Friday, December 7, 2018

OTR Holiday Month Day 7: It's a Wonderful Life

There are certain films which have become traditional holiday viewing in my family's household; back in the days when It's a Wonderful Life was in the public domain, my father bought a cheap copy as one of the first VHS tapes in our collection. It was my first exposure to film star James Stewart and director Frank Capra. In some ways the film isn't quite a Christmas movie - the main action of the film is set on Christmas, but the rest of the picture is made up of flashbacks from throughout George Bailey's life. But as it isn't entirely a Christmas film, I suppose that's why it was adapted for radio in the month of March!

Lux Radio Theater adapted It's a Wonderful Life on March 10, 1947, three months after it had debuted in theatres and brought back James Stewart & Donna Reed to reprise their film roles. Henry Travers wasn't present to reprise the role of Clarence the angel, but it's a pretty good radio adaptation - definitely far superior to the half-hour version done on Screen Director's Playhouse which doesn't have anywhere near enough time to tell the story effectively.

You can listen to the Lux Radio Theater adaptation of It's a Wonderful Life on archive.org here.

No comments:

Post a Comment