Beholds Spirit Film, 1946
It’s A Wonderful Life
This film raises our spirits because it celebrates what we would all like to be. A main character who cares for others, has a love for his community and his family, and always puts others before himself. Even that kind of person needs encouragement and can feel broken and down. The film makes us think about what our own lives mean to others. Hopefully it also inspires us to reach out and praise others doing good.
Uplifting Films: Brian’s 1946 Favorite Films
Beauty and the Beast (La belle et la bete)
This is one of the most visually inspiring films I have ever seen. It is a fantasy film that manages to promote awe, inviting us to use “childlike sympathy” when watching. So we must discard our cynicism and our contemporary feeling of movie sophistication and allow ourselves, like children, to experience the joy.
Belle’s father receives a death sentence for picking a rose form the Beast’s garden. Belle offers herself in place of her father. Both the Beast and Belle learn to grow from the experience.
The Best Years of Our Lives
Three World War II veterans have trouble returning to civilian life. We all must learn to adapt to change, especially when it is forced on us unwillingly. The directing and cinematography allow us to really live with the characters. Consequently we see how complex life is, and how the best tool we have for surviving it is the encouragement of those around us.
A Matter of Life and Death
The American title when released was Stairway to Heaven, but the original title was A Matter of Life and Death. I prefer the original title. A fighter pilot in World War II finds his plane shot down; he ejects, somehow survives and proceeds to fall in love. The problem is that heaven had planned for him to die. A trial in heaven occurs to decide if he can remain alive on earth or must go to heaven as planned. A highly original film that is visually striking. A good example of using visual effects to further the story, rather than just as spectacle. Above all the message of the story is the power of love to transform everything.
Till the Clouds Roll By
Supposedly the story of Broadway composer Jerome Kern, the biographical details are largely fictional, but the joy of the film comes in the impressive number of top 1940’s musical stars singing his songs.
The Yearling
In 1870s Florida, a young boy desperately wants a pet and ends up adopting a young deer fawn. Predictably, the fawn grows into an adult deer who is inappropriate as a household pet. The characters in this film have dealt with so much loss and they must learn to grieve these losses and express love to stop the negative patterns. In some ways in anticipates Old Yeller, but this film is more about loss and fear than simply coming of age.