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It's A Wonderful Life - In A Nutshell
23rd December 2025 • Movies In A Nutshell • In A Nutshell Media
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It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) – In A Nutshell

Listener Choice – Chosen by Ben Cully

Movies In A Nutshell

Don’t just watch movies — understand them!

PART 1 – The Nutshell – If you haven’t seen it


A spoiler-free breakdown of the Christmas classic that quietly became one of the most emotionally complex films of its era.

An exploration of the movie’s tone, structure and themes — focusing on legacy, purpose, community, sacrifice and the unseen impact one person can have on the lives around them.


A look at why this film feels so different to modern Christmas movies, how its story unfolds across an entire lifetime, and why its central idea continues to resonate decades later.


By the end of Part 1, you’ll know whether this blend of festive storytelling, fantasy and grounded human drama belongs on your watchlist this Christmas.


PART 2 – The Unboxing – If you’ve seen it

What Did You Miss?

The details beneath the surface — from overlooked character arcs and recurring motifs to the way the film quietly explores themes of mental health, responsibility, financial pressure and emotional exhaustion.


The moments many viewers missed, scenes that land differently on rewatch, and why the film’s most famous moments only work because of everything that comes before them.


Paul’s Facts of the Day

A standout set of festive facts, including:

The film’s surprising box office history

Why it only later became a Christmas staple

How wartime experiences shaped key performances

Incredible behind-the-scenes production details

Deleted ideas that would have radically changed the story

Why the film is now considered culturally and historically significant


Hate It or Rate It?

Marc, Darren & Paul submit their scores — and as this is a Listener Choice episode, It’s a Wonderful Life takes its place in the Listener League.


PART 3 – Listener Lounge

Your questions, your comments and your shout-outs — plus a Question of the Week inspired by the film’s themes of purpose, legacy and the moments that define a life.


And of course… the reveal of next week’s movie.


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See how we rated the movies you have chosen!

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Every movie we've featured and rated on the podcast…

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Join the conversation

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Email: hello@moviesinanutshell.com


Socials – Movies In A Nutshell

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Hosts

Marc Farquhar

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marcfarquhar

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themarcfarquhar


Darren Horne

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thedarrenhorne


Paul Day

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pauldaylive23


Recorded at

Sunbeams Studios – https://www.thestudioatsunbeams.co.uk

Part of Annie Mawson's Sunbeams Music Trust – https://sunbeamsmusic.org


Music

Main Theme: BreakzStudios – https://pixabay.com/users/breakzstudios-38548419

Music Bed: ProtoFunk – Kevin MacLeod – https://incompetech.com

(All music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License)

Transcripts

Speaker A:

That whoever this mystery person is putting this in and then getting it chosen and then triggering a conversation about men's mental health and mental health in general may have inadvertently saved somebody's life.

Speaker A:

You know, after watching this movie, the next day I was actually in therapy.

Speaker B:

Hello, and welcome to Movies in a Nutshell.

Speaker A:

With me, Marc Farquhar, myself, Darren Horn.

Speaker C:

And I, Paul Day.

Speaker B:

We help you spend less time browsing and more time watching.

Speaker A:

If you've seen the movie, we'll reveal what you might have missed.

Speaker C:

If you haven't, we'll give you a quick spoiler free breakdown.

Speaker B:

We've got behind the scenes trivia including.

Speaker C:

Paul's fact of the day host ratings.

Speaker A:

And our legend league table, plus your.

Speaker C:

Chance to choose a movie.

Speaker B:

So grab some popcorn and let's jump into this week's movie.

Speaker B:

It's a Wonderful Life.

Speaker B:

stener Choice Chosen by Simone:

Speaker B:

We don't know who that is.

Speaker C:

Are we sure they're not AI?

Speaker B:

We could be.

Speaker C:

They could be like artificial intelligence does everything.

Speaker B:

Now it's a classic.

Speaker B:

Everyone's a highly regarded Christmas film.

Speaker C:

It is.

Speaker B:

Okay, so we are in part one, which we call the nutshell.

Speaker B:

And in the nutshell, we break the movie down quickly.

Speaker B:

Spoiler free to help you decide if it's your kind of movie.

Speaker B:

So how do we break this down for say, someone who hasn't.

Speaker B:

Hasn't seen it?

Speaker A:

It's really tricky to say without giving away what's actually going to happen.

Speaker A:

So it's about the impact you have on the community that you live in.

Speaker B:

Even if you don't realize it.

Speaker A:

Yeah, without a doubt.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

It's like a reverse Christmas carol.

Speaker A:

Instead of being like, here's all the evil things that you have done, it's like here's all the good things actually you've done that you don't realize.

Speaker C:

That's a really good way of describing it.

Speaker C:

Very good.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

It's a reverse Christmas Carol.

Speaker B:

What movies could this could be compared.

Speaker A:

To the Christmas Carol?

Speaker C:

Yes.

Speaker B:

Yeah, definitely.

Speaker B:

I haven't seen it, but I.

Speaker B:

Because it kept getting referenced, I had to look it up what it's about.

Speaker B:

I was like, yes.

Speaker C:

You've never seen a Christmas card.

Speaker B:

I know of it, but I've not seen it.

Speaker C:

You need to watch the one with.

Speaker B:

Muppets and have you got meats?

Speaker C:

I say that every time.

Speaker C:

I haven't got meats, but I've got a few that it reminded me of.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker C:

I feel like because this was 19.

Speaker C:

What did we say it was:

Speaker C:

Ish.

Speaker C:

It's very much the first of its time.

Speaker C:

So normally we're like, this is like this.

Speaker C:

This is like that.

Speaker C:

Well, the other films we're gonna reference has got hints of this in it, if that makes sense.

Speaker C:

It's because it came first, because this was sort of your original of it.

Speaker C:

So I've put this hint of the Truman show in there because you've seen someone's life unfold and it's okay.

Speaker B:

Let me just say my meat is going.

Speaker B:

A Christmas Carol meets the Truman Show.

Speaker C:

Okay, that's good.

Speaker C:

That was my good call.

Speaker B:

Yes.

Speaker C:

The fact we both had Truman show on the thing is good.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Darren's way of describing it is the Reverse Christmas Carol.

Speaker C:

Excellent.

Speaker C:

The only other ones I could think of were there's a film called the Family man with Nicolas Cage.

Speaker C:

So he's basically a corporate.

Speaker C:

A very corporate person, and he's showing a glimmer of what his life would have been if he'd been more of a family man.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker C:

So there's elements of wonderful life in there.

Speaker C:

Sliding doors, potentially, where you go, you.

Speaker C:

You catch the train, you see what happens.

Speaker C:

You miss the train, you see what happens.

Speaker C:

That's film with Gwyneth Paltrow that I always refer to.

Speaker C:

At some point, I will pick it, and I really hope you'll like it, but you probably won't.

Speaker C:

But, hey, we'll throw it at some point.

Speaker C:

I like that film a lot.

Speaker C:

The other one was Back to the Future.

Speaker C:

I don't want to go into why, particularly because it might give away this film.

Speaker C:

But Back to Future, that's good.

Speaker C:

Yeah, that was about it, I think.

Speaker A:

A bit of Casablanca.

Speaker C:

Oh, that's a good call.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

I'm not saying that either.

Speaker C:

That's good call.

Speaker C:

It's a while since I've watched it, but, yeah, it's definitely got that sort of feel, hasn't it?

Speaker B:

So what's his name?

Speaker B:

What's his character name in this?

Speaker C:

This is George Bailey.

Speaker B:

George Bayless one.

Speaker B:

So he kind of.

Speaker B:

He feels trapped by a responsibility he's kind of overwhelmed by.

Speaker A:

Yeah, he's a definition of like the nice guy, where you just do everything for everyone else and you're kind of taking advantage of a little bit, and you never.

Speaker B:

You all seem to give, but you never seem to get back.

Speaker A:

Exactly right.

Speaker B:

So he's sort of convinced his life.

Speaker B:

He's convinced life hasn't amounted to much.

Speaker B:

At a certain point, he's only to discover the profound impact that he's had on other people's lives.

Speaker B:

That's what he gets eventually.

Speaker C:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker C:

And I point about legacy as well, because definitely a lot of it's him trying to keep the legacy going, but like you say, as a result of it, he maybe stops the things he wanted to do.

Speaker C:

His own dreams.

Speaker C:

He puts on hold to do something else, but then maybe never gets to his dreams.

Speaker B:

He always keeps helping people and doing the right thing and being nice.

Speaker C:

But as the title suggests, without giving the spoiler away, it's maybe to show him.

Speaker C:

At the end of the day is A Wonderful Life.

Speaker C:

So it's a life story because it is a fan.

Speaker C:

It is a fantasy.

Speaker C:

At the end of the day, it's got the real drama, but it's kind of over.

Speaker C:

This fantastical twist.

Speaker B:

Cool.

Speaker B:

Let's move on to part two, which is the unboxing.

Speaker B:

So in part two, we have spoiler territory.

Speaker B:

So if we've piqued your interest about A Wonderful Life and you feel like you want to go watch it, we recommend you go and do so now and then come back.

Speaker B:

Because from this point forward, there will be many spoilers in the unboxing.

Speaker B:

We have what did you miss?

Speaker B:

Where we will highlight things you may have missed.

Speaker B:

Even if you've seen the movie many times.

Speaker B:

Paul will have a superb Facts of the day.

Speaker B:

And then we've round part two off with Hate it or Rate it, where we each give our brief opinion score out of 10.

Speaker B:

And then we throw it at the Listener League this time as well as the Legend League and we see where it lands.

Speaker B:

So let's go to.

Speaker B:

What did you miss?

Speaker B:

I'm going to go to you first, Darren.

Speaker A:

So I'm going to have some opinions.

Speaker B:

And I wouldn't expect anything less.

Speaker C:

What?

Speaker A:

And it might sound like I'm rating the film, but I'm not.

Speaker A:

I'm just pointing out things that happen which are bullshit.

Speaker C:

Which leads me to think, no, genuinely, it doesn't.

Speaker A:

It's just like, I don't get.

Speaker B:

This is a disclaimer.

Speaker B:

This has no bearing on my rating of the movie.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Basically because I'm kind of like, I don't get the logic behind a lot of it.

Speaker A:

So I'm just like, wait, this.

Speaker A:

This system that you've created is bullshit?

Speaker A:

So what do we miss?

Speaker A:

The Guardians are Angels are bullshit.

Speaker B:

What?

Speaker B:

What do you mean?

Speaker B:

Okay, so do you mean, in general, guardian angels?

Speaker A:

No, no, I love guardian angels.

Speaker A:

I have a guardian angels.

Speaker A:

I'm very thankful for it.

Speaker A:

But it's like, so Clements pops down, is, oh, this guy's about to Make a mistake.

Speaker A:

Like, he's suicidal and.

Speaker A:

And like, he's crying and he's going to jump off this bridge and he's going to kill himself.

Speaker A:

So I'm going to pop down and save him.

Speaker A:

Oh, that's nice of you.

Speaker A:

Quality.

Speaker A:

What about the guy who accidentally poisoned that woman?

Speaker A:

Did you think maybe an intervention might have helped there?

Speaker A:

Like, what the.

Speaker C:

Well, how many angels do think.

Speaker C:

Well, George was covering that, so it was fine.

Speaker A:

But then he wasn't.

Speaker A:

Oh, so you're going to say the same, like, so, oh, yeah, you weren't there to save your brother.

Speaker A:

So we just let him die?

Speaker C:

What the.

Speaker C:

No, no, that was a glimpse.

Speaker C:

That was a glimpse that didn't actually happen.

Speaker B:

They were showing him an old future.

Speaker B:

It's like back to the future, alternate reality without.

Speaker B:

This is what happens when you not.

Speaker B:

You're not in it.

Speaker A:

Yeah, yeah, I get that.

Speaker A:

But he could have just been like, why don't you save him?

Speaker A:

Like, why.

Speaker A:

Why am I doing it?

Speaker C:

Doesn't matter.

Speaker B:

Because they're going to bring him back anyway because they know they're going to.

Speaker C:

Make him realize it was only a vision.

Speaker A:

I was just.

Speaker A:

It's also the kind of thing it's suggesting is he didn't have any prayers because film opens with our Lord, please, like, look after George.

Speaker A:

I'm really worried about him.

Speaker A:

And someone else is like, oh, I do worry about George.

Speaker A:

Like, please help him get through this.

Speaker A:

Was no one praying for all these other people?

Speaker A:

Like, what the hell?

Speaker C:

Well, we were focusing on George.

Speaker A:

The other thing that I. I think a lot of people may have missed the angels, just how badass his wife is and formidable.

Speaker B:

Formidable.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

I think it's her first role.

Speaker C:

Donna Reed, first role.

Speaker C:

I love her.

Speaker A:

Like, you're watching it.

Speaker A:

And she's like.

Speaker A:

Because firstly, I. I also did not.

Speaker A:

This is not the movie.

Speaker A:

I remember.

Speaker A:

I remember the last 15 minutes being half of the movie.

Speaker A:

So now I'm seeing him, like, when he's like, 12 and stuff.

Speaker A:

I'm just like, what?

Speaker A:

And so she.

Speaker A:

She's like, what do you wish for?

Speaker A:

Because he's always wishing.

Speaker C:

He's for a million dollars.

Speaker A:

He's never grinding to make his dreams come true.

Speaker A:

He's just like, hey, I wish for a million dollars.

Speaker A:

And she's like, you know, what do you wish for?

Speaker A:

And he's, oh, I wish.

Speaker A:

I'm gonna go for this.

Speaker A:

I'm gonna do this.

Speaker A:

I'm gonna travel Europe.

Speaker A:

What do you wish for?

Speaker A:

I'd like to get married and live in that house.

Speaker A:

Right there.

Speaker A:

And then she's like, buys that house and then has four kids.

Speaker A:

And it's like she looks after her four kids.

Speaker A:

And in the evening, she was doing wallpapering and painting and making her dream come true.

Speaker A:

Meanwhile, George was just randomly wandering around the town, like, yelling out things and stuff like she was badass.

Speaker A:

And then at the end, it's her who rallies the town.

Speaker A:

And he's like, oh, my God, what am I gonna do?

Speaker B:

You thought she'd left?

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And he's just like, I'm gonna go to this bridge and jump off.

Speaker A:

And she's like, this is bullshit.

Speaker A:

Right?

Speaker A:

These people owe us.

Speaker B:

Oh, him certainly owe him.

Speaker B:

Because he's always.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

She goes around, he's like, george is in trouble.

Speaker A:

You guys want to maybe do something about it?

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Give us your money.

Speaker A:

It's time to pay up, Queen.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

To be loved but in the way that she loves him would be absolutely badass.

Speaker C:

I actually do love her.

Speaker C:

I'm in love with Donna Reed in this book.

Speaker C:

She's just so good.

Speaker A:

There's also this weird thing that's going on where I, We.

Speaker A:

I talk about this in class sometimes.

Speaker A:

We're so different through time.

Speaker A:

The.

Speaker A:

The young, particularly the girls, but even the guys in this, like, when they're 18, I mean, you're like 27.

Speaker A:

Like.

Speaker A:

Like the level of confidence and self assuredness and just.

Speaker A:

And the way they speak.

Speaker A:

I was like, man, there was just.

Speaker B:

A lot more discipline and people just better behaved then.

Speaker B:

Just more respectful.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Actually, it's kind of weird because I don't think teenagers really quite existed quite yet.

Speaker A:

So bear with me here.

Speaker A:

Because World War II happened and then that generation returning were like, our kids are never going to go through that.

Speaker A:

Like, they need to enjoy life.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And it really started kicking in the 50s.

Speaker C:

That's when it's graffiti.

Speaker C:

Rock and roll.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

All that stuff kicking.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And then they kind of went to the six.

Speaker A:

So we.

Speaker A:

So we never really had a period where you're allowed to be a teenager and just have fun and like, drink and get stoned in the 60s and then.

Speaker A:

And dance and stuff like that.

Speaker A:

So we're not quite there, but we almost are.

Speaker A:

With the.

Speaker A:

With the whole cool, like, pool scene as well.

Speaker C:

That's as close as it gets to it, I suppose.

Speaker B:

The Grease scene almost what makes this movie so iconic.

Speaker A:

Well, okay, so it's a little bit of a fact, but it actually didn't do that well when it came out, and it was not really seen as a Christmas movie.

Speaker A:

Like Frank Capper, the directors thought it was like an American dream, what you can do for your community to make the world better.

Speaker A:

Because he'd got back from the war alongside Jimmy Stewart as well.

Speaker A:

They just come back from the war.

Speaker A:

The weird thing is, is that it just eventually went out of copyright so it could be shown anywhere.

Speaker A:

So TV shows just started, like, TV channels started showing it just every freaking Christmas and just by like Chinese water torture eventually won people over.

Speaker C:

But I think, again, the way you say Chinese water torture there, Darren, does not, like, build my expectations of your score.

Speaker A:

But it also brought the hell off.

Speaker A:

The colorized version.

Speaker C:

Yes.

Speaker C:

I've got some facts about that later.

Speaker A:

You know it.

Speaker A:

So.

Speaker A:

But I think what makes it iconic is it means basically just that premise.

Speaker A:

You can think that your life has no meaning, and particularly as men.

Speaker A:

I mean, there's a whole kind of meme going around at the moment, which I'm fully involved with, of you're looking for a purpose to die.

Speaker A:

Almost like you.

Speaker A:

You want to have a glorious death, but you certainly want to have.

Speaker B:

You're not looking for a purpose to exist.

Speaker A:

Yeah, well, you wanted to have lived a meaningful life, but also you wanted.

Speaker A:

You die and go to Valhalla or whatever.

Speaker A:

You know, die like, you know, in a battle.

Speaker B:

Honorable death.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Today.

Speaker C:

Yeah, that's what we say, a death today.

Speaker C:

Not exactly.

Speaker A:

So I think what makes it so iconic is, I mean, the beats.

Speaker A:

I don't think that there's not many films like it.

Speaker A:

When we try to throw stuff in, maybe boyhood could have been thrown in there a little bit.

Speaker C:

That's good.

Speaker A:

But, like, seeing someone go from, like, a young boy and seeing the beats of their life.

Speaker A:

And I've been reflecting on this recently because, you know, going into 50, I'm like, well, what beats of my life have I got left?

Speaker A:

So it's like, oh, this is your high school.

Speaker A:

This is your, like, first kiss, this is your, like, first job, this is your wedding, and this is your first kid.

Speaker A:

And it's like.

Speaker A:

And we see the whole thing.

Speaker A:

And particularly when you're around at Christmas, you are kind of contemplating, like, yeah, you know, how important family is.

Speaker B:

Or reminisce as well.

Speaker A:

You reminisce and, you know, particularly if you're single or divorced or trying for a kid, it really.

Speaker A:

I. I mean, it's a very depressing time.

Speaker B:

It's the only time you really sort of take stock, have a bit of perspective because life's just so busy.

Speaker B:

So you always just.

Speaker B:

Yeah, it's only Christmas.

Speaker B:

When you've got proper time off and you spend time with friends and family and you.

Speaker B:

Those conversations kind of just naturally happen.

Speaker A:

And I think it's the deep, deep, deep hope that we have a Clarence in our life.

Speaker A:

Like, I really, really hope that that's.

Speaker B:

Someone looking out for you.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And.

Speaker A:

And loves you.

Speaker A:

Although I'm not sure if you guys got this.

Speaker A:

Those angels be not very nice.

Speaker A:

They're bullying him.

Speaker A:

Hang on, let me find a quote for you.

Speaker C:

At points, they're just corporate angels.

Speaker C:

That's how it works.

Speaker A:

Yeah, it is.

Speaker C:

Like, Clarence needs to take it to hr.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Clarence has the IQ of a rabbit, but faith of a child.

Speaker A:

What's that about?

Speaker C:

It's a bit harsh.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

I've been trying to get my wings for 200 years.

Speaker A:

Well, you're not good enough.

Speaker C:

Do better.

Speaker A:

You'll keep trying.

Speaker A:

People are starting to talk.

Speaker A:

Well, they would be, wouldn't they?

Speaker B:

I maybe should have put it in, but when I had my meats, I also had a sprinkle of Back to the Future because it was, like, erased from existence from.

Speaker C:

Yeah, that's true.

Speaker C:

That's true.

Speaker C:

It was the.

Speaker C:

The bit about the.

Speaker C:

The different timeline that did for me.

Speaker B:

Timeline is about to.

Speaker C:

Where one.

Speaker C:

One change suddenly.

Speaker C:

Well, like you say, that's Back To Future Part 1 as well, isn't it?

Speaker C:

Because him knocking out Biff and he's like, oh, he never stood up to him in his life.

Speaker C:

Should that make a difference?

Speaker C:

And he's like.

Speaker C:

And yeah, obviously when you get Back to the future, it's all changed.

Speaker A:

It's also a little bit like, up at the beginning because he just wants to go exploring.

Speaker C:

That's right.

Speaker A:

Let's go.

Speaker A:

And he's like, well, you can't.

Speaker C:

Yeah, something gets in the way.

Speaker A:

Something always gets in the way to.

Speaker A:

I mean, that's also why it's so iconic.

Speaker A:

It's like, you can have.

Speaker A:

I sometimes mess with my students with this.

Speaker A:

I said, when you go home, ask your parents what dreams they gave up when you were born.

Speaker C:

Oh, that's cruel.

Speaker B:

Wow.

Speaker C:

That's cruel.

Speaker A:

Something you guys may have missed as well.

Speaker A:

I. I've always seen the record smashing clip as a meme.

Speaker A:

Yes.

Speaker A:

And it'll be like, I can't remember what song it was.

Speaker C:

Hello, girls.

Speaker A:

Yeah, Veronica.

Speaker A:

And then she.

Speaker A:

You know that song?

Speaker B:

No.

Speaker C:

Oh, a little bit, yeah.

Speaker A:

And then she just walked.

Speaker A:

Smash.

Speaker A:

And it was probably the frog song.

Speaker A:

And, well.

Speaker A:

And, you know, I've seen a lot.

Speaker C:

Of versions of it where she smashes the music.

Speaker A:

Was Played.

Speaker A:

She comes out.

Speaker A:

I was like, oh my God, it's the meme.

Speaker A:

It's the meme.

Speaker A:

It's actually happening.

Speaker A:

This is not a drill.

Speaker A:

I was like, ah, that is quality.

Speaker A:

That is satisfying.

Speaker C:

She's a cool character.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

I thought she was spectacular in it.

Speaker C:

Just.

Speaker B:

I thought the child actors in this were phenomenal.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

So like disciplined and just amazing performances.

Speaker B:

But the, the stories with the children in always reminds me of how resilient children are and how we as adults lose kind of some adaptability or optimism.

Speaker A:

It is interesting getting that.

Speaker A:

You know, I grew up in the 80s so there was, you know, you'd get hit by your parents, you'd get hit by neighbors and stuff.

Speaker A:

But it was, it was really weird seeing it in this and like that.

Speaker A:

He's hit by the shopkeeper, isn't he?

Speaker A:

So he's so much.

Speaker A:

His ear bleeds.

Speaker B:

Do you know what?

Speaker B:

That made me cry.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

That bit when.

Speaker B:

Cuz you old people back then, you never associate them with being kind and gentle and soft moments when he hit him and he.

Speaker B:

But then he realized what the child was doing.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

I just, I was, wasn't prepared.

Speaker B:

I took my coffee off.

Speaker B:

Golf guard.

Speaker B:

I'm like, I'm crying here.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Because you're not used to seeing that back then.

Speaker A:

No.

Speaker B:

You're like strict headmaster, kind of.

Speaker A:

And it's hard to be.

Speaker A:

Because he's not a villain.

Speaker A:

He's mourning his own kid.

Speaker A:

Well.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

And that guy really needs a hook.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

But they just, that generation, they're just not about.

Speaker A:

And everyone, it feels like the town knew what had happened and they were just like, oh, we forget.

Speaker B:

Sounds like I was not prepared for that.

Speaker C:

And then obviously there's the scene in the glimpse where he's been in prison 20 years for killing the thing because George Bailey doesn't step in.

Speaker A:

The whole town mocks him and the.

Speaker C:

Whole town mocks him and throws him out.

Speaker B:

And there's a lot of injustice with the child actors.

Speaker B:

And it, it always makes me realize how.

Speaker B:

And George is the same.

Speaker B:

We get weighed down with many things which contribute to the whole.

Speaker B:

With our like, loss of optimism.

Speaker B:

And kids can help, help you sort of connect, reconnect with that, can't they?

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

What's really important, like similar themes of El, like you said with Elf.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Well, this, this is a lot about money as well.

Speaker B:

So worrying about things.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

And it all comes down to.

Speaker C:

I put one point, I think in my notes somewhere like, oh, there is.

Speaker C:

How much is a human life worth?

Speaker C:

So all Of a sudden his life is worth this 8 grand that's gone missing and they're throwing him in jail.

Speaker B:

And he doesn't care.

Speaker C:

And he's like, yeah, he's got the family.

Speaker C:

Seen the light, he's got his family, but he's.

Speaker A:

Who I quite like is.

Speaker A:

What's the villain called?

Speaker A:

Is it Potter?

Speaker A:

Potter, yeah.

Speaker A:

Like they're basically.

Speaker A:

They're very similar characters because George hates that town and he hates the.

Speaker A:

Was it the Bailey Savings and Loan?

Speaker A:

Like, he just wants to get out.

Speaker C:

But he has to keep it going for Legacy.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

For his dad and the people and he puts them first.

Speaker A:

And the stuff that like Potter says about George, like, oh, he's a freaking idiot.

Speaker A:

And I'm like, yeah, I kind of agree.

Speaker A:

Like, he's not.

Speaker A:

He's self sacrifice is too much almost.

Speaker A:

He's almost.

Speaker A:

I don't know if you can go as far to say that he's like a Christ like figure because he kind of dies and is reborn.

Speaker C:

There is that.

Speaker B:

But did you have, you know, it's like Mr. Pie never gets his comeuppance.

Speaker B:

No, I think that's deliberate because as a.

Speaker B:

The villain wins, he keeps.

Speaker B:

He keeps the money, he faces zero punishment and he walks away untouched.

Speaker B:

But the point isn't justice, it's that George.

Speaker B:

George's value isn't measured by defeating evil, but by the people.

Speaker B:

The people love it.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

It's like he's seen the light of Is a Wonderful Life after all.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Because I mean, even in the early stages where you've got Donna Reid character being so charming in like when the dating and flirting and everything, and she's very like, oh, she obviously likes him and since she was little and, and he's just kind of grumpy a lot of the times.

Speaker C:

Like, yeah, whatever.

Speaker C:

She shows him the picture of him getting the moon.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

And she's all excited about it and she's put it out, she's got the music on and she's all like, you know, and he's just like, oh, what's that?

Speaker C:

He just kind of ignores it.

Speaker C:

And you're like, I feel for.

Speaker C:

On that one.

Speaker A:

I love the scene.

Speaker A:

There's a couple of scenes I love, but when she's kind of in the bush and he realized she's naked, he's ah, I wonder what I should do here.

Speaker A:

She's like, give me my, my gown.

Speaker A:

And he's.

Speaker A:

I could sell tickets to this.

Speaker C:

This is a very interesting situation kind of thing.

Speaker A:

Flirtation is nice.

Speaker A:

Like, I think she says to her mum.

Speaker A:

He's making violent love to me.

Speaker C:

That's it.

Speaker A:

This is:

Speaker A:

My goodness, woman.

Speaker C:

He's making violent love to me mother.

Speaker C:

se you don't expect that in a:

Speaker C:

Yeah, but I like the kooky sense of humor they sort of shared together.

Speaker C:

And then that moment on the phone reminded me of Before Sunrise.

Speaker C:

First one, sunrise, where they're in the booth.

Speaker C:

We talked about this before, haven't we?

Speaker C:

There's a scene in a film that we keep going on about Before Sunrise.

Speaker C:

One day we'll make you watch it.

Speaker C:

But there's a scene where the two love interests are in this record listening booth.

Speaker C:

And every time she looks at him, he's looking away.

Speaker C:

And then she looks away every time he look.

Speaker C:

So they're both checking each other out and the timing of it's phenomenal.

Speaker C:

And it's a bit like them on the phone where they're kind of looking at each other but at different times.

Speaker A:

It's also about how other people are selfish.

Speaker A:

Like, I don't know where the line is.

Speaker A:

Like, you, obviously, you want to put your family first and your needs first, but George doesn't really do that.

Speaker A:

Like, his brother comes back at one point and he's supposed to take over the company, isn't he?

Speaker A:

And he comes back and he's like, oh, here's my.

Speaker A:

Here's my wife.

Speaker A:

Where the she come from?

Speaker A:

Haven't you been sending letters?

Speaker A:

Like, there was.

Speaker A:

There was no correspondence.

Speaker A:

No correspondence.

Speaker C:

How they rocked it in them days.

Speaker A:

And he's like, yeah, I don't want to take over the company now.

Speaker A:

Okay, that's a bit selfish of you.

Speaker A:

Even when there's like the run on the bank, he's, I want my money.

Speaker A:

He's like, but your money's in his house, you know.

Speaker A:

Well, I want it still.

Speaker A:

It's like, but, yes, that's your neighbor.

Speaker A:

Why would you do that to your neighbor?

Speaker C:

That was a big.

Speaker C:

Especially that first guy.

Speaker C:

He's like, I wonder.

Speaker A:

100?

Speaker C:

And he's like, oh, come on, what do you need to get by?

Speaker C:

He's like, no, I want 100.

Speaker C:

And you think, yeah, but that's realistic, I suppose, because people would be like that.

Speaker A:

It stunned me, firstly that Clarence doesn't turn up until the 1 hour 40 mark.

Speaker C:

What do you remember watching then?

Speaker A:

I remember him being in it from early on.

Speaker A:

I genuinely thought that the last 15 minutes was the bulk of the film.

Speaker C:

I suppose that's the Bit that's played the most, isn't it?

Speaker A:

Even, like, there's a bit where he's talking to the drunk guy and he's like, where's my hat?

Speaker A:

He's like, here's my.

Speaker A:

Here's your hat.

Speaker A:

He's like, well, which one's mine?

Speaker A:

Because he's seeing double.

Speaker C:

That's right.

Speaker A:

There's loads of really funny, like, little lines like that kind of scattered through.

Speaker A:

Yeah, that was.

Speaker A:

That isn't what I remember.

Speaker A:

I only really remember act three, because.

Speaker C:

I think before I watched the movie, I'd still seen that scene where he's running through saying, ah, Bedford.

Speaker C:

That's the clip I'd seen that.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Because it was always voted number one.

Speaker B:

Christmas out of context.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

And you don't know the rest of the film.

Speaker C:

So when I watched it, I was a bit the same.

Speaker C:

I was like, okay.

Speaker C:

I don't know what I was expecting.

Speaker B:

Well, the.

Speaker B:

The title only makes sense after you've seen the whole film.

Speaker C:

Yeah, you have to watch the whole thing.

Speaker B:

It ends with the same song.

Speaker B:

Zooey Deschanel at the end of Elf on the piano.

Speaker C:

Apparently one of the facts was.

Speaker C:

Apparently that was original, old to Ode to Joy I've read somewhere.

Speaker C:

So maybe that got changed for copyright.

Speaker C:

I don't know.

Speaker B:

We keep linking films, right?

Speaker C:

It does link it in with the.

Speaker B:

End of unintentionally unintentional links.

Speaker C:

It's as if we know what we're doing, but we don't.

Speaker C:

We didn't even pick this one.

Speaker C:

But the glimpse is the important bit because it makes him then realize how one person can make a difference.

Speaker C:

Because if you're in a.

Speaker C:

It's film about depression, isn't it?

Speaker C:

He's depressed, he's low.

Speaker C:

It's all gone to shit, for want of a better term.

Speaker C:

And he gets to that point at the end and he's just done.

Speaker C:

He's just done until his eyes are open, like, but if you weren't here, this is how the world would be.

Speaker C:

And then that's where the impact you've made.

Speaker C:

And then all of a sudden, he realized how great his wife is.

Speaker C:

You know, when he.

Speaker C:

She comes out the library and doesn't even recognize him and she's like, oh, my God, who's this?

Speaker B:

He's horrified.

Speaker C:

Isn't he horrified?

Speaker C:

And imagine that would be the case if you've been with someone all them years and then suddenly you see them and they don't even recognize.

Speaker B:

But leading on for what I said before about.

Speaker B:

Because I mentioned that Last week about.

Speaker B:

I wonder if the title is ironic.

Speaker B:

Yeah, it kind of is.

Speaker B:

But the phrase It's a Wonderful Life, it lands differently once you've seen what you're laughing at.

Speaker A:

I just remember there's a bit in Friends where Phoebe watches It's a Wonderful Life, but she turns it off three quarters of the way through.

Speaker A:

She's like, it's not as A Wonderful Life.

Speaker A:

Life.

Speaker A:

It should be called It's a Shitty Life.

Speaker A:

Just when you think you can't get any worse, it gets worse.

Speaker C:

Someone described it to me as when I said, well, I'm trying to get Christmasy.

Speaker C:

I watched A Wonderful Life last night and they describe it to me like, yeah, but there's a lot of heavy stuff to get through.

Speaker C:

Before you actually get to the uplifting.

Speaker B:

Bit, I was going to say the phrase It's a Wonderful Life, it lands differently once you've watched George reach his lowest point.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

And the title.

Speaker B:

The title acts as, like, a final revelation.

Speaker B:

It's the last piece of the puzzle, not the first.

Speaker C:

You really did have a Wonderful Life, George.

Speaker A:

Did you guys also notice in the end bit where it's like the bit where he didn't exist?

Speaker A:

Like, all he does is go to a bar and call people by their name and they're like, well, I don't know.

Speaker A:

You get out of here.

Speaker B:

It takes him a long time to get the message that he doesn't exist.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And then I think he punches somebody and gets thrown out.

Speaker A:

And then he's like, well, I'm out of here.

Speaker A:

And one's away.

Speaker A:

So the cops start shooting at him.

Speaker B:

I know.

Speaker B:

I'm like, really?

Speaker B:

Wildly, wildly.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Stand back.

Speaker A:

Go.

Speaker C:

He's causing a nuisance.

Speaker A:

So these bullets have to go somewhere.

Speaker C:

That's one thing that I always think when I watch this.

Speaker C:

I get why they lay it all out and you see the whole life.

Speaker C:

So then the end has the more impact.

Speaker C:

But it almost feels like Back to The Future Part 2.

Speaker C:

They could have probably done more with the glimpse itself because it is wrapped up quite quickly.

Speaker C:

Like, he sees the glimpse and then it's all wrapped up.

Speaker C:

But there's a lot of other angles.

Speaker C:

Maybe they could have gone out there.

Speaker C:

But having said that, it is enough to get home.

Speaker C:

The point of it's called Pottersville.

Speaker C:

Like Biff Tanner running the Hill Valley.

Speaker C:

I know we're comparing two very different generations.

Speaker B:

Is it Twin Pines Mall and then.

Speaker C:

Just Pines exchanged because he ran through the pine?

Speaker C:

So.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

How one person makes a difference in the timeline.

Speaker C:

See, I love all the timeline, stuff like that.

Speaker C:

I love spaceline continuums of.

Speaker B:

It's quite ahead of its time.

Speaker B:

There a lot of concepts.

Speaker C:

I put that down somewhere.

Speaker C:

I was making notes.

Speaker C:

I'm like, this is quite.

Speaker C:

And that's why a lot of the modern films, you're like, oh, that's got a hint of It's a Wonderful Life.

Speaker B:

To go to the back to future reference.

Speaker B:

Were they just not quite ready for this yet?

Speaker B:

Was that why it didn't do so well?

Speaker B:

Maybe is a bit too out there.

Speaker A:

It was also, I think it was an indie film.

Speaker A:

It was by Liberty Films, which isn't like one of the major studios.

Speaker C:

Okay.

Speaker B:

People back then would only trust big brand trusted brands.

Speaker B:

It's like independent wouldn't do well because, like, why would we care about them?

Speaker B:

Also, is this one of the earliest uses of a cinematic multiverse?

Speaker A:

I don't know.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Decades before Marvel or Time loop movies, the film explores, like, an alternate reality where George never existed.

Speaker B:

Like what proto multiverse storytelling.

Speaker C:

Were they doing that in comics around then, in the 40s?

Speaker A:

I have no idea.

Speaker C:

No, I'm not sure.

Speaker B:

Like branching timelines, butterfly effects, consequences, and a reality shaped by a single absence.

Speaker B:

Is that.

Speaker C:

That seems like it must have still been pretty.

Speaker B:

If someone had, like, read that to me, I'd be like, that doesn't sound like a 40s film.

Speaker C:

No, exactly.

Speaker B:

Am I way off there or.

Speaker C:

No, I think that's.

Speaker C:

That's fair.

Speaker C:

I think.

Speaker C:

And if they were probably not mainstream like it is now, because now we've got.

Speaker B:

Which makes me think, like, people just weren't ready for that.

Speaker B:

It was just too much for them to.

Speaker C:

Yeah, because then we've got everything all at once and we've got all the Marvel stuff and we've got timelines all over the place.

Speaker C:

So.

Speaker C:

Yeah, maybe it was just.

Speaker C:

Maybe you guys weren't ready for that.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

And now it's become this classic.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Also there's all sorts of ideas of the family as well.

Speaker B:

The things that Darren was saying before about the kind of.

Speaker B:

One of the earliest depictions of male mental health.

Speaker A:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker A:

I don't.

Speaker A:

I think it would have been really, really freaking rare to see somebody cry.

Speaker A:

And particularly John Wayne would have hated.

Speaker C:

This movie and have an actual breakdown.

Speaker C:

Really.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Because it's showing the grind of daily.

Speaker A:

Life, which also may have been why it wasn't that successful.

Speaker B:

Maybe.

Speaker B:

I mean, I've read some of the things you've got, and you've got financial stress, emotional exhaustion, hopelessness, community pressure, suicidal thoughts.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

But That's.

Speaker A:

Remember, this is just at the end of World War II.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

So people.

Speaker B:

But in a movie, you wouldn't.

Speaker A:

No, I agree.

Speaker A:

But I think.

Speaker A:

I wonder if that's why people didn't want to see it, because they were just like, oh, that's my life.

Speaker B:

True.

Speaker B:

That's very, very true.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

It's too on the nose.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

It touches a nerve.

Speaker B:

You wouldn't get many glimpses of male fragility like that.

Speaker B:

I read somewhere about a deleted scene.

Speaker B:

A deleted scene explains a shift in tone.

Speaker B:

There was a.

Speaker B:

There was a filmed moment where Mr. Potter calls the police to report George as unstable.

Speaker B:

It got cut, which is why parts of the final act feel slightly abrupt.

Speaker B:

Viewers always sense something missing because something was.

Speaker B:

Okay, cool.

Speaker C:

And they took it.

Speaker B:

My finger on what that was.

Speaker B:

But I had read other people say that about the ending of it because.

Speaker C:

He basically says he's at the window.

Speaker C:

Isn't.

Speaker C:

He's like, merry Christmas or whatever.

Speaker C:

And he's like, yes, well, they're waiting at your house.

Speaker C:

So maybe there's more about him setting him up, I suppose.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker C:

But maybe that took it too far away from George, so they wanted to focus on him.

Speaker C:

Potentially interesting.

Speaker B:

Cool.

Speaker B:

Okay, thanks, gentlemen.

Speaker B:

Let's move on to Paul's amazing facts of the day.

Speaker B:

Festive facts.

Speaker C:

Festive facts of the day.

Speaker C:

Although we say festive facts.

Speaker C:

So we're always on about the Die Hard argument, aren't we?

Speaker C:

I feel like Die Hard is more of a Christmas film than this because this is only a Christmas film technically at the end.

Speaker C:

Whereas Die Hards a festive film all the way through.

Speaker A:

Yeah, I agree.

Speaker B:

Is it all the way through?

Speaker C:

It is.

Speaker C:

The mentioning Christmas all the way.

Speaker C:

I saw someone.

Speaker C:

Someone sent me a trailer on Instagram about Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?

Speaker C:

And they recut the trailer with all the Christmas references, and it looks like a Christmas film.

Speaker C:

For the scene that required the lovely Donna Reid.

Speaker C:

For the scene that required the lovely Donna Reid to.

Speaker C:

I added the lovely, by the way.

Speaker C:

To throw a rock through the window of the Granville house.

Speaker C:

Director Frank Capra hired a marksman to shoot it out on cue, but to everyone's amazement, Reid broke the window by herself.

Speaker C:

Because she's a badass.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

She played like, softball or something.

Speaker C:

Baseball.

Speaker C:

Baseball in high school.

Speaker C:

Yes.

Speaker A:

Hell of a throw.

Speaker C:

Hell of a throw.

Speaker C:

And.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

So just.

Speaker C:

She didn't need it.

Speaker C:

So I'm guessing that take in the film is all her.

Speaker C:

James Stewart was nervous about the phone kiss scene because it was his first on screen.

Speaker C:

Kiss.

Speaker C:

Since his return to Hollywood after the war, under director Frank Capra's watchful eye, Stewart filmed the scene in only one unrehearsed take.

Speaker C:

And it works so well that the part of the embrace was cut because it was too passionate to pass the senses.

Speaker C:

They're like, ah, it's too much.

Speaker C:

Just take that out.

Speaker C:

The gym floor that opens in the middle to reveal the swimming pool, which I'm guessing back in them days was quite a novelty, I suppose that was filmed at Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, California.

Speaker C:

And that's real and it's still regular in use?

Speaker A:

Yes, in some other films, I think.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

them are Whatever it takes in:

Speaker C:

I haven't seen that, but apparently that's 54 years later.

Speaker C:

And the young man who opened the floor to the pool was Carl Switzer in an uncredited role.

Speaker C:

He was one of the stars in the Our Gang, Little Rascals series.

Speaker C:

So that's, I'm guessing, 40s stuff.

Speaker C:

The set of Bedford Falls was constructed in two months, and it was one of the longest sets that had ever been made for an American movie.

Speaker C:

You forget this sometimes.

Speaker C:

You just assume they've just filmed it somewhere, but actually they've built the set.

Speaker C:

Bit like our favorite Back to the Future, that was on a whole, like a backlot.

Speaker B:

Same backlot as Gremlins.

Speaker C:

And I'm watching a TV show with Jennifer Love Hewitt from many years ago.

Speaker C:

Jennifer Love Hewitt lives in a small town, and it's this particular set.

Speaker C:

It covered 4 acres of Encino Ranch, and it included 75 stores and buildings, a main street, a factory district, and a large residential and slum area.

Speaker C:

Main street was 300 yards long, three whole city blocks.

Speaker C:

So that's a big set.

Speaker B:

Wow.

Speaker C:

That is a big set.

Speaker C:

So they must have had a bit of budget going on during filming, which I think you alluded to this bit.

Speaker C:

Aaron.

Speaker C:

James Stewart come back from the war, so he was actually actively suffering from PTSD and depression due to his service in World War II.

Speaker B:

Wow.

Speaker C:

And Stuart told friends that he related to a lot of the character in George Bailey.

Speaker C:

And some of the scenes where George acted out of anger was considered cathartic, for he had his own struggles with mental health.

Speaker C:

So his acting became notably darker after the war, as he knew he had killed civilians in Germany and occupied Europe.

Speaker C:

So he was in a really bad place when he was filming this.

Speaker A:

I think there's a scene in the bar where he's having a breakdown.

Speaker A:

He wasn't supposed to cry.

Speaker A:

This is right and he did cry.

Speaker A:

And it wasn't shot in a close up.

Speaker A:

And then so the director later on blew the close up up.

Speaker A:

So it's a bit more grainy.

Speaker A:

And people are saying, you know, they think it's because he was thinking about his time in the war.

Speaker A:

But also he's an actor.

Speaker A:

Like, maybe he was just acting and never know.

Speaker A:

I don't know if you've got this one, but he is one of the highest ranking people who came back and acted because tons of people were in, like, loads of people in the war who were working in Hollywood.

Speaker A:

He was a brigadier general.

Speaker A:

Wow, you have that one.

Speaker A:

Well, I don't know why I say, who's a brigadier general.

Speaker A:

Like, I know what rank that is, but I'm guessing it's a pretty good high, isn't it?

Speaker B:

I'm like, that sounds good.

Speaker B:

Sounds good.

Speaker B:

Important.

Speaker C:

Pretty damn high.

Speaker B:

The word general.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

According to Robert J. Anderson.

Speaker A:

Not sure that is Mr. Anderson.

Speaker C:

Mr. Anderson.

Speaker C:

HB Warner was really was drunk during the scene in which Mr. Gower slaps young George.

Speaker C:

And Warner's slaps were real and caused real blood to come from Anderson's ear.

Speaker A:

Jesus.

Speaker C:

Oh, so Anderson must be the boy.

Speaker C:

Played the boy.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

After the scene was finished, Warner hugged and comforted Anderson.

Speaker C:

s's National Film Registry in:

Speaker C:

Culturally.

Speaker C:

I can't say the word culture.

Speaker C:

It's gonna be one of them.

Speaker C:

I can't say.

Speaker C:

Isn't it cultural?

Speaker C:

Cool.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

No.

Speaker C:

All right.

Speaker C:

It's going straight in there.

Speaker C:

Historically and aesthetically significant.

Speaker B:

That's classic.

Speaker B:

Replace the words you can't say with something else.

Speaker C:

No, it says them as well.

Speaker C:

It says them as well.

Speaker C:

But why can't I say they were cultural culturally?

Speaker C:

Oh, Jesus.

Speaker B:

Culturally.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

That's what's up.

Speaker C:

So both James Stewart and Donna Reed came from small towns.

Speaker C:

Stuart from Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Reed from Denison, Iowa.

Speaker C:

She demonstrated her rural roots by winning an impromptu bet with Lionel Barrymore, who played Potter when he challenged her to milk a cow on set.

Speaker C:

Behind the scenes, randomly.

Speaker A:

Was she blindfolded?

Speaker A:

Put this blindfold on and then just milk this cow for me.

Speaker C:

It's not.

Speaker C:

Oh, my.

Speaker C:

Can I go on always relying Mr.

Speaker B:

Horn to lower the tone?

Speaker C:

He's the horn section.

Speaker C:

What are you gonna do?

Speaker C:

So Frank Capra strove to make scenes as real as he could for actors.

Speaker C:

Thus, the first kiss between James and Donna was shot at the same time as the other end of the phone conversation with Sam on A different set.

Speaker C:

So they actually had him on the other set doing the phone call.

Speaker C:

Steven Spielberg cites this as one of his favorite movies at 3.7 million.

Speaker C:

This was a very expensive independent production like you said.

Speaker C:

And in its initial box office run it only earned 3.3 million.

Speaker A:

Could have been lack of marketing as well.

Speaker A:

If it's an indie film.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

It may have even not got into the bigger cinemas.

Speaker A:

Maybe just a house cinemas.

Speaker B:

A victim of just the war.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Everything wasn't back on track back then.

Speaker B:

People like couldn't afford to go to cinema or cool.

Speaker B:

Anything else.

Speaker C:

One of the things was the original writers, I don't think were very happy with the film because they changed a lot of it by the time they'd filmed it.

Speaker C:

For example, in one of the original drafts of the script, character of Mr. Potter didn't exist.

Speaker C:

Instead, George was shown a reality in which he became a powerful and corrupt politician.

Speaker C:

And the climax of that film was quite different as well.

Speaker C:

As good George Bailey fought his evil doppelganger, a battle that resulted in the death of the evil George Bailey when he was thrown from the bridge.

Speaker C:

So basically Superman 3.

Speaker B:

I don't like the sound of that one as much.

Speaker B:

No.

Speaker C:

Maybe that was why the script writers didn't like the final film because it was so different.

Speaker B:

I like it, just not the end.

Speaker C:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker C:

We got our uplifting.

Speaker C:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker C:

We didn't want to battle with evil George Bailey.

Speaker C:

The final one I'll leave you with is Oscar related, which is the cast includes five Oscar winners, which is Thomas Mitchell, Lionel Barrymore, Gloria Graham, Donna Reed and James Stewart.

Speaker C:

It also has four Oscar nominees.

Speaker C:

Henry Travers, H.B.

Speaker C:

warner, Balua Bondi and Ellen Corby.

Speaker C:

So these were obviously quite big in the day and esteemed.

Speaker C:

Yeah, there you go.

Speaker B:

Thank you very much, Paul.

Speaker B:

That takes us on to hate it or rate it.

Speaker B:

So I am actually going to start with Mr. Darren Horn.

Speaker C:

Oh, oh, yeah, sure.

Speaker A:

I mean, it's a really annoying film and there's a lot of stuff that really bugs me and there's bits that upset me as well.

Speaker A:

Like I hate the bit where he goes and yells at his kids and it's like they're like.

Speaker A:

And they're crying like, daddy, what are we doing wrong?

Speaker A:

That's kind of heartbreaking.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And like I said at the beginning, I really hate the trick.

Speaker A:

The idea of these angels is really annoying and it feels like it's kind of quite modern in that, like you see this whole thing like when there's a shooting in America.

Speaker A:

So I will give them my thoughts and prayers.

Speaker A:

Is that what.

Speaker A:

So thoughts and prayers is a currency to, like, have a good life?

Speaker A:

Like, just wins.

Speaker A:

Whoever gets the most people to pray for them wins.

Speaker A:

I'm just like, this is.

Speaker A:

This is kind of.

Speaker A:

And that beginning bit with, like, the angels talking, like, oh, gonna send him down to help this one person.

Speaker A:

What about all the other people who are struggling?

Speaker A:

And I can't stand the selfishness of that little brother.

Speaker A:

He's just like, I'm gonna go off to war.

Speaker A:

I'm gonna do this.

Speaker A:

And then even at the end, George gives him all his college money so he can go off to college or something like that.

Speaker A:

It angers me.

Speaker B:

He's the better sibling.

Speaker B:

He's the better man.

Speaker A:

Better sibling, better man.

Speaker C:

In terms of the angels, that's just one department of angels.

Speaker C:

He's a Simpson department.

Speaker C:

You know, there's different departments of angels sorting different people out.

Speaker B:

Just let him go, Paul.

Speaker B:

Okay?

Speaker A:

And, like, these lines are all you.

Speaker A:

All.

Speaker A:

All you can take with you is that which you give away.

Speaker A:

What the.

Speaker A:

It's just nonsense.

Speaker A:

And then also, Potter off, He's on about 2,000 a year at George Bailey's, and Potter offers him 20 grand.

Speaker B:

29 million, right?

Speaker A:

That's like, are you kidding me?

Speaker C:

He turns it down on principle.

Speaker A:

You take it, and then you start buying up all the other stuff, too.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Michael Keaton with Batman 3.

Speaker A:

So it's about, you know, this guy who feels, like, trapped by responsibility.

Speaker A:

And it feels very Now.

Speaker A:

It's like I said, it's got the thoughts and prayers answer to solving issues in our communities.

Speaker A:

You've got the fact that he's.

Speaker A:

People can't afford homes, so he's business.

Speaker A:

He works.

Speaker A:

So it's a really sweet relationship with his dad.

Speaker A:

I thought that was really cute.

Speaker A:

They see people as human beings rather than just a number.

Speaker A:

So he's like, well, I trust this person.

Speaker A:

And, you know, it used to be that way.

Speaker A:

Now it's like, computer says no, and it's kind of destroyed it.

Speaker A:

And then on top of that, with the men's mental health crisis, you know, I've seen freaking social media videos of guys crying in their car because they've lost their job or they don't feel like they can provide for their kids.

Speaker A:

And then they go on to, like, take their own life.

Speaker A:

It's freaking heartbreaking.

Speaker A:

So as a movie, it's depressing as all fuck.

Speaker A:

And I cried so many times.

Speaker A:

I think I cried at the same time you say, I think I cried.

Speaker A:

I definitely Cried when he goes to look for Zuzu's petals.

Speaker A:

And clowns is like, they're not there.

Speaker A:

He's like, what's on there?

Speaker A:

He's like, zuzu Pebbles.

Speaker A:

I was like, okay, now I've started.

Speaker A:

And then by the end of that scene and the end scene, I was crying so much I couldn't make out the tv.

Speaker A:

Like, that's how insane it was.

Speaker A:

So.

Speaker A:

And as I was watching it, as I was going through it, I was like, I'm not in a mood for Christmas movie.

Speaker A:

And I was just watching this, and I was like, well, I don't remember this.

Speaker A:

I said, oh, that's kind of funny with the swimming report.

Speaker A:

I don't remember this drunk guy saying that.

Speaker A:

And.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

Man, she is really pretty.

Speaker A:

Like, why aren't women like that anymore?

Speaker A:

And.

Speaker A:

And it was winning me over.

Speaker A:

Like, as I started it, it was like a 2 out of 10.

Speaker A:

I was like, oh, the guys are gonna hate me.

Speaker A:

And then it just kept getting better and better.

Speaker A:

And then by the end of it, I think.

Speaker A:

Because the depths of darkness that this character has been in and I don't.

Speaker A:

Yeah, I think you have a men's metal crisis.

Speaker A:

Men's mental health crisis, you know, and that's.

Speaker A:

I think that's kind of what angers me May.

Speaker A:

Okay, So I was going to say, where the fuck is my angel?

Speaker A:

But I got through it.

Speaker A:

So maybe I did.

Speaker A:

Maybe I did have someone or, you know, it's that whole thing we talk about when you see people with those jumpers that if you're standing behind me, you know, you mean something in life or whatever.

Speaker A:

Or we just have these acts of kindness that, you know, just letting somebody into traffic could be enough to change the dread.

Speaker A:

That sighting doors moment could be enough.

Speaker C:

To be like angels showing up and going, you know.

Speaker C:

Yeah, savior.

Speaker B:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker A:

And I'm freaking thankful for my life.

Speaker A:

My life is absolutely badass.

Speaker A:

I'm really, really thankful and I'm pleased that I'm here.

Speaker B:

So we.

Speaker A:

Yes, thank you.

Speaker C:

Yes, indeed.

Speaker A:

So, yeah, it's horrible because there is a men's mental health crisis.

Speaker A:

The idea that losing your job of being in financial trouble could push people to thinking in that way.

Speaker A:

The housing crisis, just everything.

Speaker A:

Everything is a nightmare.

Speaker A:

But I absolutely loved it.

Speaker A:

I think it is a masterpiece.

Speaker A:

I think it's cinema.

Speaker C:

I wrote down.

Speaker A:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker C:

I wonder if Darren thinks it's cinema, because I thought it probably.

Speaker A:

The fact that we can talk about this eight years later, the fact that I watched this so many times when I was A lot younger, I would have been living with my parents.

Speaker A:

It's such a Christmas movie.

Speaker A:

And I did not in any way pick up on the gravitas of what was actually going on.

Speaker A:

You're absolutely right.

Speaker A:

Like men crying on screen like this.

Speaker A:

This is huge.

Speaker A:

This should be.

Speaker A:

I'm glad it was held up by.

Speaker A:

What'd you say?

Speaker A:

The Museum of whatever?

Speaker C:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker C:

That was just one example.

Speaker C:

I think it's been put in quite a few museums and things ahead of its time.

Speaker C:

Cultural.

Speaker C:

Oh, I'm saying it now.

Speaker C:

There you go.

Speaker C:

Hey.

Speaker A:

I don't think I can give it 10 out of 10 because even though I think it's amazing because it didn't make me feel as good or happy or joyful or optimistic as some of the other movies, I've given 10 out of 10 to that.

Speaker A:

There wasn't as fast fair, but I think in terms of its power, it's.

Speaker A:

It's phenomenal.

Speaker A:

And I think it's probably an 8 out of 10.

Speaker C:

Yeah, go for it.

Speaker C:

You haven't seen this before.

Speaker B:

Ever since.

Speaker B:

Before.

Speaker B:

I've seen bits of it.

Speaker C:

Okay.

Speaker B:

This is a masterpiece.

Speaker C:

There it is.

Speaker B:

I absolutely love this from beginning to end.

Speaker B:

How long is this movie?

Speaker B:

This is quite two hours.

Speaker B:

Yeah, it did on two hours.

Speaker B:

The opposite to the Grinch.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Where you felt like it just skipped.

Speaker B:

It didn't feel like that.

Speaker B:

This could have been 1 out of 45.

Speaker B:

It just flew by.

Speaker B:

I was invested in the characters, the story, the ups, the downs.

Speaker B:

Obviously, it made me cry twice.

Speaker B:

It made me laugh.

Speaker B:

There's a couple of bits where it's.

Speaker C:

Oh, it's funny in places.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

It's a lot of humor.

Speaker B:

Really whimsical and just ahead of its time.

Speaker B:

Like I said, like, I picked up on the mental health thing.

Speaker B:

Did not expect that.

Speaker B:

I didn't know the depths that this film would go to.

Speaker B:

There's a lot of texture to it, but just.

Speaker B:

Yeah, the whole.

Speaker B:

The concept of it is very out there.

Speaker B:

I can get.

Speaker B:

I can.

Speaker B:

It's.

Speaker B:

Understand why it probably didn't do well with audience at the time.

Speaker B:

But now it's just.

Speaker B:

I just love it from beginning to end and I'm gonna give it a 9.2.

Speaker C:

Nice.

Speaker A:

I did wonder about the opposite, though, because it's like, look at all the good you've done that you don't know about.

Speaker A:

Well, what about all the evil I've done that I don't know about?

Speaker C:

That's wonderful life too.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Part of my story is from the message as well that it gets through at the end.

Speaker B:

I mean it takes you on some.

Speaker B:

A bit of a roller coaster ride to get there.

Speaker B:

But it's.

Speaker B:

The message is as strong as anything.

Speaker C:

Like the payoff's there if you stick with it, isn't it?

Speaker B:

Yeah, it's like Phoebe turning off at the very.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Crucial moment.

Speaker B:

If you just stick with it, it's a strong message.

Speaker B:

So 9.2 for me.

Speaker B:

After you.

Speaker C:

Paul, you sound very much like the first time I watched it because I was very similar to you in that.

Speaker C:

I'd only seen that end bit.

Speaker C:

Didn't really know what it was about.

Speaker C:

Just thought it was going to be some old school Christmas movie.

Speaker C:

And first time I watched it, same as you, absolutely glute.

Speaker C:

Like at that point when I watched it say 10, 15 years ago for the first time I wasn't really watching a lot of old movies.

Speaker C:

Like I try and watch them now like.

Speaker C:

And try and take it all in because like you say there's some real amazing stuff Darren out there for old school movies, like my 80s movies.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Great 70s I'm a bit shakier on, you know, everything past then I try and watch but.

Speaker C:

And I couldn't believe how much I was just gripped by it all.

Speaker C:

And I watched it again thinking, is it going to hold up?

Speaker C:

Because obviously this time I'm studying it a bit and I knew I'd be with you guys.

Speaker C:

I can see why it's one of Spielberg's favorite because just when you.

Speaker A:

He's a softy as well.

Speaker C:

I know he is.

Speaker C:

He's like me.

Speaker C:

He's like oh, saccharin.

Speaker C:

I'll take it.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

But the actual.

Speaker C:

Where he makes the cuts and the.

Speaker C:

It's kind of a modern way of cutting.

Speaker C:

I thought at times when it was moving with the camera and things.

Speaker C:

So for me did it hold up?

Speaker C:

Yeah, I was weeping away like I do every time I had a new appreciation for life.

Speaker C:

Like it kind of gives you.

Speaker C:

That really goes it, you know, in the, in the really depressing bits.

Speaker C:

It almost pulls it out of yourself because you start thinking, God, yeah, I've.

Speaker C:

I've been there before.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I've been that low.

Speaker C:

I've been.

Speaker C:

I've been on that low where you just like what, what's the point of me?

Speaker C:

Why am I here?

Speaker A:

Yeah, that'd be better off without me.

Speaker C:

Self loathing.

Speaker C:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker C:

I've been through all those things.

Speaker C:

So when, when you go through.

Speaker C:

I've been through all that things.

Speaker C:

I go through them on a weekly basis like a Roller coaster when you die.

Speaker C:

Don't we all?

Speaker B:

Yeah, right.

Speaker C:

The fact that then you get the payoff at the end, that really makes you go, yeah, you need to appreciate the things that you have got.

Speaker C:

I'm not married.

Speaker C:

I don't have all these kids.

Speaker C:

But there's other things in my life that I do really appreciate that maybe other things other people haven't experienced.

Speaker C:

So I'm really appreciative of.

Speaker C:

Love you, man.

Speaker B:

I love you.

Speaker C:

I'm going to talk about movies and.

Speaker B:

Have a great time.

Speaker C:

Have time talking about movies and watch ones I haven't seen and replay ones that I have seen and try and sell them to you guys and see what you think and get different opinions.

Speaker B:

And get some listener feedback.

Speaker C:

Get some listener feedback.

Speaker C:

That's all good.

Speaker C:

So, yeah, I won't waffle anymore.

Speaker C:

For me, I feel like it's almost a no notes.

Speaker C:

I want to give it a 10.

Speaker C:

I'm really nudging on the 10 here.

Speaker B:

Amazing.

Speaker B:

Go for it.

Speaker B:

I was like, hang on, this is:

Speaker B:

9.2.

Speaker A:

What are you going to go for?

Speaker A:

You go for 10.

Speaker C:

I'm going to go 10.

Speaker C:

I'm going to throw it in there.

Speaker A:

I think.

Speaker A:

I think also it's interesting because Castaway talks about how you've got to keep going because you never know what the tide is going to bring.

Speaker A:

And my whole thing is seasons.

Speaker A:

I just keep thinking, you know, if I'm in winter right now, there's going to.

Speaker B:

It's not going to be raining every day.

Speaker A:

Yeah, Crow, it's.

Speaker A:

It's not going to rain every day.

Speaker A:

And it's really hard to remember that.

Speaker A:

So I think it's good to remember that when you're in the good times and because it'll be a little bit easier to remember when you're going through the rough times.

Speaker A:

But I think.

Speaker A:

I think that a lot.

Speaker A:

I think, you know, if I wasn't here now, like, I wouldn't have seen that amazing run of Marvel when they made kind of end game and stuff.

Speaker A:

And there's so many things that I would have missed out on.

Speaker A:

And so part of me just wants to stick around now just to see how this kind of shitso of a soap opera of what's happening in the world.

Speaker A:

And like, this is final season, like capitalism.

Speaker A:

I want to see what's going to happen.

Speaker A:

But I would also just say, like, if you are struggling, call the freaking Samaritans.

Speaker A:

Like, that's what they're designed for.

Speaker A:

And you know, even if you don't feel like you're bad enough yet, like people would that that's a good call for them.

Speaker A:

Like they're not, they're not going to tell it say oh you're not suicidal enough.

Speaker A:

Get off the phone.

Speaker B:

But you don't have to wait until you're at your lowest point.

Speaker A:

Not at all.

Speaker C:

Well they said don't suffer in silence.

Speaker C:

Isn't it?

Speaker C:

Because that's sometimes what you.

Speaker C:

Being with yourself when you're in that place is sometimes the worst place you can be because yourself is the most unkind person and that you can find.

Speaker A:

And there's some amazing books out there.

Speaker A:

There's one of my favorite books that got me through was Philosophy for life and other dangerous situations.

Speaker A:

That's quite a thick book.

Speaker A:

But even recently and I'm in a fairly good place right now, I got another one called don't believe what you think.

Speaker A:

And that's huge because most title there is, I mean most things like things events aren't good or evil or bad or good.

Speaker A:

It's you thinking about them that makes them good or bad.

Speaker A:

And getting a control on that, being able to manage your own thoughts is, is a superpower that we should all try and develop that ability.

Speaker A:

But I'd also say I'm in therapy right now.

Speaker A:

You know, after watching this movie the next day I was actually in therapy.

Speaker A:

Not because of this movie, it was just scheduled in.

Speaker B:

I'm going to edit that.

Speaker A:

But at the beginning and I went to my therapist and she was like, okay, so what do you want to do here?

Speaker A:

I say actually my life is going pretty well.

Speaker A:

I need you to stop me from self sabotaging and I need you to.

Speaker B:

Give you the tools to stop that happening.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And just call me on my bullshit, call me on me thinking my way into negative patterns, overthinking or what if.

Speaker B:

I know people what if themselves to almost death.

Speaker A:

And you know, I've gone private at this point, but I've gone.

Speaker A:

I've had therapy through many kind of like child organizations in the past.

Speaker A:

And the reason I didn't go to therapy earlier is I kept thinking I'm not in a bad enough state to take up somebody's place.

Speaker C:

Like a crisis point.

Speaker A:

Exactly.

Speaker C:

Waiting for.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And that's for the charity to decide like you go through.

Speaker A:

Yeah, they'll.

Speaker A:

They'll assess you, they'll work out where you are and also yeah, some of them are going to have a weight in this.

Speaker A:

We know that the mental organizations are swamped right now.

Speaker A:

Better get on the waiting list now.

Speaker C:

Then because there's lots of local ones in different places as well.

Speaker C:

Yes, Kyle Ali to mind.

Speaker C:

There's various ones in different areas as well.

Speaker C:

So you might have a local one as well as the.

Speaker B:

Wherever you live, whatever country.

Speaker B:

And there's always people networks who can.

Speaker B:

You can reach out to.

Speaker A:

Absolutely.

Speaker A:

And you know, I remember one time I was on a six month waiting list.

Speaker A:

I ended up getting on in three months.

Speaker C:

And I think the FOMO stuff doesn't help now the fear of missing out coming through social media.

Speaker C:

So this time of year because we are talking about Christmas time, aren't we?

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

So there'll be some people who love Christmas but then on the other side of that there's going to be people it's overwhelming for or Christmas is just.

Speaker B:

A sad time for.

Speaker C:

It's just a sad time because it brings back memories.

Speaker C:

So everything's all light and sparkly and bright and colorful.

Speaker C:

But actually that might bring back very painful memories for some people.

Speaker C:

So maybe step away from your phone and not be scrolling on everyone at Christmas markets.

Speaker C:

And yeah.

Speaker B:

Bit of a recess because obviously a lot of people are off work this time of year as well.

Speaker B:

Some time.

Speaker B:

Which is what one of the things people don't have, which is what they suffer because they don't have time to stop.

Speaker C:

Maybe it's using that time wisely like you say to, to get the support if you think you need it and.

Speaker A:

Like just call your like I'll do this Sometimes I'll be like, like sometimes I'll get caught in a pattern where I'm thinking I'm so lonely.

Speaker A:

I don't really have any friends.

Speaker A:

Like there's no one to hang out with today.

Speaker A:

And I'm like, what the are you talking about?

Speaker A:

Like if you messaged this person, they'd be there in a heartbeat.

Speaker A:

You message this person naked.

Speaker A:

So yeah, you've got to be able to challenge your thoughts when they're lying and kind of see through that stuff.

Speaker A:

But I also, I'm a big fan of books as well.

Speaker A:

Like Matt Haig's a great author.

Speaker A:

Got a great book called Midnight Library that's fiction that I think could be a lot of fun.

Speaker B:

One thing I love about this podcast is the these kind of conversations that come from just watching a movie.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

This is themes, the themes and the things that movies touch on.

Speaker B:

Everyone can connect with various movies in various ways.

Speaker C:

And it's what we've said in previous podcasts is about stories bringing people Together, isn't it?

Speaker C:

Because you talk about the.

Speaker A:

The.

Speaker C:

What do you call it?

Speaker C:

The fairy tale?

Speaker C:

Not the fairy tale.

Speaker A:

The heroes journey.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

So it repeats over time.

Speaker A:

But that's a good example, because the absolute worst freaking dragon, the biggest enemy that you can face, is without a doubt your own mental health.

Speaker A:

It's the demons and the dragon in your own head.

Speaker A:

And, you know, you guys now used to run the MMA studio, and we'd have.

Speaker A:

We'd do Zin Jiu jitsu at one point.

Speaker A:

And when then we did, we also started doing yoga for flexibility.

Speaker A:

And at the end, you do this thing called corpse pose, where you just lay there and like, you know, I trained at guys who were, like, thought they were, like, big and tough, like kickboxing me and stuff.

Speaker A:

They couldn't lay there for five minutes with their own thoughts.

Speaker C:

Interesting.

Speaker A:

You know, that's crazy.

Speaker C:

The only thing I was going to say is kind of put me thinking about how big the universe is.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Maybe it was the angel bit of it.

Speaker C:

Something sparked in my head of like, how amazing is it that we're just the right amount of distance from the sun?

Speaker C:

If we were any further away, we'd be burned, frozen.

Speaker C:

And if we were any closer, we'd be like a fireball.

Speaker C:

So we're just in the right place.

Speaker B:

Makes you feel small and insignificant.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

And then you think of.

Speaker C:

There's only the known galaxy.

Speaker C:

What's beyond that?

Speaker C:

It's so vast out there.

Speaker C:

And then we're worrying about this $8,000 in the wonderful life or whatever.

Speaker C:

We're worrying about these bits of paper that we haven't made.

Speaker B:

All of those times when you think everything's going wrong, how am I going to get through this?

Speaker B:

I'm never going to get through this.

Speaker B:

Fast forward, like five years later and you've got through.

Speaker B:

Totally forgot about it.

Speaker C:

But in that moment, it's everything.

Speaker C:

It's everything.

Speaker A:

There's a great.

Speaker A:

There's a course.

Speaker A:

You can do it.

Speaker A:

I think it's Yale.

Speaker A:

It's a science of happiness.

Speaker A:

And they talk about this.

Speaker A:

This theory that we catastrophize things in our own head way worse than they actually are, always.

Speaker A:

And the example they give.

Speaker C:

That's my cv.

Speaker A:

It's like, you know, a few decades.

Speaker B:

Get used to it.

Speaker C:

Yeah, you get used to it.

Speaker A:

It's from it, like a few decades ago, this study, and it was people waiting to find out if they've got hiv.

Speaker A:

And when they're in there, while they're waiting for the results, they're like, you know, what does this mean for your life now?

Speaker A:

Like, this.

Speaker A:

This is my life over.

Speaker A:

This is like the worst thing that could ever happen.

Speaker A:

Like, I'm not going to survive this.

Speaker A:

Like, this, I'm.

Speaker A:

This is it.

Speaker A:

And then they get the diagnosis and they kind of ask them to rate it out of 10, whatever, and it's like, 10, the worst things.

Speaker A:

And then when they get the diagnosis.

Speaker A:

How do you feel now?

Speaker A:

Well, you know, I did see this coming.

Speaker A:

It's, you know, I expected it might happen and it's even being diagnosed with hiv, according to, you know, this study isn't as bad as you think.

Speaker A:

You know, likewise.

Speaker A:

I can remember after the divorce, I got in a lot of debt and, you know, I struggled.

Speaker A:

I was doing, like, consolidation, loans and stuff.

Speaker A:

When I rang the credit cards, I was like, I'm in trouble.

Speaker A:

They were the most understanding people I've ever spoken to.

Speaker A:

And they were just like.

Speaker B:

Just what you needed at that time.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And they were like, well, how much can you afford, like, per month?

Speaker A:

I said, nowhere near this.

Speaker A:

Like, can I just give you a fiverr right now?

Speaker A:

And they're like, yeah, what we'll do is we'll freeze your account, we'll stop the interest and we'll move to, like five pound a month instead.

Speaker A:

I was like, really?

Speaker A:

Just like that.

Speaker A:

And this woman on the phone was like, you know, it sounds like you've gone through a lot right now.

Speaker A:

Yeah, we can absolutely do this.

Speaker C:

So maybe that was the angel that we're talking about.

Speaker A:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker C:

I mean, that's a.

Speaker C:

You know, not fantastical or anything else, but it's someone helping you when you're at your crisis point.

Speaker A:

I thought.

Speaker A:

I thought you'd.

Speaker A:

I thought I'd go bankrupt and end up in prison.

Speaker A:

Like, I just didn't know what happens when you can't afford your bills or whatever.

Speaker A:

You know, it's crazy.

Speaker A:

You know, none of us really have savings or most of us don't have savings.

Speaker A:

I'll say, if I lose my job and I need to get another one in a hurry, like, what.

Speaker A:

What could I do?

Speaker A:

Like, could I ever end up homeless?

Speaker A:

And I'm sure there is a narrative where I would.

Speaker A:

But I also then think, well, I could just go get a job as a barman on a cruise ship, or I could go to, like, a ski resort and work as a cleaner.

Speaker A:

There's loads of places you would live.

Speaker C:

In accommodation, you know, just a complete different scenario.

Speaker A:

And I think the thing that you.

Speaker A:

Stop you is this idea of shame, like, and I think there's a lot of shame based around mental health as well.

Speaker A:

Like, what did the neighbors think?

Speaker A:

Or they're, oh, you know, he lost his job and now he's just a barman or whatever.

Speaker A:

And I think there's a great woman called Brene Brown who does TED talks and books on shame that are worth reading as well.

Speaker A:

Sorry, I've gone on a very long rant about mental health, haven't I?

Speaker B:

This is an important conversation.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Especially at this time of year, because some people might be feeling this right now.

Speaker C:

I mean, I've been putting out messages with my work stuff to try and, you know, make people feel like it's not just you, you might be suffering Samaritans, etc, And some people say, yeah, I'm having a hell of a week this week.

Speaker C:

I saw your post.

Speaker C:

It's great.

Speaker C:

Or if you're in a good place.

Speaker B:

Try and look out for people who look out for people who aren't and.

Speaker C:

Maybe not in a good place and raise them up.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Check on your neighbors over.

Speaker A:

Over Christmas.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Especially, like, elderly people live on their own.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Somewhere a George Bailey might need your support.

Speaker B:

You just don't know until you reach out.

Speaker A:

Love is definitely the answer.

Speaker A:

Kindness is definitely the answer.

Speaker A:

I know I can be sarcastic and mean on this podcast, but it's partly an act.

Speaker C:

What is it?

Speaker C:

Can we get that?

Speaker C:

Can we get that recording, like, as a clip, please?

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Kindness, love, looking out for each other.

Speaker B:

That was important conversation.

Speaker B:

It's one of the many things I love about this podcast.

Speaker A:

Also, just, things are amazing.

Speaker A:

We forget.

Speaker A:

There's a great Christmas film that I think I mentioned the other episode where I wanted to look at Bernard and the genie, but it's just his genie who comes into modern times from, like 2,000 years ago.

Speaker A:

And it's just like, ice cream's amazing.

Speaker A:

This is amazing.

Speaker A:

I'm like, yeah, coffee's freaking amazing.

Speaker A:

Hot showers are amazing.

Speaker A:

Like, there's so much heating.

Speaker B:

Central heating.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Getting into a bed that you've just freshly made is amazing.

Speaker A:

You've just got to.

Speaker A:

You can easily, every night just write down three things you're great for.

Speaker B:

Appreciation.

Speaker C:

The inception of that was.

Speaker C:

I was thinking that when I was watching It's Wonderful Life, because the D. I just did it on DVD and it looked fantastic, fantastic.

Speaker C:

And I'm like, that's so good, like, the quality of it.

Speaker C:

And you think, I've got, you know, widescreen, modern TVs, and you think about what the cinemas were, what the technology was, and we're probably watching movies in the best possible.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

For sure way.

Speaker C:

Now that.

Speaker C:

So there's times you go, oh, technology's kind of taken away some of the things.

Speaker C:

But then there's other times, I think.

Speaker C:

Yeah, but I'm watching these films in probably the best home entertainment.

Speaker C:

Everyone's gonna appreciate it.

Speaker A:

Everyone's gonna have different strategies for keeping their mental health on check.

Speaker A:

But I think it's.

Speaker A:

I think we need to acknowledge that every single day the system is trying to make us feel bad about ourselves.

Speaker A:

Always trying to.

Speaker A:

Always showing you, like, kids starving in other countries that I can't really do that much about.

Speaker A:

So wherever your coping mechanisms are, as long as they work and don't hurt anyone else, just lean into it.

Speaker B:

Absolutely.

Speaker C:

Good advice.

Speaker B:

Okay, so where does it land on the Legend League?

Speaker B:

It's had some pretty big scores.

Speaker C:

That must be.

Speaker C:

That must be up there somewhere.

Speaker B:

So it puts it in second place.

Speaker C:

Is this the Listener League?

Speaker B:

This is the.

Speaker B:

I've gone to the Legend League.

Speaker C:

This is the overall Legend League first.

Speaker B:

Only because it was such a high score.

Speaker B:

It's 27.2, which puts it in second behind jaws.

Speaker B:

So jaws is 28.5.

Speaker B:

This is 27.2.

Speaker B:

Back to the future is 27.

Speaker A:

Oh, wow.

Speaker B:

2.2 ahead of us.

Speaker A:

You know what?

Speaker A:

I'm actually okay with that because when I. I'm.

Speaker A:

I'm a giddy child watching Jaws.

Speaker A:

So.

Speaker A:

Yeah, I would rather feel like a child.

Speaker C:

And I feel like this has a lot of influence to Back to the Future in a weird way.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Erased from existence, so.

Speaker B:

But Back to The Future is third in 27.

Speaker B:

Bang on and run, Luller.

Speaker B:

Run in fourth at 26.9.

Speaker B:

I love when I wrote Romancing the Stone in fifth with 26.7.

Speaker B:

That's the highest entry.

Speaker B:

You've had it up there for the long.

Speaker B:

For a long time.

Speaker C:

I. I was hoping it'd do well just because, you know when you finish it and you're like, I kind of want this one to do really well also.

Speaker B:

Now we need to check on the Listener League.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Which is probably the most important part of all this.

Speaker B:

This episode.

Speaker B:

So that was the final entry.

Speaker B:

So we now have 12.

Speaker B:

One for each month.

Speaker C:

Love it.

Speaker B:

We've made it all the way through.

Speaker B:

So at 27.2, It's a Wonderful Life enters at number one.

Speaker A:

Excellent.

Speaker C:

Yes.

Speaker A:

Well done, Simone.

Speaker A:

Guys.

Speaker B:

It has picked with Snail and I, which was.

Speaker A:

That's a quality.

Speaker B:

So this was chosen by Simoan:

Speaker B:

We don't know this person's real name.

Speaker B:

So.

Speaker B:

So we'll.

Speaker B:

I'm sure we'll find out at some point.

Speaker C:

We'll call them Simone until.

Speaker B:

If you want your real name on there, let us know and we'll put it.

Speaker C:

But they scored to the top there.

Speaker B:

Top of the league.

Speaker A:

It was crazy.

Speaker A:

Is that whoever this mystery person is putting this in and then getting it chosen and then triggering a conversation about men's mental health and mental health in general may have inadvertently saved somebody's life.

Speaker A:

Wow.

Speaker C:

This is proper inception of the actual movie and everything, that's what you're saying?

Speaker B:

Yeah, I like that you're saying this podcast could save lives.

Speaker A:

Well, we need to get past 12.

Speaker B:

Listeners one day, but yeah.

Speaker B:

So with now, it was 25.3.

Speaker B:

This is 27.2.

Speaker B:

Smashed it.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

So that's your challenge next year, listeners.

Speaker C:

You need to find us a film that beats It's a Wonderful Life.

Speaker B:

All three of us would like.

Speaker A:

It'll also be interesting how many downloads it gets.

Speaker A:

viewed, and it's one from the:

Speaker C:

One going to listen to it.

Speaker C:

Zoe's.

Speaker A:

Historically, that's not why the data says, is it?

Speaker C:

No, that's true.

Speaker C:

It's very popular.

Speaker B:

That's what we thought of the movie.

Speaker B:

We.

Speaker B:

And that's our scores.

Speaker B:

We'd love to know what you guys think.

Speaker B:

So you can email us helloviewoviesinachell.com or if you go to the website, you can send us a voice message or you can message us on our socials, the links in the show notes.

Speaker B:

So we're now just going to part three, which is the listener lounge.

Speaker B:

So in part three, we have the lobby first, where we'll share your comments, your questions and your messages.

Speaker B:

And then we ask our question of the week and we round off the whole episode by revealing next week's movie.

Speaker B:

Okay, so last week's question was, what is the most contentious Christmas movie?

Speaker B:

We didn't really have time to go.

Speaker B:

Go into this fully, so we don't have many responses.

Speaker B:

So I'm going to wait until they've built up a few more because quite often we get answers.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Weeks after.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

But have you got any?

Speaker B:

We Can Always Die Hards, obviously, the classic.

Speaker C:

Yeah, I think we've decided that.

Speaker B:

Much of an argument there.

Speaker B:

But is any other ones that are really thinly veiled Christmas movies?

Speaker C:

Well, I keep saying Batman Returns, which is a random one because it's obviously Set at Christmas has Christmas things all through it, but came out in June because that's when the studios wanted to release it.

Speaker C:

So it came out in the middle of summer.

Speaker C:

So now when it's on, it feels very Christmassy.

Speaker B:

It's a very nice nighttime dark movie.

Speaker C:

Very dark movie.

Speaker B:

But it should come out like November.

Speaker C:

But they pushed it to put it coming out in June because it was summer blockbuster movie season.

Speaker C:

So that's when it came out.

Speaker A:

I associate Uncle Buck with Christmas for some reason.

Speaker B:

Oh, yeah, you've mentioned that before.

Speaker C:

Yeah, I think it was Sack.

Speaker C:

It's not that long since I last watched.

Speaker C:

I'm sure he comes to visit.

Speaker A:

So it becomes movies that we associate with Christmas that have nothing to do with Christmas.

Speaker A:

Mary Poppins would be one.

Speaker C:

Well, there's also films like Set at Christmas that I don't think get mentioned enough as Christmas films.

Speaker C:

Like Gremlins.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Like, we go runt about Die Hard.

Speaker C:

It's on every meme.

Speaker C:

But it's like, what about Gremlins?

Speaker C:

That's Christmas film.

Speaker A:

She finds out the Santa's not real.

Speaker C:

That whole scene is freaky.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Because.

Speaker C:

Is it a joke?

Speaker C:

No, no, it's real.

Speaker C:

Lovely.

Speaker C:

Phoebe Cates.

Speaker A:

Oh, my God.

Speaker C:

Love, Phoebe Cates.

Speaker B:

Once we've got a bunch of these answers in, we'll read some of them out.

Speaker B:

So the question of the week this week is if you're feeling low, where do you go?

Speaker B:

Do you watch a movie?

Speaker B:

Do you listen to music?

Speaker B:

Do you read a book?

Speaker B:

What coping methods have you got?

Speaker B:

Let us know.

Speaker B:

It's quite important time of the year.

Speaker B:

What's worked for you?

Speaker B:

Let us know and we'll.

Speaker B:

We'll read.

Speaker B:

We'll definitely read them out next time.

Speaker B:

Which brings us, interestingly, to next week's movie.

Speaker B:

There isn't a next week's movie.

Speaker B:

It's a bonus episode.

Speaker A:

Oh.

Speaker B:

It's our outtakes episode.

Speaker B:

he movie for the first one of:

Speaker A:

Nice.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker B:

I still might as well do it rather than do at the end of the.

Speaker C:

Yeah, of course.

Speaker B:

I'm gonna go an absolute classic, which I cannot believe we have not done so far.

Speaker B:

I'm going the Matrix.

Speaker A:

Oh, weird.

Speaker C:

We haven't done the Matrix.

Speaker B:

It's a movie I've seen two or three times.

Speaker C:

That it?

Speaker B:

Yeah, all the way through, really.

Speaker B:

And I've seen parts of it many times.

Speaker B:

And it's a movie that's.

Speaker B:

I'm assuming there's gonna be loads of this.

Speaker B:

There's loads of this movie that's just doesn't meet the eye and goes over your head.

Speaker B:

Certainly over my head.

Speaker B:

So, yeah, it's.

Speaker B:

I know how highly regarded this.

Speaker C:

I'm interested to hear what Darren has on the deep dive on that one because there is lots of layers to that.

Speaker B:

I just figured it's.

Speaker B:

There's a lot to that to like.

Speaker A:

It's one of those ones where I feel like everyone knows the deep dive stuff, but then that's because I live in a bubble.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

But that's what we do.

Speaker B:

Not like we do it, though.

Speaker B:

Not like we do it here.

Speaker B:

So that's the first.

Speaker B:

movie, but the first movie of:

Speaker C:

That's a good way.

Speaker B:

Will be the New Year.

Speaker B:

I was almost gonna go start sequels like we started back a feature.

Speaker B:

Almost went back to feature two.

Speaker C:

Okay.

Speaker B:

I was like, nah, I'm gonna go.

Speaker B:

I'm gonna go.

Speaker B:

Something with a bit of weight to it.

Speaker B:

The first week of:

Speaker A:

Nice.

Speaker B:

the last official episode of:

Speaker B:

Merry Christmas.

Speaker A:

Yeah, Merry Christmas.

Speaker B:

Hope you have a good time with friends and family.

Speaker B:

I mean, now some people don't have families or their family situation is a bit messed up.

Speaker B:

But just try and do what you can.

Speaker B:

Spend time with friends if you haven't got family or vice versa.

Speaker B:

Whatever.

Speaker B:

Whatever you need to do, just try and do something.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Try and find some joy in your.

Speaker C:

Whatever your situation might be.

Speaker B:

Even if it's in movies.

Speaker B:

Go for it.

Speaker C:

Definitely.

Speaker B:

And we'll see you.

Speaker B:

And so enjoy next week's episode, which is.

Speaker B:

Which is a bonus episode.

Speaker C:

That was just messing up, basically.

Speaker B:

Yeah, there's lots of messing up and banter that didn't make it into episodes.

Speaker B:

Rants.

Speaker C:

I now worry what we said didn't make it like.

Speaker A:

No, no.

Speaker B:

So that'll be next week.

Speaker B:

And then in January, the first Tuesday, I think it's the 5th of January, we will be doing the Matrix.

Speaker B:

Okay, this episode is officially over.

Speaker B:

This is mark saying goodbye,:

Speaker A:

This is Darren saying goodbye for now.

Speaker C:

He's making violent love to me, Mother.

Speaker A:

Oh, that was so Monty Python.

Speaker A:

It's not me.

Speaker A:

I'm not.

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