It's a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition)

This is my all time favorite movie.  This film was my introduction to my (now) favorite director, Frank Capra.  Jimmy Stewart is excellent as George Bailey, the small town guy with big dreams that are destined to never be realized.  Circumstances and responsibilities seem to trap him in Bedford Falls every time he gets ready to leave.  With his family's Building & Loan company in deep financial trouble, George begins to think his life has been pretty worthless.  Of course everyone knows how this movie plays out by now, thanks in large part to it's formerly endless holiday season tv showings.  Due to some legal loopholes, though, the movie can only be seen on NBC once or twice each December.  I'm so happy I finally have a DVD I can watch whenever I want, especially since I enjoy watching the film year round.

The extras on the 60th Anniversary DVD are good for what they are.  It has the original trailer (which, in my opinion, does a really bad job of promoting the film).  Frank Capra's son, Frank Jr., gives a little retrospective talk about the movie and his father.  The "Making of" featurette, produced for tv in the early 1990s, is hosted by Tom Bosley.  While it's a little cheesey, there is some interesting information about the production included in the featurette.

I am not one of those type of movie fans that really notices all the transfer imperfections and every pop or hiss on the audio.  I can only say that the movie looks and sounds as good as I've ever seen or heard it.  The only complaint I would have is that, surely, this movie should have much more in the way of bonus features.  I am glad I got the 60th Anniversary Edition, rather than the "2 Disc Special Edition" in which the only added "feature" is a colorized version of the movie.  This way my kids have no choice but to view it in glorious black & white.