Skip to playerSkip to main content
New York Post
  • 4 weeks ago

Category

🗞
News
Transcript
00:00Amazon Prime Video is under fire for streaming a butchered version of It's a Wonderful Life
00:05that guts the beloved Christmas classic, cutting roughly 22 minutes from the original 130-minute
00:11film, and removing the iconic Pottersville sequence, which is the pivotal stretch that
00:16explains why despairing hero George Bailey suddenly rediscovers the will to live.
00:21When George contemplates suicide on Christmas Eve, his guardian angel shows him an alternate
00:26reality where he was never born, revealing how his selfless choices saved his town from falling
00:31under the control of a greedy businessman. This is part of that key sequence that Amazon Prime
00:36viewers were robbed of.
00:43Mr. Gower? Mr. Gower?
00:49What? What? Mr. Gower, this is George Bailey.
00:53Hey, don't you know me? Oh. No.
01:00Trauma. Trauma. Mr. Gower! Hey, what is it? Hey, Nick. Nick, isn't that Mr. Gower the druggist?
01:07You know, that's another reason for me not to like you. That rumhead spent 20 years in jail
01:11for poisoning a kid. If you know him, you must be a jailbird yourself. Would you show these
01:16gentlemen to the door? Sure. This way, gentlemen.
01:19Without that part of the story, which many view as the film's emotional core, audiences
01:26are left watching a man contemplate suicide one moment.
01:29Yeah, so you still think killing yourself would make everyone feel happier, eh?
01:35Oh, I don't know. I guess you're right. I suppose it would have been better if I'd never
01:41been born at all. What'd you say? I said, I wish I'd never been born.
01:46Oh, you mustn't say things like that.
01:48Then, sprint joyfully throughout Town the Next, with no logical explanation. Needless to say,
01:54fans of the iconic film were outraged at the omission, blasting the edit as an abomination,
01:59sacrilege, and pointless, and accusing Amazon of turning a timeless film into narrative nonsense,
02:04especially for first-time viewers unfamiliar with the story. Despite the anger, according to the
02:10University of Connecticut, the existence of the abridged version is rooted not in a creative choice
02:15by Amazon, but in the film's famously tangled copyright history. In 1974, the distributor failed
02:22to renew the movie's copyright, sending It's a Wonderful Life into the public domain. For nearly two
02:28decades, television stations freely aired the film, especially during the holidays, without paying
02:33royalties. While the film itself had fallen into the public domain, the rights to two underlying
02:38elements had been properly maintained. The original short story, The Greatest Gift, by Philip Van
02:44Dorenstern, and the musical score, by Dimitri Timokhin. A Yukon legal blog noted, Republic Pictures,
02:50later acquired by Paramount, used those copyrights to effectively reclaim control over the movie's
02:56distribution, arguing that any exhibition of the film required licensing the copyrighted story and music.
03:02The Pottersville sequence is the portion most directly adapted from Stern's story.
03:07Legal experts say the abridged version appears to be a workaround. By removing that specific sequence,
03:13distributors may have believed they could avoid infringing on the short story's copyright while
03:17still offering a version of the film. Amazon Prime reportedly carries both the full and the
03:22abridged versions, but viewers say the platform does not clearly explain the difference,
03:26leaving unsuspecting viewers to click the wrong one.
03:32So, Jesus said, thank you very much for the pain of this.
03:36Jers!!!
03:39M Ой...
03:41M
Comments

Recommended

Decider Streamline: 'The Thursday Murder Club' on Netflix, 'Together' on Prime Video
New York Post
3 months ago
From Wicked to Pretty: Prime Video Brings the Heat This July
FanReviews
7 months ago
What's Streaming on Amazon Prime Video in May 2025
FanReviews
9 months ago
The Best Movies On Amazon Prime Right Now
Digital Trends
6 years ago
The Making of The Rings of Power Amazon Prime Video
JeuxVideo.com
3 years ago
Les Misérables Trailer
Trendencias
4 years ago
James Corden is Getting His Dark Comedy On in Amazon's Mammals Trailer
FanReviews
3 years ago
Ava's Impossible Things (Amazon Prime link in description)
KizzTV
8 years ago
Takeshi's Castle Trailer Amazon Prime
JeuxVideo.com
2 years ago
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Tráiler de Prime Video
Trendencias
3 years ago
Cruel Summer, Tráiler Oficial de la serie de Prime Video España
Trendencias
4 years ago
The Boys. Trailer Oficial de Amazon Prime Video
Trendencias
3 years ago
The One That Got Away - Official Trailer | Prime Video
Filmow
2 years ago
My Lady Jane Prime Video
JeuxVideo.com
1 year ago
The Devil's Hour Season 2 | Official Trailer | Prime Video
Filmow
1 year ago
El grifo. Trailer de Amazon Prime Video
Trendencias
3 years ago
Look What You Made Me Do Trailer for Amazon's Wilderness
FanReviews
2 years ago
'S.O.Z. Soldados o Zombies' - Tráiler Oficial - Amazon Prime Video
Sensacine México
4 years ago
Melissa Joan Hart Says Her New Movie 'Christmas Reservations' Has a 'Very Love Boat' Vibe
Entertainment Weekly
6 years ago
Official Trailer for Amazon's Series Expats with Nicole Kidman
FanReviews
2 years ago
Tales From the Loop. Trailer de Amazon Prime Video
Trendencias
3 years ago
Big, Beautiful Piece of Ice: Trump Rules Out Force, Seeks 'Immediate Negotiations' to Get Greenland
APT
15 hours ago
“Only America Can Protect It”: Trump at WEF 2026 Says U.S. Must Buy Greenland Now | APT
APT
16 hours ago
Moment: Trump Calls Europe & UK 'Losers' Over China's Windmills Strategy | APT
APT
16 hours ago
High-speed trains collide in Spain, killing at least 39 in rare double derailment
Straight Arrow News
2 days ago