It Happened One Christmas (1977)
It's Christmas Eve 1944 in the small town of Bedford Falls, New York. A despondent and suicidal Mary Bailey Hatch is praying for guidance on what to do about an incident no fault of her own which threatens her name and the community standing of her longtime family business, the Bailey Building and Loan, which she took over after the passing of her father. What Mary does not know is that most in town, including her husband George Hatch and their children, are also praying for her. All the prayers are heard by Joseph, God's gatekeeper of prayers. As there are no other angels available on such a busy day, Joseph assigns Clara Oddbody, angel second class (i.e. she has yet to receive her wings), to Mary's case, which he reluctantly does as Clara has never been assigned a case on her own in the two hundred years she's been in heaven for good reason.
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I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
From my favorite movies..
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
Frank Capra's It's a wonderful life stands on it's own as a classic film with a timeless message.Marlo Thomas whom I have never seen before, turns in a superb and dedicated performance in James Stewart's role.This movie reverses the original roles taken by Donna Reed and James Stewart.This movie does not have the warmth of the original, or the characterization of the original.It is solely the acting of Mario Thomas that makes this version stand out on it's own.
It Happened One Christmas is a lovely rendition of an old time classic movie called It's A Wonderful Life. I love this movie and I love It's A Wonderful Life too. I am in love with Christmas movies period.Marlo Thomas was sweet in the role of Mary Bailey. Wayne Rogers was effective in the role that he played opposite Marlo Thomas. Of course what can I say Orson Welles is a master.I though that Cloris Leachman was interesting as well. It was an unusual part for her to play. I am a big fan of all of the actors in this movie.I thought the setting and the costumes were good too. This version had a totally different feel than It's A Wonderful Life did.That is what is so nice,both movies were good in their own way.I taped this movie in 2006 from Ion TV and I was pleased with a nice clear print.I don't mind the commercials. I have a very old print from many years ago that has no footage cut, but the picture is not very good on DVD.The picture is not bad on VHS tape.I highly recommend this movie to Christmas movie lovers.
This was the first version I saw of this story back in the 70's as well, but I got to see the classic Jimmy Stewart version in the 80's and THAT is the ultimate version. The acting in this TV version is just horrible, all the actors walk through the scenes like it was a high school play and the emotion and passion of the original is wiped away. Horrible! Jimmy Stewart gave the best acting perhaps ever in It's a Wonderful Life and never got enough credit since he made it seem so effortless. One thing that amused me in this version watching it again tonight was seeing a young Christopher Guest as Harry Bailey. Who knew???
This is one of the most unnecessary remakes of all time. It is nothing but an ego trip by Marlo Thomas and should not have been made.The biggest flaw was that since MARLO was producing this, her character was spotlighted so much that we got a lot less of the supporting characters like Bert & Ernie. Thus, we cared less about them.Orson Welles is just sleepwalking through his part as Potter. He's not a patch on Lionel Barrymore.I watched this when it first premiered and was already a fan of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. I was appalled that the original scriptwriters received no credit despite the fact that large parts of their dialog was used. This was because the movie had gone into the Public Domain at that point. The only credit was for the original story by Philip Van Doren Stern. I've read it and it can't be used as the source for the stolen dialog in this movie.I think film classes should be shown both versions as an example of how to make such a movie and how NOT to.I'm glad it's not available on legitimate VHS or DVD.