This is one of the most unnecessary remakes of all time. It is nothing but an ego trip by Marlo Thomas and should not have been made.
The biggest flaw was that since MARLO was producing this, her character was spotlighted so much that we got a lot less of the supporting characters like Bert & Ernie. Thus, we cared less about them.
Orson Welles is just sleepwalking through his part as Potter. He's not a patch on Lionel Barrymore.
I watched this when it first premiered and was already a fan of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. I was appalled that the original scriptwriters received no credit despite the fact that large parts of their dialog was used. This was because the movie had gone into the Public Domain at that point. The only credit was for the original story by Philip Van Doren Stern. I've read it and it can't be used as the source for the stolen dialog in this movie.
I think film classes should be shown both versions as an example of how to make such a movie and how NOT to.
I'm glad it's not available on legitimate VHS or DVD.
The biggest flaw was that since MARLO was producing this, her character was spotlighted so much that we got a lot less of the supporting characters like Bert & Ernie. Thus, we cared less about them.
Orson Welles is just sleepwalking through his part as Potter. He's not a patch on Lionel Barrymore.
I watched this when it first premiered and was already a fan of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. I was appalled that the original scriptwriters received no credit despite the fact that large parts of their dialog was used. This was because the movie had gone into the Public Domain at that point. The only credit was for the original story by Philip Van Doren Stern. I've read it and it can't be used as the source for the stolen dialog in this movie.
I think film classes should be shown both versions as an example of how to make such a movie and how NOT to.
I'm glad it's not available on legitimate VHS or DVD.