12 favorite things from "It's a wonderful life" including the board game

Sally from the great blog Flying Down To Rio organized a Christmas movie blogathon, called 12 Days of Christmas movies. I wanted to review It's a wonderful life, but soon I noticed it was pointless. This is a cathartic movie that everybody has seen and loved and I couldn't possibly add something new about it. A more personal post occurred to me, so I give you my picks of 12 favorite things from the film (hope you don't mind, Sally!): 

1. A quote
I know there are like 1,000 quotable lines, but here's one of my faves. Simple and cute:

2. A song
I love this song. You can hear the Buffalo Gals sung by James Stewart and Donna Reed pressing the black button (wait until it appears above the vid) and then hear a really nice version with lyrics from Youtube:

3. A scene
Again, many great scenes. I love when Mary prepares a dinner in the house that's falling apart but she loves anyway; or when she and George do the Charleston near in the pool; or when George asks God for help, or well, all the sequence at the end when he realizes his life was so worthy...BUT, I think the next scene is really dramatic and pivotal, because it shows George's good nature (just press play to go to the chosen scene):

4. A picture from the movie:

5. A behind the scenes pic:

6. A fact:

For the scene that required Donna Reed to throw a rock into the window of the Granville House, Frank Capra hired a marksman to shoot it out for her on cue. To everyone's amazement, Donna Reed broke the window with true aim and heft without the assistance of the hired marksman! (Imdb)

7. A promo shot:

8. A gif:

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9. An actor
Everyone did a superb job in this film. But this time I'm picking Bobby Anderson, who plays young George. Why? Did you see the #3 scene?

10. A movie poster

11. A related item:

It's a wonderful life - the game. This time it's not invented by me, it's the 1996 Pressman board game based on the movie. I was lucky to find it last year at the flee market. Because it was in English nobody bought it, so I got it for a very low price :) As you can see, it contains cards with questions about the movie, cards with George's family and friends plus two 8 thousand dollars cards. The board let's you "Answer one" (question), " Take a card" (from the other players' hands), "Draw any card" (from the deck), "Lose a card" (boo!), "Wait here" and gives you the possibility of getting the $8,000. When you collect one money card, 5 different family and friends cards and correctly answer a final question, you win :)

Did you know the answers from the question above? Yeah, some of them are really specific, that's why it's better if you play right after watching the movie. Interested in buying the game? It's on Ebay.  

12. A quote from the crew about the movie

urbanrecord

"(...) By the end of 1947 the film was quietly put on the shelf.

But a curious thing happened. The movie simply refused to stay on the shelf. Those who loved it loved it a lot, and they must have told others. They wouldn't let it die any more than the angel Clarence would let George Bailey die. When it began to be shown on televison, a whole new audience fell in love with it.

Today I've heard the filmed called "an American cultural phenomenon". Well, maybe so, but it seems to me there is nothing phenomenal about the movie itself. It's simply about an ordinary man who discovers that living each ordinary day honorably, with faith in God and selfless concern for others, can make for a truly wonderful life."

(James Stewart |Source)

Hope you enjoyed!

Day 16- Favorite director

This survey is terribly mean. First asking for my favorite movie from my favorite actor and actress. I thought that one was complicated, but then it wanted me to pick my favorite movie. No kidding. And now asks for my favorite director. Why don't you better ask if I prefer my mom or my dad?

Anyway. Let's see.

Hitch sick and tired of being called a genius.

Uhm, Hitchcok got me interested in Classic Hollywood. You know that. When I want to see a good film, there's a lot of chances I choose one of his films. He's a genius. Uhm, you knew that too. He's one of my favorite directors because he combines romance, suspense, comedy, drama perfectly. Because I forget everything when I see his movies. Because he had amazing writers, actors, artists and musicians working for him. Because I've seen around 30 films from him and almost loved them all (there's nothing to do, "The Paradine Case" was boring). Because he loved to surprise the public and I love when directors love to surprise me. I love Hitch (just yesterday I re-watched "The lady vanishes"...what a terrific film. I *adore* Michael Redgrave.)

Billy.

But I also like very very very much Billy Wilder. You little guy with an accent and glasses you. I have an accent too, but not your talent (or your glasses). Wilder is one of the directors whose films I can order in a top 10, without including great movies like "Stalag 17", "The Major and the Minor" or "Irma la Douce".  Haven't I said enough? Well, he was a genius too.

Joseph imagining how delightful would be to hit Liz with a vase. 

But I can leave out one of the greatest directors AND writers ever, Mr. Joseph L. Mankiewicz. I mean, the guy directed his movies and wrote his scripts ALONE. "A letter to three wives" blew my mind. The flashbacks are great, the performers give the best of themselves, the situations are so well developed. And what about "People will talk", "Sleuth", "No way out", "Suddenly last summer", "The barefoot contessa", "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" and, for heaven's sake, "All About Eve"?! Not to mention that he almost die shooting the never- ending "Cleopatra", the movie about he 'didn't talk'. 

These guys are geniuses. I can name a few more: William Wyler, David Lean, Frank Capra, Ernst Lubitsch,  George Cukor, John Ford, Leo McCarey, but what would be the point? This survey is mean.