This is Oscar-winning director Frank Capra's finest film and could justifiably lay claim to being one of the best movies ever made. It's both a summation of Capra's own career and a peak of achievement for a gentler kind of American cinema which was to fade in post-war years and disappear altogether with the harshness and violence of modern times. James Stewart is at his best as the man asked by an angel to reflect on his life when he contemplates suicide. But it's in the amazing depth of character and incident, all immaculately conceived and executed, that the film scores most heavily. The ending is a real tear-jerker and, if you don't agree with Capra that life is really like this, then you might go along with his sentiments that it ought to be.