It's a Wonderful Life courtesy Paramount
DVD Tuesday Its a Wonderful Life wonderful not sappy Dont groan Im recommending holiday perennial Its a Wonderful Life because I think a lot of people refuse to see it because its picked up a reputation for sentimental uncoolness that it in no way deserves Far from being the epitome of Capra-corn Its a Wonderful Life has an edge that never fails to surprise the unsuspecting In case you dont know the story Born and raised in small-town Bedford Falls George Bailey James Stewart always dreamed of traveling the world but his dream kept taking second place to family responsibilities especially to the savings-and-loan association his father established without Bailey Savings and Loan heartless banker Mr Potter Lionel Barrymore would be the only game in town George married his high-school sweetheart Mary Donna Reed they have more children than they can comfortably afford and a handsome old house that needs repairs beyond their finances Out of fam
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Send your movie questions to FlickChickQuestions Whats the name of the movie theater in Its a Wonderful Life WilliamWhats the name of the house where George Bailey throws a rock SueWhat book is Clarence reading when he falls into the river Ed Is Bedford Falls a real place BarryFlickChick Im a huge fan of Its a Wonderful Life 1946 which is not the sentimental piece of Capra-corn so many people imagine it to be So before the holiday season is definitively over Im taking this opportunity to answer some queries about the classic holiday film that have trickled into my Ask FlickChick mailbox The movie theater is called The Bijou and though you didnt ask its playing 1945s The Bells of St Marys The deserted house which George Bailey James Stewart and his wife Mary Donna Reed eventually move into is the Old Granville place Clarence Henry Travers the apprentice angel is reading Mark Twains The Adventures of Tom SawyerAnd n
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Heroes' Masi Oka
"Six Months Ago," unlike his time-teleporting alter ego Hiro Nakamura on Heroes, the more down-to-earth Masi Oka couldn't have known that Sci Fi Channel would be rerunning (Wednesday at 9 pm/ET) the pivotal flashback episode of the popular NBC series that has made him television's newest and most unlikely megastar. But just a few weeks ago, the Golden Globe-nominated actor did know about his plans for the holidays — and he shared them with us.
TV Guide: What did you want for Christmas this year?Masi Oka: A PlayStation 3. It's so hard to get one these days. People are fighting all over for it.
TV Guide: Do you have any special holiday traditions?Oka: Nothing really special. I guess the biggest holiday tradition is trying to find enough people
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Send your movie questions to FlickChickQuestion I know how much you love holiday movies joke joke so Im wondering which one you object to least And dont say Bad Santa thats not a Christmas movie CopperFlickChick You may laugh but I actually like Its a Wonderful Life 1946 the original Miracle on 34th Street 1947 and Christmas in Connecticut 1945 And I like them all for the same reason Theyre not cute and saccharine if youve never seen any or all of them youd probably be surprised by their sharpness Its a Wonderful Life especially goes to some very dark places And Christmas in Connecticut is a blast Barbara Stanwyck plays a magazine columnist who made her reputation writing about how to maintain a perfect household shes basically the Martha Stewart of her day and shes always writing about the wonderful meals she makes for her husband and their small child on the familys Connecticut farm But shes making it all up S
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Host Howie Mandel takes a call from Deal or No Deal's Banker
What is the deal with the Banker on NBC's Deal or No Deal (the season finale airs tonight at 8 pm/ET)? He is one shady dude — literally and figuratively — playing with players' minds the way he does, offering weighty sums for their cash-rich (or -poor) unopened briefcases. Why won't he show his face, instead of tendering his temptations through host Howie Mandel? Exactly what evil lurks in the heart of this man? The shadow knows.... So we invited him to shed some light on what goes on inside his greedy brain.
TV Guide: OK, so who are you?The Banker: I'm the guy you could never beat at Monopoly. I'm the guy you hated for ruining the bell curve
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Las Vegas' Cheryl Ladd ages gracefully in Though None Go with Me (inset).
Cheryl Ladd, grandmother? Have we come to that point? Sort of, but not really. In the Hallmark Channel presentation Though None Go with Me (premiering Saturday at 9 pm/ET), Charlie's onetime Angel disappears behind old-age makeup to play Elizabeth Leroy Bishop, a woman who relates stories from her colorful and oft-times turbulent life — Amy Grabow plays Elizabeth as a young woman — to a grandchild. As anyone who has seen Ladd on Las Vegas knows, it must have taken a lot of powder to make this heavenly beauty look anything but robust.
TVGuide.com: Look at you, playing grandma to some twentysomething girl!Cheryl Ladd: [Laughs] Yep!
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Question: When did directors start getting credits like “Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho," where their names are given as "owners" of their films?
Answer: That’s called a possessory credit, and popular belief is that it’s a product of the '50s, when directors began thinking of themselves as solo auteurs rather than parts of a collaborative team. This struck many other behind-the-scenes personnel, especially screenwriters, as a world-class case of too-big-for-their-britches syndrome. Otto Preminger lobbied hard for and got the especially lofty “A film by Otto Preminger” credit, which prompted a legendary exchange between director Billy Wilder and screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond. “That’s Otto Preminger’s house,” Wilder is supposed to have observed as they were driving, to which Diamond replied, “No, that’s ‘A House by Ot
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Vincent Schiavelli, whom Vanity Fair named one of America's best character actors in 1997, died of lung cancer at his home in Sicily on Monday, at age 57. Some of Schiavelli's memorable turns came in Ghost (as the angry subway specter), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (as science teacher Mr. Vargas) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (as Frederickson).... Actress Argentina Brunetti, whose credits include the role of Martini's wife in It's a Wonderful Life, died in her sleep on Dec. 20. She was 98.
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Question: A few years ago I saw an old black-and-white Christmas movie. A man (maybe a lawyer) has to take a female criminal home with him for the holidays. Of course, they end up falling in love and he fights for her release. Do you know the title and who stars in it? Thanks.
Answer: It's Remember the Night (1940), written by Preston Sturges, directed by Mitchell Leisen and starring Barbara Stanwyck as a New York chippie caught shoplifting a diamond bracelet shortly before Christmas. Fred MacMurray plays the assistant DA who's going to prosecute her, but when he realiz
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Question: I desperately need to find out the name of Clarence the Angel's book in It's a Wonderful Life — it's driving me crazy and no one can tell me.
I've heard that James Stewart wasn't the first choice to play George Bailey — is this true? I can't imagine anyone else in the role.Is it true that the Sesame Street Muppets Bert and Ernie are named after the policeman and cabdriver from It's a Wonderful Life?Answer: The It's a Wonderful Life (1946) questions always come thick and heavy at this time of year, and why not? It's a wonderful movie, and it's not nearly as sappy as you might think if you've only seen the snippets used ad nauseum in TV spots. Clarence's book is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain. Director
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