Lambcast #664 “It’s a Wonderful Life” MOTM

by Richard Kirkham · December 6, 2022 · Featured, LAMBcast · 1 Comment

If you want to get out your calendars now and create a timeline of this story, MovieRob will give you his best guess about the dates of all the events in the film. It’s Movie of the Month time and Rob championed “It’s a Wonderful Life” to the poll position. We take a chronological journey through the beloved Frank Capra classic, and we still manage to miss the error in Harry Baily’s death age in the alternate universe. 

It’s true that Mr. Gower never seems to age through three decades in Bedford Falls, it’s also true that none of us care about those details. James Wilson, Rachel Wagner and Todd Liebenow have spent plenty of time ignoring the inconsistencies in the story because like all of us, it is the spirit of the film we attend to.

There are some brief references to the many variations of the plot that have seeped into the culture (if “Married with Children” can be referred to as culture). We all agree that Mr. Potter gives Darth Vader and Dolores Umbridge a run for their money as the most wicked villain in films. We all also anticipate the reimagining of “It’s a Wonderful Life” though Potter’s perspective, it will be Wicked.

The history of the film includes a period of time as public domain fodder, and as a subject of the controversial colorization process. Apparently you can still choose the the color version on Prime if you are a masochist. Another debate to be had is whether Bert and Ernie from the film, were the inspiration for the names of the Sesame Street Muppets. Todd, our resident puppeteer had some vague information to share on that, Rob also chimed in with some data that extends the dispute.

It also seems that Rod Serling may need to be investigated, because the whole cast of today’s show see this as a long episode of “The Twilight Zone”.  And just to be completists, we took some time to remind everyone of the lost footage from Saturday Night Live.

Our Rants/Raves and Reviews included some shopping suggestions for your holidays and Richard goes off on the Sight and Sound Poll for the new decade. 

Introductions

Rob Leads the Discussion 3:15

The most Superfluous Lambscores Ever 1:42:30

Rants/Raves/Reviews 1:45:45

Rachel   Rachel’s Reviews   

Todd   Soundtrack Recommendation  

James   Soundtrack Recommendation  La La Land Records  

MovieRob   MRM   SNL Lost Footage

Richard   KAMAD Wonderful Life Post  

The show can be found, of course, via iTunes – just do a search for “LAMBcast.” Also, I always post a link to the show on the LAMBcast’s Facebook page, and there’s a player there if you’d like to listen online. Find the show here:

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/lambcast/episodes/2022-12-05T15_28_28-08_00

If you’d ever like to catch up on back episodes, go there. If you’re interested, you too can be a LAMBcaster – we love new blood! For more information on the LAMBcast, check out the topic at the LAMB Forums. Music provided royalty-free by Kevin MacLeod’s Incompetech website. Big thanks to Kevin for providing this service. Closing song by Cake. The LAMBcast loves feedback, too – if you’d like yours read on a future show, leave it in the comments section at the LAMB. Please visit and like our Facebook page, and finally, we’re on iTunes, and would still love a review, even if it’s a bad one. Thanks for listening!