“Essentially, 50% of the reels that remain had some measure of deterioration, mostly at the ends of the beginnings of the reel,” said Thornburg.īecause they had two other elements made seven decades ago from the original camera negative, they were able to digitally replace the deterioration. Still, the negative showed signs of deterioration. ![]() “We are so very, very happy that we have the material to work with it,” said Thornburg, “Everybody was on their A-game when they made this, whether it was the people who did the sound or cinematography.” Indeed, the film earned five Oscar nominations, including best film, director and actor. We are always checking to see how the negative is doing and if there is any deterioration.”ĭespite its checkered history, 13 out of the 14 reels of the film’s original negative have survived. “So the movie is never far from our minds. “ ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is a movie that we’re sort of constantly checking on because it is one of the highlights of our collection,” said Laura Thornburg, executive director of preservation at Paramount. “It ended up in the Republic library, and when Viacom and Paramount acquired the Republic library, it was one of the films that was moved to us,” said Kalas. The first colorized version of the film was produced by Hal Roach Studios (now Sonar Entertainment), the second by Republic. The film was then sold to various entities. “It’s a Wonderful Life” had several owners over the decades.Ĭapra’s independent motion picture company, Liberty Films, made “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which was released through RKO. ![]() By that time, however, George, Clarence and the bucolic Bedford Falls were mere cinematic shadows of their former selves.Īnd for good reason. It was rediscovered on television in the 1970s when the copyright expired due to a technicality. Though it’s become a holiday perennial, “It’s a Wonderful Life” didn’t have a spectacular life at the box office when it was originally released, failing to recoup its cost because the film was so expensive to produce. “The fact that people have not been able to let this movie go is a tribute to how great it is.” “I think it’s sort of wonderful that people have watched it in all iterations,” said Andrea Kalas, senior vice president of the Paramount archives. The painstaking restoration process took six months to complete. Watch this review and tell us what you think.Support if you like w. “It’s a Wonderful Life” is the first black-and-white title to be released in Paramount’s 4K ultra high definition, which features sharper and brighter images enhancing the clarity of the image.
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