It Happened One Christmas (1977)

 

In Season 3, Episode 21 of "Mystery Science Theater 3000," the crew are forced to watch "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" and are understandably depressed. To help recover, Joel announces that he's gotten a hold of some good Christmas movies. When he proclaims they'll be able to watch "It's a Wonderful Life," the bots are ecstatic... But then he adds, "Don't get too excited, it's the lame Marlo Thomas version." Another version? Yes, the "lame Marlo Thomas version" is a made-for-tv movie entitled "It Happened One Christmas."

In this version, Marlo Thomas (who is a woman) plays the George Bailey character (basically) only they've swapped sexes so the main character is Mary Bailey. She saves her brother from the ice, she has big plans to see the world but gives them up to run her father's Savings and Loan, she keeps her head during the Great Depression and later, facing ruin, she wants to die until her guardian angel Clara saves her.

The film only partially fails in execution but completely fails in concept. People complain that the sequels and reboots of classic movies have gotten out of hand (and they have), but why would ANYONE think they could remake "It's a Wonderful Life"?! It begs belief. It's insanity, it's an insult to film lovers everywhere. And why would you? The original fell out of copyright, it's cheap to broadcast, why spend lots of money to make it again?

Aside from the problem that, you know, the entire concept of the movie is wrong, it isn't a fun disaster - the movie is competently made in every aspect. The film even boasts some great actors. Most notable is Orson Welles as Old Man Potter. How did they get Orson wrapped up in this? His performance is emblematic of the entire problem of the movie. His Potter is smoother and more subtle, more thoughtful, than Lionel Barrymore's but it's to no effect - Barrymore's performance is definitive. Clara, the guardian angel, is played by one of my favorites Cloris Leachman. Her performance in "The Last Picture Show," is one of the all-time greats. In this movie, she's okay. And Mary's brother is played by Christopher Guest, another forgettable performance. In this version, the old man who loses the S&L's money is played by Barney Martin (the dad from "Seinfeld").

Whether this movie should be true to the original or make its own path is a no-win situation. In this case, they chose to be pretty faithful to the original and lost. This exposes the main weakness of the movie: the lead, Marlo Thomas. She's going through all the same actions and making all the same impassioned speeches as Jimmy Stewart did and she has none of the punch, none of the power. I'm not very familiar with Marlo Thomas' body of work but she appears to be a competent actress, she just doesn't compare to Jimmy Stewart. Likewise, a great deal of the movie hinges on the romance between her and her husband, Wayne Rogers, and these two appear to me to have no chemistry. None. It's pretty amazing. Compare that to Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed - one of the most iconic onscreen couples of all-time. 

This movie is the very definition of a mistake, though it is an interesting experience in one way. Watching the emotionally hollow scenes, I was constantly reminded of the parallel scenes from the original movie and how I feel watching those. It's a rather rare phenomenon to watch a movie that's boring, that's dull, that's flat and which is also, nonetheless, emotionally affecting. This is such an experience.