress Interview Gallery
• The Top 100
• More Features and Interviews

• Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World, by Judy Stone
• James Agee: The Library of America Collection, by James Agee
• Just Making Movies, by Ronald L. Davis
• Guide to Essential Movies, by Joe Leydon
• Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood, by Robert S. Birchard
• Profoundly Disturbing, by Joe Bob Briggs
• A Third Face, by Samuel Fuller
• Dark Lover, by Emily Leider
• Agee on Film, by James Agee
• Lulu in Hollywood, by Louise Brooks
• Negative Space, by Manny Farber
• 5001 Nights at the Movies, by Pauline Kael
• More Books

• Home
• Reviews A-C
• Reviews D-F
• Reviews G-J
• Reviews K-M
• Reviews N-Q
• Reviews R-T
• Reviews U-Z

The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

SEARCH MOVIES / CELEB

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Rating: 4 Stars (out of 4)

Angel Wings

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy It's a Wonderful Life on DVD.

By now everyone knows Frank Capra's holiday classic and the tears it so effortlessly conjures up year after year -- but it's easy to forget how truly vicious the film is, and how brilliantly James Stewart rises to the challenge. As George Bailey, he reaches into the ultimate depths of despair for a truly wrenching performance that Capra pays off beautifully. Directors Anthony Mann and Alfred Hitchcock noticed this dark side of Stewart and capitalized on it in later films like Winchester '73 and Vertigo. Gloria Grahame is very sexy in an early role as the town hottie ("this old thing? I only wear this when I don't care how I look!")

DVD Details: The old It's a Wonderful Life DVD is now out of print and Artisan/Republic's beautiful new one -- mastered in THX from the original film negative -- nicely takes its place.

Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers, Beulah Bondi, Frank Faylen, Ward Bond, Gloria Grahame, H.B. Warner, Frank Albertson, Todd Karnes
Written by: Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra, Jo Swerling, based on a story by Philip Van Doren Stern
Directed by: Frank Capra
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 130 minutes
Date: December 19, 2002