It's a Great Life (1935): A weird, dusty slice of CCC propaganda

Should you watch this?

If you have a weird fascination with 1930s government recruitment films or just really love the smell of vintage celluloid, sure, why not. If you are looking for a tight romantic drama, you’re probably going to be checking your watch every ten minutes. It is definitely for the crowd that likes their movies a bit dusty and earnest to a fault.

There is something inherently strange about the way this movie tries to sell the Civilian Conservation Corps. It’s like a brochure that occasionally remembers it’s supposed to be a love story. You can almost hear the gears grinding when the plot shifts from 'let’s build a dam' to 'let’s act like heartbroken teenagers.'

Johnny and Rockie have this odd, jagged chemistry. Rockie is the cynical drifter, the guy who thinks the world is a scam, and honestly? He’s the only one who feels like a real person in this whole mess. Johnny is just… so aggressively wholesome that it makes your teeth ache after a while.

The forest fire sequence is the real kicker here. It is so obviously shot on a backlot or with some very questionable miniatures that you can’t help but smile. The way the characters throw dynamite around like they’re tossing baseballs in a backyard is just peak 1935 logic. Nobody wears goggles. Nobody seems worried about the explosion radius. It’s just, 'Hey, here’s a stick of TNT, good luck!'

Small observations from the back row:

• The dialogue feels like it was written by someone who had only ever heard people talk in stage plays.
• The transition between the camp scenes and the home life scenes is so jarring it gives you whiplash.
• The way they just casually send twenty-five dollars of a thirty-dollar paycheck to a neighbor girl is wild. Talk about commitment.
• I kept waiting for someone to point out that these guys are literally just digging ditches for most of the film, but the movie treats it like they’re saving civilization.

It’s not as interesting as something like The Drifter, which at least has a grittier sense of its own place in the world. This movie feels like it’s constantly trying to be three different things at once. It wants to be a gritty drama about poverty, a romantic comedy, and a recruitment ad.

By the time they get to the hospital recovery scene, the movie just runs out of steam. It’s like the writers realized they had to end it eventually and just threw everyone into a wedding scene to wrap it up. It’s not profound, it’s not particularly well-paced, but there’s a weird, stubborn charm to it. Like finding a lost coin in the pocket of an old coat you haven't worn in years. 🎞️