Article

'It's a wonderful life' (Frank Capra) 60 years later

Abstract

On December 20th 1946 debuted one of film history’s most optimistic production It’s a wonderful life, directed by Frank Capra. Those were post war times and initially the film was a box office failure. The once director of positive movies of the thirties had converted himself in a director of different epoch. In 1974, because copyrights were not renewed, that work passed to public dominion and started to be broadcasted on television during Christmas time, transforming itself in the classic that is nowadays. 60 years later, It’s a wonderful life as well as Frank Capra have acquired a special space among society, not only due to the film’s message but because of its author’s humanism. It is a proper moment to review this piece of work and its creator, which though time have been underestimated by some critics.

Keywords

Films and society, films as a means of education, author cinema, film language.