December 25th 2024.
Amazon Prime has recently come under fire from fans for their shortened version of the beloved classic Christmas movie, It's A Wonderful Life. The 1946 film, starring Jimmy Stewart and directed by Frank Kapra, tells the story of George Bailey, a businessman who has given up on life and is shown by an angel what the world would be like without him. However, the streaming service has received criticism for cutting out a pivotal scene known as the Pottersville scene, in which George discusses his suicidal thoughts with his guardian angel Clarence and sees how different life would be without him.
The Pottersville scene, which lasts for 23 minutes, has been completely removed from the abridged version offered by Amazon Prime. Instead, the movie abruptly jumps to the final scene where George has regained his faith in life and joyfully runs home in the snow. This decision has left fans outraged, with many taking to social media to express their disappointment and anger.
One fan on Twitter, @germainlussier, wrote, "If you want to know what's wrong with the world, Prime Video has an 'abridged' version of It's a Wonderful Life that removes THE ENTIRE POTTERSVILLE SCENE where George sees life if he wasn't born. That's all that abridged. The best most crucial part of the movie. Just. Wow." Others have called it "sacrilege" and have demanded that the abridged version be destroyed.
The synopsis for the abridged edition reads, "A shorter version of the Jimmy Stewart Christmas classic with a condensed ending but still contains all the sweetness and Christmas wonder. A series of setbacks causes a man to reflect on his life. With the help of his guardian angel, he finds the true meaning of Christmas." However, fans are not satisfied with this explanation and are calling for an official response from Amazon Prime.
Although the streaming service has not directly addressed the reason for the cut, there is speculation that it may be due to a copyright issue. This theory is supported by the fact that another company, RiffTrax, also streamed the same abridged version of the movie and offered an explanation at the time. The company revealed that while the film has been in the public domain for decades, it has a complicated history and certain copyrighted material, such as the short story "The Greatest Gift" and musical rights, had to be removed.
For UK viewers who want to watch the full version of It's A Wonderful Life, they can still do so on ITVX. Metro has reached out to Amazon Prime for comment on the matter.
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