'It's a Wonderful Life'

Rae -- you're as

bad as the malls. It's still only OCTOBER!!!!

P.S. I've already started my Christmas shopping and wrapping so I

shouldn't be talking.

It works for me. My hearing is so quirky that I can seldom follow tv dialog.

No matter, I've already memorized the blooming thing.

sniff, sniff.....Sorry, bandylu!

I'm the first one to complain about

the stores decorating for the holidays the day after Halloween.

Have to admit that it's become a tradition for me to

do ALL of my Christmas shopping on my birthday ~ December 22. No idea why I do this ~ it started when my son was very young

and I've just kept it up.

So, I'm proud to say that I have not bought a single Christmas gift so far this

year!

Roger ~ every line? Really?

Maybe it just seems that way.

Oh, this is a sweetheart of a film (and this is coming from someone who doesn't celebrate Xmas).

The most extraordinary part, for me, is when Mary doesn't know George, and he's following her, and she's running through the streets of Bedford Falls, desperate to get away from this madman who claims to be her (nonexistent) husband. I just think it's the greatest piece of acting I ever saw from Donna Reed. It's just the perfect look of fear and confusion, and it makes you wonder how you'd react if, in some odd way, you were put into a similar situation. Our bonds as human beings are so tenuous. For example, it wouldn't have taken much for me to have never met my husband. If we had never met, and never married, and he suddenly came up to me and claimed we were wed, I'm sure I'd freak out.

True, Jes.

(Roger, you know about captioning, right? If you have a somewhat recent TV [made after... 1996?], it has built-in captioning.)

Uh oh. . . Now I have to go public with my dirty little secret. I don't have a television of any vintage. I can guess what captioning would be, though, and it sounds great.

roger -- NO tv? How do you survive? Probably a lot better than those of us with lots of tv's (we have 5 and there only 2 of us here except when my daughter comes home from grad school).

Roger survives quite well. I have a large 25-inch TV. I don't know why I have it. I can't recall the last time I turned it on.

Great recollection, jespah!

The whole movie is great, but my favorite (sniffing) scene is when George finally 'gets' it.....Kissing the loose bannister.....finding Zoe's flower petals.....awwww man.....I need a tissue.....

By the way, my television has become one of those excersise machines ~ it collects more dust than anything.....Except for reruns of 'Friends' and when my son is here to play Nintendo.

What can one say -- Frank Capra just never misfires and several of his films including this one are in Ebert's Great Movies list. It's superb storytelling and in a style that could become maudlin and overly sentimental but Capra manages to make it a modern fable that is enduring and universal.

And it was written way way back when liberal ideas hadn't yet become a threat to national security or seen as clear evidence that Satan walks the land.

Funny, I can't remember the last time I turned my TV off!!
(growing up, TV was my babysitter)

Love "It's a Wonderful Life"; but feel obliged to mention my dislike of the Marlo Thomas version from the seventies

I wasn't too crazy about that one either, Jerry.

I love this movie very much. It has many levels of meaning throughout. My favorite scene is where Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed are at the telephone. Stewart is talking to the guy in New York. In the middle of the conversation he and Reed start kissing - Powerful acting on both parts there.

Yikes I have never seen it, hmmm.

edgarblythe ~ that was a fabulous scene.

I actually purchased the movie on video and found that I much prefer to watch it (endlessly) on television during the holiday season.

Joanne! Ohmygoodness! You're comin over to my house Friday night to watch this movie, girl!

I gotta say..Im one of those who will never tire of this film.
Fabulous and timeless!
Always will watchi it when it comes on, and I very much wish it was on more like it had been in years past but, its okay, Ill find it!

TBS, at least here, is great for showing 'It's A Wonderful Life' and 'A Christmas Story' (another favorite) at least twice a week each beginning right after Thanksgiving.