It's a Wonderful Life Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

It's a Wonderful Life Blu-ray Movie Review

Paramount has re-released Director Frank Capra's timeless 1946 film 'It's a Wonderful Life' to Blu-ray, replacing an aging 2009 edition. This new Blu-ray is sourced from a 4K restoration from the original nitrate negative, spliced together where necessary with footage from two fine grain masters. Paramount has also included three new extras and a new Dolby TrueHD 2.0 mono soundtrack. The studio has also released the film to the UHD format, but the Blu-ray included therein is not this disc but rather the colorized version, identical to the 2009 issue.

It's a Wonderful Life Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

It's a Wonderful Life was recently restored from the original, though at times badly deteriorated, nitrate negative and two fine grain masters. Rather than recount details here viewers are urged to watch the excellent supplement that Paramount has included on the disc (Restoring a Beloved Classic) that offers an in-depth analysis of the process.

While the UHD offers the superior viewing experience -- a fact talked up by Paramount in the aforementioned supplement -- the Blu-ray delivers a fine presentation in its own right. It offers a sharp, lively viewing of the film, one with a largely organic grain structure -- some fluctuations do exist as part of the nitrate negative and fine grain master splicing -- and bountiful textural delights. The film's interior and exterior locales alike thrive under the remastered parameters, enjoying naturally sharp filmic textures that even far-frame hold up with impressive clarity. Characters are firm and well defined, with dense period attire the standout and facial complexities appearing with ease. The grayscale is robust and pleasing, with well defined blacks, crisp brights, and a well versed intermediaries. The movie flows and lives on Blu-ray; some may even find its less aggressively sharp and more contained grayscale tones better to their liking compared to the UHD. Either way fans have two fantastic alternatives when choosing a version to view.

Note that the colorized version included on disc two is the same as presented in the 2009 Blu-ray package. Please click here for a few thoughts.

It's a Wonderful Life Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The last time It's a Wonderful Life released to Blu-ray, Paramount included a Dolby Digital mono soundtrack. The track has been upgraded to Dolby TrueHD two-channel mono for this release. The presentation offers no major departures from the previous, here simply presenting the film's sonic essentials with pleasant clarity and good front-center placement. Imaging is indeed a strength, with dialogue in particular never sounding outstretched too far to the ends or settled somewhere even some small distance way from true middle. It's balanced and is further bolstered by good detailing and authority. The track finds modest expansion to the sides when the situation warrants, such as a scene in chapter nine during a meeting following Peter Bailey's death. Various environmental details are nicely integrated, whether light insect support at night or more robust din around the city. Certainly nothing really breathes, but effective detail and generally good placement within the track's limitations help set several scenes to positive impact. Music plays with fine front-end detail and appropriate spacing.

It's a Wonderful Life Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Paramount's new Blu-ray release of It's a Wonderful Life contains three new supplements and leaves behind the two that were previously included on the 2009 disc (The Making of It's a Wonderful Life, Theatrical Trailer). As noted above, this set does ship with a second Blu-ray disc that houses that colorized version of the film. A digital copy code is included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

• Restoring a Beloved Classic (1080p, 13:05): Andrea Kalas, SVP, Archives at Paramount Pictures; and Laura Thornburg, Executive Director, Film Preservation at Paramount Pictures; discuss the 4K restoration process: the nitrate 35mm film source and the look that brings to the screen, the urgency in saving the negative, the digital restoration tools, grain management, the benefits of high dynamic range, the visual superiority of today's version compared to the original, blending elements from the nitrate negative and two fine grain masters, the UHD version's superiority, and more.
• Secrets from the Vault: It's a Wonderful Life (1080p, 22:11): Craig Barron, Creative Director/VFX Supervisor/Historian; and Ben Burtt, Sound Designer/Filmmaker/Historian discuss Frank Capra's career success, departure from Columbia, and founding of Liberty Films. In that context, the piece looks at this film's construction: shooting winter in summer, creating proprietary artificial snow for the film, the manner in which sound is used in the film, the film's cinematography, cut footage, the film's failure at the box office on release, and gaining traction on television. It ends with a look through some home footage from the film's wrap party.
• It's a Wonderful Wrap Party (1080p, 8:04): Vintage footage from the It's a Wonderful Life wrap party previewed in the above supplement.

It's a Wonderful Life Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Paramount has done right by It's a Wonderful Life. The film finds new life on Blu-ray. The restoration work is very impressive. The movie is, of course, one of the great cinema classics. Paramount has included a few new extras to sweeten the deal. Very highly recommended.