Waste of time

Critics,are you kidding us

Am I Missing Something?

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The acting, sets and script are fine - the producers & cast owe everything to Frank Capra as well they owe his family an apology. There are a growing number of classics being re-imagined from a feminist perspective - which is great when they are a total reversal. In this film a total reversal of the original would mean making the Potter character a woman. The George Baily role is played by a woman as well as the Clarence Oddbody role - also played by a woman. Where they go wrong is with the despicable evil Potter role - that character is still male. The result means rather than the movie being the reverse of the original movie - it simply makes the protagonist and other pleasant characters female.The original movie is much better for several reasons - the foremost is that it is the way that the original writer and Capra together imagined it to be. Capra did not approve of this movie and was not consulted - he considered it plagaristic. Ratings for the movie were very low - which is why the movie is mostly forgotten.I look forward to seeing a real reversal where every single character is reversed - not just the nice or good characters but all the unsavory ones as well.

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???

I must admit, I liked "It Happened One Christmas" *much* better than "It's a Wonderful Life." As with a few other IMDbers, this was the first version of the story I ever saw; when ABC stopped running the film after 1978, and until Universal Television syndicated it to local stations in 1986, I had to settle for "It's a Wonderful Life" in the interim, which I think couldn't, and *never* will, hold a candle to "It Happened One Christmas" (for one thing, Marlo Thomas *doesn't* go screaming all the way through the scenes, like James Stewart did in the original, where she saw what life would be like without her (like Janet Burston in the later Our Gang shorts, Stewart's screaming gave me many headaches which lasted long after the film was over); for another, Ms. Thomas' version was in Technicolor; and for yet another, there was the novelty of the gender switch in the lead role, telling the story from Mary Bailey's point of view. And, there was yet another plus in seeing such up-and-coming stars as Doris Roberts and Christopher Guest in one of their earlier roles). "It Happened One Christmas" not only holds some cherished memories of my "wonder years" (I was 15 years old when this film was first shown on ABC; little did I realize December 1977 would be my family's final Christmas in Lansing, Michigan since my father capriciously decided to move us all to Illinois in June 1978), but four years later, in July 1981, my father and I took a trip to California, and we went on the Universal Studios Hollywood tour. When I saw "It Happened One Christmas" again in 1986, there were some parts of the Universal lot I recognized where the film was shot ("Leave It to Beaver" and "The Munsters" were also filmed on that same portion of the Universal lot where the exteriors of "It Happened One Christmas" were done), so yet another pleasant memory was encoded into it!In mid-1987, shortly after my family bought their first VCR, I wrote to MCA/Universal Home Video (as the company was then known), asking if they would ever put "It Happened One Christmas" on videocassette; they sent back a form letter essentially saying, "not at this time," along with a catalogue of their then-current releases. Two years later, in December 1989, the film was rerun on USA (which Universal had a stake of ownership in at that time, and still does today); I was lucky to have taped "It Happened One Christmas" then (USA showed the entire film uncut, not edited to fit the time slot), but now the tape is beginning to deteriorate after 17 years. (I almost rerecorded "It Happened One Christmas" when it was shown on the ion Network December 22, but was glad I didn't after seeing the "hatchet job" they did on it - all the more reason Universal should put the film, uncut, on DVD!)All I can suggest is: To those of us like myself who DID like and enjoy "It Happened One Christmas" better than "It's a Wonderful Life," and would like to see Universal Studios Home Entertainment (as they are now known) release the film on DVD, Universal's contact e-mail and snail-mail addresses should be given at their website. E-mail or write Universal and tell them to put "It Happened One Christmas" on DVD; remember: the more requests Universal gets about this film, the faster they'll unearth it and put it on DVD (one point to emphasize to Universal when writing: they *never* even released this TV movie on VHS tape)!I give "It Happened One Christmas" a perfect 10. And to those who thumbed their nose at this version, I'd like to paraphrase a statement the late showman P.T. Barnum once made: "The critics be damned!"Happy Holidays!

My view of this remake of It's a Wonderful Life is that it was wonderful. Far from being a put-down of Ms. Thomas' talents, it showcased them as a positive tribute to the original movie. She struggles, and makes you believe.This struggle of a person who wants to find a way out of what she sees as a pointless life is only sparked by Cloris Leachman as the Angel. Like the many remakes of A Christmas Carol, this story is timeless and deserves any remakes that capture the original spirit. Brava, Ms. Thomas, I would strongly recommend this remake.If I can buy this movie, I will.