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It's a Wonderful Life
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (16th November 2016). |
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The Film
 "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings," and every year come Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life is overexposed on television and overstocked in the video section of major chain stores. At this point, it seems needless to review the schmaltziest of schmaltzy Frank Capra (You Can't Take It With You) films since everyone has either seen it on television or video, or is at least aware of the content from thousands of homages and parodies (usually in which the would-be martyr discovers that his family would be better off without him, which he cannot allow because of how much misery they have given him over the years). What the original film gives you is the archetypcal pre-Hitchcock "Jimmy" James Stewart performance, sweet and maternal Donna Reed (before she became the shrill, pushy and manipulative sitcom mother Donna Stone on her own The Donna Reed Show) - as well as a wealth of supporting turns from the likes of the great Lionel Barrymore (Key Largo), future sitcom curmudgeon Charles Lane (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington), future femme fatale Gloria Grahame (The Big Heat), western stalwart Ward Bond (The Searchers), and character actor Thomas Mitchell (Gone With the Wind) as poor Uncle Billy - and the aural and visual groundwork for every Christmas film and TV show Christmas special to come.
Video
Although the version under review is the Platinum Anniversary Edition, the discs themselves are identical to the earlier 2009 edition (reissued in 2011 with an ornament) with a new cover, slipcover, and the addition of some limited edition lobby card reproductions. Both black and white and colorized cuts are presented on separate dual-layer Blu-rays in high bitrate 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 fullscreen (the opening titles are windowboxed) that has been roundly criticized by film restoration expert Robert Harris, and the gall of Paramount to reissue the same disc again rather than revisiting the elements of this "sales staple" will annoy videophiles and cinephiles but this edition is once again aimed at nostalgic impulse buyers. Regardless of its faults, the high definition presentation does better years of public domain releases and the first authorized edition from Republic Pictures (whose early DVD releases were generally of poor quality).
Audio
Bizarrely, the original mono mix is presented in lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (as have the French and Spanish tracks) despite the ample space afforded the video encode and the lack of extras. It gets the job done, but will likely those who like their Blu-rays to take advantage of the format's capabilities (which could have extended to a simple uncompressed LPCM mix if Paramount did not want to pay DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD licensing fees for such a popular title). Optional English, English HoH, French, Portuguese, and Spanish subtitles are included.
Extras
Extras are once again limited to "The Making of It's a Wonderful Life" (22:45), a TV special from 1990 hosted by Tom Bosley (Happy Days) and the film's theatrical trailer ( 1:45), the latter presented in high definition.
Overall
"Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings," and every year come Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life is overexposed on television and overstocked in the video section of major chain stores. The gall of Paramount to reissue the same disc again rather than revisiting the elements of this "sales staple" will annoy videophiles and cinephiles, but this edition is once again aimed at nostalgic impulse buyers.
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