I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

. . . compulsive liar "Edwina Corday" misdirects New York's finest toward the end of IT'S A WONDERFUL WORLD. She knows that "Half-Penny" has no diary in Cabin #3--or anywhere else. Some viewers may find this alleged "screwball comedy" a little misogynistic. Jimmy Stewart's "Guy Johnson" character, for instance, say's "I've never me a dame yet who wasn't a Dimwit or a Lunkhead." Later Guy groans, "Lady, you're full of prunes!" before observing that "I think all women end at the neck." After complaining that Edwina has been sticking closer to him than a tattoo, Guy reiterates that "I never knew a dame that wasn't dead from the neck up." Guy socks Edwina unconscious at least once (though this may be an undercount on my part), and forcibly kidnaps her a couple of times. Edwina's pet dog sort of disappears (maybe Guy roasted it for his supper). Since IT'S A WONDERFUL WORLD was released during the 1930s, when America's movie censors where bending over backward to protect "The Fair Sex" and U.S. Motherhood, they probably curtailed many other examples of woman-bashing written into the original script.

"It's a Wonderful World" fits nicely in the group of comedy-crime films that The Thin Man series helped establish. As a comedy, though, it's very slow getting started. And, the crime aspects are much heavier and foreboding than in most films of this genre. The plot is interesting and a good one; but it seems to be a bit choppy in places. That may be due to the editing more than the direction. The story and screenplay by Ben Hecht are very good. Jimmy Stewart and Claudette Colbert give wonderful performances as Guy Johnson and Edwina Corday. The supporting cast adds a lot to this film. As some other reviewers have noted, Guy Kibbee has a fine role as Cap Streeter; and Nat Pendleton and Edgar Kennedy are excellent as police Sgt Koretz and Lt. Miller. The humor may be slow getting started, but the film makes up for it in some very funny scenarios. Colbert comes up with various schemes that help Stewart's character out of one jam after another. The funny scenes are peppered with occasional witty lines. In other scenes, the humor often comes from a single line here or there. I think Jimmy Stewart showed some of his acting skill in different scenes. Early on, he is foreboding and even has a frightening or menacing look when talking to Corday. This is an entertaining film that most should enjoy. Here are some funny lines I particularly enjoyed.Guy Johnson, "They're tame apples. You don't have to shoot 'em."Guy, "Now listen, stupid. I've committed a few crimes here and there, but I'm no criminal." Edwina, "It's all in the point of view, isn't it?"Guy, "Did you ever see anybody with a bullet hole through the head and his brains all leaking out?" Edwina, "Oh, you know, you're so sweet to worry about me like that."

. . . (and Humphrey Bogart would have gotten this role if Bogie worked for MGM), but at least Stewart is a more straight-forward Evil Doer in IT'S A WONDERFUL WORLD than the devious types he played for director Alfred Hitchcock in ROPE, REAR WINDOW, & VERTIGO. Though his private eye character here is dumber and greedier than his later P.I. portrayal for VERTIGO, at least Guy in WORLD doesn't make love to his client's wife. And Guy is only half as bad as Stewart's misanthrope professor in ROPE, since Guy's merely a misogynist. The same can be said for Stewart's characters' treatment of their volunteer female sleuths, as Princess Grace must do ALL the dirty work in REAR WINDOW, whereas Guy allows his WORLD co-star Claudette Colbert (as poetess Edwina) to do only HALF the fighting in this film. Still, the chemistry between Stewart and Colbert seems a catalyst short, and the overall tone of this flick is uneven at best. Made by MGM around the same time as the WIZARD OF OZ, Colbert's line to Stewart, "From one wizard to another," is a double reference to the greater film, echoing Wizard Frank Morgan's "from one dog to another" comment as Toto steals his hot dog in the black & white prologue of that movie.

This was Jimmy Stewart's last film before "Mr. Smith goes to Washington" and it's easy to see why this one has been forgotten.Stewart plays an obnoxious, (yes, Jimmy Stewart is obnoxious), detective who is arrested for hiding his client while he tries to prove he's been framed. He escapes and kidnaps poetess, (yes, poetess), Claudette Colbert to aid his escape, (she has a car). Inexplicably, she falls for him and aids his escape. But first he has to disguise himself with absurdly thick glasses and do a fake Alabama accent, etc. etc. None of it is funny. There are some impressive talents associated with this film. Their reputations are based on other films. Stewart is totally unappealing and Colbert fatuous.