Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Hitchcoc It's one thing to take a book, which is always considerably longer and rife with characters, and do some cutting and re-tooling. It is quite another to take a scripted play, one that has survived the test of time, and abuse the author's intent. This is like taking "A Glass Menagerie" and having Laura Wingfield regain the proper use of her legs. What a joke that would be. This is every bit as startling. It uses the cheapest Hollywood, 1940's encroachment on artistic rights to tell its own story. Without the sadness of death this is a different story. Maybe if they changed the name of the movie to "Your Town," we wouldn't have any expectation of truth. Apparently, Thornton Wilder had his own wishes imposed upon. I'm glad there are three other versions of this, so we can see it done properly.

SnoopyStyle Grovers Corners, New Hampshire is a small town. The stage manager describes the town and the story of the everyday people. There's a stage manager because this is from the Thornton Wilder play. It maintains its playlike narrative. It starts in 1901 and it's a bucolic scene. It's very much a Norman Rockwell existence. George and Emily are neighbors who finds each other endearing. Then she gets married, has kids, lives and dies.The movie delivers life that is very ordinary and very idealized. That's kind of the point. The point is to see a simple life although it does get very slow at times. The big thing is the third act. In the play, she dies and the audience learns to live everyday to the fullest. It's poignancy is somewhat lost by the fact that Emily has to come back to life in the movie. I've never found "It's all a dream" ever a good idea in a story. This one really strips some of the power from the ending. I wonder if she truly lives everyday to the fullest after the dream. It would be better if the movie tries to center on that point rather than forcing a happy ending.

MartinHafer Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" is considered an American classic and it's a play that is often discussed in schools here in the States. Because of this, I was somewhat familiar with the story and remember disliking it. However, it seems that this was because instead of watching the play being performed or watching this movie (that was adapted by Wilder for the screen), my class in middle school read the play--the worst possible way to understand and appreciate it. Now, 35 years later, I finally got around to seeing it like it should be seen--and I am glad I did.This is an interesting play because of its cast. In addition to a lot of familiar supporting actors such as Guy Kibbee, Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi, Thomas Mitchell and Frank Craven (who assisted Wilder with the screenplay), the film marks the debut of Martha Scott and William Holden. I really appreciate how many of the actors are the same folks who starred in the Broadway play and how the studio let Wilder keep control of his script--this, unfortunately, is pretty rare. Too often, a studio buys a play and then completely changes it--showing utter contempt for the actors and playwright.As far as the story goes, it's quite peculiar in style. The closest film I can think of like this is the film version of Eugene O'Neill's "Strange Interlude"--but the O'Neill play didn't really work well on screen. Both featured characters speaking their thoughts out loud to the audience--an unusual innovation to say the least. Another innovation in "Our Town" is having the character of the Mr. Morgan (Craven) also acting as the narrator. Because of this unusual style and the leisurely pace of the film, it's one that might lose viewers who don't have the patience to stick with this one. Don't give up--especially when the film gets depressing--it's a delight and the payoff is definitely worth the long wait.Impressively written, full of wonderful performances and expertly directed, this one is well worth seeing. And, fortunately, since it's in the public domain, it's downloadable from the link on IMDb. Give it a chance--it's a delightful piece of Americana.

b-wfan Every time that I watch this picture,I am moved to tears. "Our Town" is an honest, open and sentimental picture. The characters are well defined and unpretentious. They share their dreams, desires, fears and lives with us. We care about these people and we can relate to them."Our Town" does not need any special affects or any modern day "razzle-dazzle" to tell its story. Dialogue moves the plot. The focus of this movie is the characters and the different stages in their lives. If only Hollywood could go back to making films like this.In my opinion, "Our Town" is a must see for all serious film buffs.**** out of ****