FRANK CAPRAS ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE

I first saw 'Frank Capras It's a Wonderful Life' in Los Angeles ten
years ago. I was on a working holiday and not enjoying it very much.
Many performance art companies in the past had employed me to some
degree of success but this was a bridge too far I fear. Too many drugs
and not enough talent were in abundance. I was lost and homesick and
missing the Christmas Cracker London cold.

Troy, a friend of mine suggested a cinema trip to cheer me up and to
take my mind off the madness and murdering that was occurring back at
the rehearsal room. I agreed vaguely and we headed off to Westwood, The
cinema overkill district in this city of celluloid.

I knew that I did not want to see a blockbuster. I don't think I could
have handled the noise, guns and the masochism. I was in a nervous
state you see and anything more may have pushed me over the edge of
reason.

We ambled past a complex that was showing the same film but in two
different formats. 'Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life', in new
Technicolor or in standard black and white. I knew nothing about this
movie but there was a substantial queue forming for the colour version
that deterred me straight away. We paid our money and entered the black
and white auditorium. We were hot dog and taco-less, I was so rude, and
I was treating the hungry Troy so badly. I would not have blamed him if
he left and went home.

If you asked me why I went and saw this film at this particular time,
the only response that I could give you would be that there was a
certain vibe of kindness in the crowd that were lining up to watch
either version. I guess that I needed to feel some sort of warmth. I
know for sure now that this movie demands and reciprocates kindness. It
will bludgeon you into it within seven minutes of the opening credits,
if it doesn't, then you must be dead or bad.

The moment that the RKO logo appeared on the screen there was absolute
silence. My small world changed within the aforementioned seven minutes
(right after the sledge scene on the lake.) This little, yet huge story
of small town existence and the American dream grabbed me by the neck
and has still not let go to this very day. The images and dialogue are
so slight and deceptively powerful they creep up on the viewer and
wrestle him or her into an emotional submission time and time again. It
is a masterclass of manipulation. There are so many defining moments in
this film. The evil Potter, (Lionel Barrymore) giving George Bailey,
(James Stewart) a cigar and offering him a job with his firm and then
George, on the verge of taking it, refusing at the last moment. Then
there is James Stewart and Donna Reed singing on the way home from the
school dance and the snagging of the dressing gown. The heartbreak of
Clarence (Henry Travers) showing George Bailey what Bedford Falls (the
little town where the story is set) would be like without him. The
crowning glory is of course the last heart soaring ten minutes. We are
all running with James Stewart in that snow covered high street in
Bedford Falls to a thrilling, tearful d?nouement and joyful
conclusion.

When the film ended there was weepy and sustained applause from the
audience. I have never felt anything like it. This black and white
fable coloured everything around me and made me believe in the human
sprit. I immediately called the airport and then my family. I was
sitting in my parent's kitchen making mince pies and drinking steaming
tea within 24 hours. I had a great festive season that year and on
Christmas morning when I opened my present from my mother it was a
video. My friend Troy had called whilst I was flying home.

Yes sir, it is a wonderful life.

In black and white of course because that is the way it was made and
the way it was meant to be seen.