Customer Reviews:
A Forties noir programmer, and not bad at all.......2007-08-13
This low-budget programmer has much to recommend it, especially in the first half of the movie. A beautiful, high-maintenance blackmailer, Mavis Marlowe (Constance Dowling) is strangled and one of her lovers, a married man she'd been bleeding, is accused of the murder. He's convicted and sentenced to the gas chamber. His wife, Catherine Bennett (June Vincent), believes he is innocent and is determined to find the real murderer in the few days she has left before his execution. Joining her in the search is the victim's husband, Martin Blair (Dan Duryea), a songwriter Mavis cast off without a second thought and who still is obsessed by her.
As the hours tick away, the two have only one lead, Marko (Peter Lorre), the owner of a high-society supper club on the Sunset Strip. Marko had been seen entering Mavis' apartment building near the time of her murder. With only a couple of days left, they manage to break into the safe Marko has in his office, but are caught by Marko and his strong-arm muscle. Desperate, they...well, see the movie. All I can tell you is that the last third of the film moves into dark territory and there is a twist ending which doesn't leave you smiling.
What I like about the movie is what makes it what it is, a programmer. It has a nice, noir look, the director keeps the action going, most of the actors are not exceptional but, with Lorre and Duryea, you know what you're getting and they both deliver professional and interesting performances. I wouldn't consider this the high light of anyone's collection, but it's a solid example of studio competence from the Forties.
The movie was based on a story, Black Angel, by Cornell Woolrich. Using his real name or with his pseudonyms William Irish and George Hopley, Woolrich created memorable pulp fiction noirs that are still excellent to read. Many were made into movies. If you like well-written noir mysteries, try some of these: The Bride Wore Black, Phantom Lady, The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, I Married a Dead Man, Black Alibi and, of course, Black Angel.
This DVD has no extras, and for the most part is in clean, good shape.
Angel Indeed!!!.......2005-03-09
Well, well, well. We find at last a great film in todays modern society. I loved this motion picture, however, it could of featured more scenes of Rene Lawson. This was only a minor let down as the rest of scenes, especially the ones with the black angel, were superb. I recommend you buy this dvd right now. It has some of the most moving scenes of PK Nutz's career and features a cameo by Maybes. You like Black Angels? Then get this film.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Now perhaps the most beloved American film, It's a Wonderful Life was largely forgotten for years, due to a copyright quirk. Only in the late 1970s did it find its audience through repeated TV showings. Frank Capra's masterwork deserves its status as a feel-good communal event, but it is also one of the most fascinating films in the American cinema, a multilayered work of Dickensian density. George Bailey (played superbly by James Stewart) grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger (Henry Travers) arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born. The sequence is a vivid depiction of the American Dream gone bad, and probably the wildest thing Capra ever shot (the director's optimistic vision may have darkened during his experiences making military films in World War II). Capra's triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and disappointments of life, while affirming--in the teary-eyed final reel--his cherished values of friendship and individual achievement. It's a Wonderful Life was not a big hit on its initial release, and it won no Oscars (Capra and Stewart were nominated); but it continues to weave a special magic. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews:
An original twist on A Xmas Carol suggesting there SHOULD be more to life than money (but in the end there isn't).......2008-02-10
Yes, it is a great life affirming movie with its heart firmly in the right place...BUT...personally I would have prefered not such a happy ending, or a very different kind of happy ending - I just feel that the miraculous turnaround of George's fortunes at the end, while rightly suggesting that all good deeds may be remembered, and returned in kind, missed a real chance to state that happiness didn't have to depend on material wealth at all - After all, when he was given his old life back, George's euphoric happiness was based soley upon his family and friends, regardless of his dire financial state! This was a real chance to bang the point home about the real dangers of capitalism, but it was totally spurned. Indeed, this ending almost suggested, after roundly attacking corporate greed and rampant materialism for much of the film, that our happiness really DOES depend on material wealth after all, and I was a tad confused, and quite disappointed. This movie so nearly did what hardly any movie has dared to do, certainly before Michael Moore and co. and that is attack the American model of corporate based, free market capitalism, the most dangerous and destructive and corrupting of all economic systems, and it did have a go against banks run by those without a shred of a social conscience for the humans who ARE their customers and shareholders, as many critics believe we have become mere units of commerce in the overall run of things now, so impersonal is our rampantly capitalist culture. It's just a real shame it didn't follow through, and went instead with the expected Hollywood ending.
Now would be very apt time to remake the movie with a much more natural ending than this one dared to have. It would make a far stronger point about what real happiness is, and put another shot across the bows of greedy corporate businesses and banks, and even free market obsessed, business led governments (the crazy and unfair boom and bust economies of the US and UK in particular). That movie will never be made in Hollywood though.
Beware - this is not the colour version.......2007-11-24
Absolutely brilliant .... but it says 'colour' on the description of this film. I used to have a VHS 'colorized' version of this which was superb.
I suspect the DVD in colour has yet to be released.
amazing film.......2007-10-25
I just want to say to anyone considering buying 'It's a wonderful life ' , do it now , its brilliant . Christmas wouldnt be the same for me if i didnt watch this film every year , i love it . My husband aged 43 watched it last christmas for the first time and loved it too , in fact he had tears in his eyes when it finished .
Don't buy this version.......2007-09-17
I have no idea why people are giving this excellent reviews, it's an awful quality version of the film, you can hear static on the soundtrack throughout and the picture is dreadful. Try to find a remastered version which will have cleaned up audio and video, as this is just unwatchable.
An excellent film though.
A real "feel good film" with tears........2007-07-26
One of my favourite films even though it is a rael tear jerker. A film to watch when its cold outside and you are feeling sorry for yourself.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Now perhaps the most beloved American film, It's a Wonderful Life was largely forgotten for years, due to a copyright quirk. Only in the late 1970s did it find its audience through repeated TV showings. Frank Capra's masterwork deserves its status as a feel-good communal event, but it is also one of the most fascinating films in the American cinema, a multilayered work of Dickensian density. George Bailey (played superbly by James Stewart) grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger (Henry Travers) arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born. The sequence is a vivid depiction of the American Dream gone bad, and probably the wildest thing Capra ever shot (the director's optimistic vision may have darkened during his experiences making military films in World War II). Capra's triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and disappointments of life, while affirming--in the teary-eyed final reel--his cherished values of friendship and individual achievement. It's a Wonderful Life was not a big hit on its initial release, and it won no Oscars (Capra and Stewart were nominated); but it continues to weave a special magic. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews:
An original twist on A Xmas Carol suggesting there SHOULD be more to life than money (but in the end there isn't).......2008-02-10
Yes, it is a great life affirming movie with its heart firmly in the right place...BUT...personally I would have prefered not such a happy ending, or a very different kind of happy ending - I just feel that the miraculous turnaround of George's fortunes at the end, while rightly suggesting that all good deeds may be remembered, and returned in kind, missed a real chance to state that happiness didn't have to depend on material wealth at all - After all, when he was given his old life back, George's euphoric happiness was based soley upon his family and friends, regardless of his dire financial state! This was a real chance to bang the point home about the real dangers of capitalism, but it was totally spurned. Indeed, this ending almost suggested, after roundly attacking corporate greed and rampant materialism for much of the film, that our happiness really DOES depend on material wealth after all, and I was a tad confused, and quite disappointed. This movie so nearly did what hardly any movie has dared to do, certainly before Michael Moore and co. and that is attack the American model of corporate based, free market capitalism, the most dangerous and destructive and corrupting of all economic systems, and it did have a go against banks run by those without a shred of a social conscience for the humans who ARE their customers and shareholders, as many critics believe we have become mere units of commerce in the overall run of things now, so impersonal is our rampantly capitalist culture. It's just a real shame it didn't follow through, and went instead with the expected Hollywood ending.
Now would be very apt time to remake the movie with a much more natural ending than this one dared to have. It would make a far stronger point about what real happiness is, and put another shot across the bows of greedy corporate businesses and banks, and even free market obsessed, business led governments (the crazy and unfair boom and bust economies of the US and UK in particular). That movie will never be made in Hollywood though.
Beware - this is not the colour version.......2007-11-24
Absolutely brilliant .... but it says 'colour' on the description of this film. I used to have a VHS 'colorized' version of this which was superb.
I suspect the DVD in colour has yet to be released.
amazing film.......2007-10-25
I just want to say to anyone considering buying 'It's a wonderful life ' , do it now , its brilliant . Christmas wouldnt be the same for me if i didnt watch this film every year , i love it . My husband aged 43 watched it last christmas for the first time and loved it too , in fact he had tears in his eyes when it finished .
Don't buy this version.......2007-09-17
I have no idea why people are giving this excellent reviews, it's an awful quality version of the film, you can hear static on the soundtrack throughout and the picture is dreadful. Try to find a remastered version which will have cleaned up audio and video, as this is just unwatchable.
An excellent film though.
A real "feel good film" with tears........2007-07-26
One of my favourite films even though it is a rael tear jerker. A film to watch when its cold outside and you are feeling sorry for yourself.
Customer Reviews:
Judge for your self.......2005-01-19
Nick (Claude Rains) never satisfied with the amount of soles caught, has his hat set for an incorruptible judge. He will recruit Eddie Kagle to replace Judge Fredrick Parker (both played by Paul Muni) in exchange for a second chance at life.
I you were raised Catholic then you will recognize the title as you have a devil on one shoulder and an angle on the other and you are struggling in the middle.
There is great interaction between Paul Muni and Claude Rains. This move takes unexpected twists and turns. I may remind you a little of "The Devil and Daniel Webster "(1941). However no one can play "Nick" as well as Claude Rains.
I kind of like the way they return to the surface. I never trusted those types of elevators. Before you write off Anne Baxter as just another personality in this film remember that she was also Nefretiri in "The Ten Commandments" (1956)
Amazon.co.uk Review
Now perhaps the most beloved American film, It's a Wonderful Life was largely forgotten for years, due to a copyright quirk. Only in the late 1970s did it find its audience through repeated TV showings. Frank Capra's masterwork deserves its status as a feel-good communal event, but it is also one of the most fascinating films in the American cinema, a multilayered work of Dickensian density. George Bailey (played superbly by James Stewart) grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger (Henry Travers) arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born. The sequence is a vivid depiction of the American Dream gone bad, and probably the wildest thing Capra ever shot (the director's optimistic vision may have darkened during his experiences making military films in World War II). Capra's triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and disappointments of life, while affirming--in the teary-eyed final reel--his cherished values of friendship and individual achievement. It's a Wonderful Life was not a big hit on its initial release, and it won no Oscars (Capra and Stewart were nominated); but it continues to weave a special magic. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews:
An original twist on A Xmas Carol suggesting there SHOULD be more to life than money (but in the end there isn't).......2008-02-10
Yes, it is a great life affirming movie with its heart firmly in the right place...BUT...personally I would have prefered not such a happy ending, or a very different kind of happy ending - I just feel that the miraculous turnaround of George's fortunes at the end, while rightly suggesting that all good deeds may be remembered, and returned in kind, missed a real chance to state that happiness didn't have to depend on material wealth at all - After all, when he was given his old life back, George's euphoric happiness was based soley upon his family and friends, regardless of his dire financial state! This was a real chance to bang the point home about the real dangers of capitalism, but it was totally spurned. Indeed, this ending almost suggested, after roundly attacking corporate greed and rampant materialism for much of the film, that our happiness really DOES depend on material wealth after all, and I was a tad confused, and quite disappointed. This movie so nearly did what hardly any movie has dared to do, certainly before Michael Moore and co. and that is attack the American model of corporate based, free market capitalism, the most dangerous and destructive and corrupting of all economic systems, and it did have a go against banks run by those without a shred of a social conscience for the humans who ARE their customers and shareholders, as many critics believe we have become mere units of commerce in the overall run of things now, so impersonal is our rampantly capitalist culture. It's just a real shame it didn't follow through, and went instead with the expected Hollywood ending.
Now would be very apt time to remake the movie with a much more natural ending than this one dared to have. It would make a far stronger point about what real happiness is, and put another shot across the bows of greedy corporate businesses and banks, and even free market obsessed, business led governments (the crazy and unfair boom and bust economies of the US and UK in particular). That movie will never be made in Hollywood though.
Beware - this is not the colour version.......2007-11-24
Absolutely brilliant .... but it says 'colour' on the description of this film. I used to have a VHS 'colorized' version of this which was superb.
I suspect the DVD in colour has yet to be released.
amazing film.......2007-10-25
I just want to say to anyone considering buying 'It's a wonderful life ' , do it now , its brilliant . Christmas wouldnt be the same for me if i didnt watch this film every year , i love it . My husband aged 43 watched it last christmas for the first time and loved it too , in fact he had tears in his eyes when it finished .
Don't buy this version.......2007-09-17
I have no idea why people are giving this excellent reviews, it's an awful quality version of the film, you can hear static on the soundtrack throughout and the picture is dreadful. Try to find a remastered version which will have cleaned up audio and video, as this is just unwatchable.
An excellent film though.
A real "feel good film" with tears........2007-07-26
One of my favourite films even though it is a rael tear jerker. A film to watch when its cold outside and you are feeling sorry for yourself.
Customer Reviews:
Judge for your self.......2005-01-19
Nick (Claude Rains) never satisfied with the amount of soles caught, has his hat set for an incorruptible judge. He will recruit Eddie Kagle to replace Judge Fredrick Parker (both played by Paul Muni) in exchange for a second chance at life.
I you were raised Catholic then you will recognize the title as you have a devil on one shoulder and an angle on the other and you are struggling in the middle.
There is great interaction between Paul Muni and Claude Rains. This move takes unexpected twists and turns. I may remind you a little of "The Devil and Daniel Webster "(1941). However no one can play "Nick" as well as Claude Rains.
I kind of like the way they return to the surface. I never trusted those types of elevators. Before you write off Anne Baxter as just another personality in this film remember that she was also Nefretiri in "The Ten Commandments" (1956)
Amazon.co.uk Review
Now perhaps the most beloved American film, It's a Wonderful Life was largely forgotten for years, due to a copyright quirk. Only in the late 1970s did it find its audience through repeated TV showings. Frank Capra's masterwork deserves its status as a feel-good communal event, but it is also one of the most fascinating films in the American cinema, a multilayered work of Dickensian density. George Bailey (played superbly by James Stewart) grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger (Henry Travers) arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born. The sequence is a vivid depiction of the American Dream gone bad, and probably the wildest thing Capra ever shot (the director's optimistic vision may have darkened during his experiences making military films in World War II). Capra's triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and disappointments of life, while affirming--in the teary-eyed final reel--his cherished values of friendship and individual achievement. It's a Wonderful Life was not a big hit on its initial release, and it won no Oscars (Capra and Stewart were nominated); but it continues to weave a special magic. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews:
An original twist on A Xmas Carol suggesting there SHOULD be more to life than money (but in the end there isn't).......2008-02-10
Yes, it is a great life affirming movie with its heart firmly in the right place...BUT...personally I would have prefered not such a happy ending, or a very different kind of happy ending - I just feel that the miraculous turnaround of George's fortunes at the end, while rightly suggesting that all good deeds may be remembered, and returned in kind, missed a real chance to state that happiness didn't have to depend on material wealth at all - After all, when he was given his old life back, George's euphoric happiness was based soley upon his family and friends, regardless of his dire financial state! This was a real chance to bang the point home about the real dangers of capitalism, but it was totally spurned. Indeed, this ending almost suggested, after roundly attacking corporate greed and rampant materialism for much of the film, that our happiness really DOES depend on material wealth after all, and I was a tad confused, and quite disappointed. This movie so nearly did what hardly any movie has dared to do, certainly before Michael Moore and co. and that is attack the American model of corporate based, free market capitalism, the most dangerous and destructive and corrupting of all economic systems, and it did have a go against banks run by those without a shred of a social conscience for the humans who ARE their customers and shareholders, as many critics believe we have become mere units of commerce in the overall run of things now, so impersonal is our rampantly capitalist culture. It's just a real shame it didn't follow through, and went instead with the expected Hollywood ending.
Now would be very apt time to remake the movie with a much more natural ending than this one dared to have. It would make a far stronger point about what real happiness is, and put another shot across the bows of greedy corporate businesses and banks, and even free market obsessed, business led governments (the crazy and unfair boom and bust economies of the US and UK in particular). That movie will never be made in Hollywood though.
Beware - this is not the colour version.......2007-11-24
Absolutely brilliant .... but it says 'colour' on the description of this film. I used to have a VHS 'colorized' version of this which was superb.
I suspect the DVD in colour has yet to be released.
amazing film.......2007-10-25
I just want to say to anyone considering buying 'It's a wonderful life ' , do it now , its brilliant . Christmas wouldnt be the same for me if i didnt watch this film every year , i love it . My husband aged 43 watched it last christmas for the first time and loved it too , in fact he had tears in his eyes when it finished .
Don't buy this version.......2007-09-17
I have no idea why people are giving this excellent reviews, it's an awful quality version of the film, you can hear static on the soundtrack throughout and the picture is dreadful. Try to find a remastered version which will have cleaned up audio and video, as this is just unwatchable.
An excellent film though.
A real "feel good film" with tears........2007-07-26
One of my favourite films even though it is a rael tear jerker. A film to watch when its cold outside and you are feeling sorry for yourself.
DVD:
- Boo - Vol. 2
- Bratz - Fashion Pixiez
- Cabin in the Sky [1943] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Captain Scarlet Series 1 & 2 Slip Case
- Celebration of Irish Dancing
- Children's Bible Stories: The First Easter [2007]
- Crossfire Trail [2001] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Debbie Does Dallas [1979]
- Dinosaur - Collector's Edition (Disney) (2000)
- Extreme Adventures Fun
DVD List
DVD
![Black Angel [1946] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21WTV97YZQL.jpg)
All Drama
|
Drama
|
Categories
|
DVD
|
Video
![The Big Clock [1948] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00023P4FQ.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
The Big Clock [1948] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
![Criss Cross [1948] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00023P4GA.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
Criss Cross [1948] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
![The Cover Up [1949] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000BGH2IQ.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
The Cover Up [1949] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
![Born to Kill [1947] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00097DXY4.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
Born to Kill [1947] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
![The House on Telegraph Hill [1951] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000CNE08I.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
The House on Telegraph Hill [1951] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
![Black Angel [1946] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://www.bill88.com/buy.gif)
![It's a Wonderful Life [1946] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/217WkOwNWSL.jpg)
![Miracle On 34th Street [1947]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00005216P.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![White Christmas [1954]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00005NFXH.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![Harvey [1950]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00009QNYH.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![Scrooge [1951]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00004D0CE.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![Holiday Inn (Special Edition) [1942]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000071WJF.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![It's a Wonderful Life [1946] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21VY42XPYXL.jpg)
![Angel on My Shoulder [1946] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/2191QMJGNXL.jpg)
![The Reckless Moment [1949]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000HCO57U.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![It's a Wonderful Life [1946] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31157H972WL.jpg)
![Soy un Profugo [1946] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://www.germanelectronics88.com/noimage.gif)
![Angel on My Shoulder [1946] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21A3NGGYK7L.jpg)
![It's a Wonderful Life [1946] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21GSPASQPEL.jpg)