“La Vie est belle” is one of those cult Christmas films with a message full of hope. His shooting in 1946 was one of the craziest in the history of American cinema.
Life is Beautiful : as cult as Santa Claus
Whether Life is Beautiful is a worldwide Christmas movie classic, America’s love for him is beyond comprehension. If we sometimes complain in France about the many reruns of certain cult French feature films, American viewers do not offer the same moribund reception to Frank Capra’s film.
When the end of the year is fast approaching, the 1946 feature film is indeed welcomed like a king on many channels which sometimes decide to program it several times during the month of December. Some even go so far as to loop it all day on December 24.
The film is set in 1945 in the town of Bedford Falls. It’s Christmas Eve and George Bailey (James Stewart) is in great emotional distress. Manager of a mortgage credit union, he finds himself with his back to the wall and on the verge of bankruptcy after the shenanigans of an unscrupulous businessman. Wrongly accused of theft, George, husband and father of 4 children, risks a prison sentence and the closure of his company. Drunk and desperate, he decides to commit suicide, feeling useless and not wanting to bring this shame to his family.. But his time is finally not for now while Clarence (Henry Travers), an angel sent from heaven, stays on earth to save him and restore his faith in life.
With such a scenario, it is easy to understand why Life is Beautifulwith his humanist and positive message on the place of all in the hearts of his loved ones, is perfect for the Christmas period. With his own words and phrasing, the director explained in his autobiography that Life is Beautiful is :
A film for those who feel weary, downcast and discouraged. A film for alcoholics, drug addicts and prostitutes, for those behind prison walls or iron curtains. A film to tell them that no man is a failure.
A whole program for an exceptional shooting by its proportions and its innovations.
The city is beautiful
Whether Life is Beautiful is also dear to the eyes of Frank Capra, it is also because it is the first film that he produces under the banner of his own company Liberty Films. However, if he could have decided to embark on a small-scale project for his first steps, the director rather does the opposite. Taken by delusions of grandeur, Capra has the fictional city of Bedford Falls entirely built in the studio !
Located in those of the RKO in Encino, near Los Angeles, the plateau occupies a monumental area of 16,000 m². It includes buildings, houses, 75 shops, a main street of 275m and even a factory. For even more realism, animals are brought there, be they dogs, cats and pigeons in order to give it even more life.
Christmas obliges, the film cannot be made without snow! However, the shooting taking place between April and July, it will be necessary to be satisfied with false. At the time, it was created with cereals painted white. Slight problem, walking on it makes a creaking noise and the dialogues have to be re-recorded later in post-production. Capra, however, wants the sound recording to be done live and asks that we find a new process for the snow.
A new technique is then invented, mixing soap, water and a chemical that is usually used to put out fires. This strange grub will then be projected through a wind machine. This way of doing things then makes it possible to make the snow fall in the greatest silence, just like the real one. This incredible innovation changed the production of feature films for this kind of environment.
The filming of Life is Beautiful lasted 90 days at the time but the film marked the spirits forever.
