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It's a Wonderful Life

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For other uses, see It's a Wonderful Life (disambiguation).
It's a Wonderful Life
File:Poster for IAWL.jpg
Original movie poster for It's a Wonderful Life depicting George and Mary embracing, surrounded by all of the people that George's life has touched
Directed byFrank Capra
Written byFrances Goodrich,
Albert Hackett,
Jo Swerling
Frank Capra
Based on The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern
Produced byFrank Capra
StarringJames Stewart,
Donna Reed,
Lionel Barrymore
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release dates
January 7, 1947 (USA)
Running time
130 min
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3,180,000 USD (estimated)

It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 Frank Capra film, produced by his own Liberty Films and released originally by RKO Radio Pictures. Dubbed by the American Film Institute one of the best films ever made, it placed #1 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers, a list of the most inspirational American movies of all time. It ranks 11th on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies, a list of the greatest American films. The film has also been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

The movie is the story of the life of everyman George Bailey, as told to his guardian angel Clarence Oddbody, who has been recruited to save him in his moment of need.

Story and plot analysis

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Prologue

File:Baileyhouse101.jpg
A shot of the Bailey House, where prayers can be heard in the opening sequence.

The movie begins on Christmas Eve as the multiple prayers of many people on Earth for a man named George Bailey are heard by beings in Heaven. In the heavens, Clarence Oddbody, an "AS-2," or "angel, second-class", is told that he must help George Bailey in order to earn his wings.

One of the higher-up angels, Joseph, begins to tell Clarence the story of George Bailey in order to prepare him for his mission.

George the boy

First, Joseph tells Clarence of how George saved his little brother Harry when he fell through the ice at the age of nine, which led to George losing his hearing in one ear.

Later, Clarence is shown when George worked at Mr. Gower's drugstore. Two little girls, Mary Hatch and Violet Bick, come in, and Mary whispers into George's deaf ear her pledge to love him until the day she dies. This scene is where we first learn of George's ambition to explore the world. That same day, George saves a child from being poisoned by tainted capsules ordered from Mr. Gower. Gower has gotten drunk after learning, via telegram, of his son's recent death by influenza. At first George is afraid to tell Mr. Gower about his error because of Gower's depressed state, so he tries to tell his father about it. His father, however, is in the middle of a meeting with a man named Mr. Potter. George goes into his father's office anyway tries to tell him about what happened, but when he is escorted out of the office by his father for lashing out at Mr. Potter, he decides to just go tell Mr. Gower himself. Although Mr. Gower initially beats George for failing to make the delivery, the druggist recants instantly when he learns of his mistake and is eternally grateful to George.

Young George Bailey (James Stewart) and Mary Hatch (Donna Reed) dance the Charleston dangerously close to the gap in the quickly-opening gym floor.

George the young man

Now, about twenty-one, George Bailey wants more than anything in the world to "leave this crummy little town" of Bedford Falls, and experience the world outside. On the night before he is to leave for a European vacation and his architectural education, George sits down to dinner with his father Peter, who expresses his anxieties about having his eldest son leave without going into business with him at the Bailey Building & Loan. George reassures Peter that he has nothing to worry about, especially considering the aggressiveness of mill owner and banker Henry F. Potter, a greedy slumlord who already owns half the city. In a tender moment, George reveals his deep affection for his father, then leaves to attend the graduation party of his younger brother, Harry, at Bedford Falls High School.

At graduation party, George becomes re-acquainted with Mary Hatch, now 18, who has been brought to the event by her brother, Marty. After getting rid of Mary's date, the annoying Freddie (Carl Switzer), George and Mary dance together in the big Charleston contest. They dance on the line along which the floor splits when opened. In a fit of pique, and with the encouragement of another young man, Freddie activates the mechanism that exposes the water-filled pool underneath the gym floor. After moving to one side of the growing opening, George and Mary dance closer and closer to the edge before plunging in. Regardless, they doggedly continue dancing in the water, and the sight is so amusingly infectious that soon everyone else at the dance, including Freddie and even the principal, jump in as well.

Afterwards, George and Mary are walking leisurely home, with George wearing a football uniform and Mary a bathrobe, both "borrowed" from the school locker room. They harmonize on the song "Buffalo Gals" as they stroll. En route to Mary's, George throws a rock through the window of 320 Sycamore: a large, empty, dilapidated house, and makes a wish as it breaks the window. Mary has asked him not to break the glass, explaining that she loves the house because it's "full of romance." She then adds, "I'd like to live there someday." Then she asks George about what wish he made. His enthusiastic answer:

Not just one wish, a whole hatful! I'm shakin' the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world: Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Coliseum. Then, I'm comin' back here to go to college and see what they know. And then I'm gonna build things. I'm gonna build airfields, I'm gonna build skyscrapers a hundred stories high, I'm gonna build bridges a mile long.

At this, Mary impulsively picks up a stone and breaks a window as well. George asks her what she wished for, but she doesn't answer. He asks her if she wants the moon, and he offers to "throw a lasso around it and pull it down." A man has been watching them from a porch and tells George to "kiss her instead of talking her to death." Mary panics and runs. Unfortunately, her robe was caught under George's foot and comes off as she flees. Left holding the garment, a mischievous George humorously teases the mortified and naked Mary, who has hidden herself in nearby hydrangea bushes to keep from being seen nude.

Just then, Uncle Billy, Peter Bailey's brother and the Building & Loan's vice president, drives up and informs George that his father has had a stroke. Tossing Mary her robe, George rides urgently away.

Adult George

We jump to about three months following Peter Bailey's death. Without Peter to guide and protect it, the Building and Loan falls prey to Mr. Potter. George, who's sacrificed the joys and rewards of vacation in Europe to help settle the matters of the Bailey Building & Loan and his father's estate, realizes he must maintain control of the business. Otherwise, the board will vote with Potter and dissolve the Building and Loan. George pays for Harry to go to college first. Upon Harry's return, George will go to college, and Harry will take his place as CEO.

Mary tenderly tells George "He says it's the chance of a lifetime."

Harry Bailey comes home from college with a young woman in his arms and introduces her as his wife who tells George that her father has offered Harry an excellent job. Although Harry volunteers to refuse it to give George his chance to go to college, the older brother cannot bring himself to accept the offer and ruin his sibling's future. Later, Ma Bailey informs George that Mary Hatch is back in town, and that she "lights up like a firefly whenever she sees" George. George eventually makes his way to her house, where she girlishly plays flirtatious games with him. In the parlor is a needlepoint image of George lassoing the moon. George acts uncomfortable and as if he has been forced to come to her house, because, although he does love her, he knows that getting married to her means he will forever have to remain in Bedford Falls.

Frustrated by George's lack of response to her affectionate maneuvers, Mary smashes the record ("Buffalo Gal") that she had put on just for him and demands that he leave. Then the phone rings. It's Sam Wainwright, George's childhood friend and the man Mrs. Hatch (Mary's mother) wants Mary to marry. He informs George—-who has returned to the house to retrieve a forgotten hat--that his previous tip about plastics has turned out to be excellent advice, but that he's still looking for a place to produce his goods. George advises Sam to consider Bedford Falls' recently closed tool and die factory, which, along with its former workforce, could suit his needs. George and Mary share the telephone earpiece as Sam tells George he thinks the advice is excellent and that his father wants to give George a job with generous pay and a prosperous future and that "It's the chance of a lifetime." As a last attempt to get George's response, Mary--choked by emotion--tells George: "He says..it's the chance of a lifetime." George, who's been fighting his love for Mary, drops the phone and grabs her shoulders.

Now, you listen to me! I don't want any plastics, and I don't want any ground floors, and I don't want to get married, ever, to anyone! You understand that? I want to do what I want to do. And you're—and you're—-

At this moment, he realizes he must again make another sacrifice for love, and embraces Mary. At the same time, George also realizes he must marry his love while at the same time denying himself the prosperous job. After all, the Bailey Building & Loan needs protection from Mr. Potter, and the Bailey Building & Loan needs to protect Bedford Falls from Mr. Potter, too.

Married George

George and Mary get married in a ceremony at his mother's home. They jump into Ernie's taxicab and are about to go to the airport where they shall embark upon a grand honeymoon when, to their dismay, they see people running through the rain to the Bailey Building & Loan. Resisting the urges of Mary, George goes over to see what's up.

File:Bank run in IAWL.jpg
Citizens of Bedford Falls gathering outside the bank in the rain during a bank run.

There has been a run on the bank, and everyone's financial future is in jeopardy. Meanwhile, Mr. Potter has seized control of the City Bank, and calls George at the Building and Loan and tells George that he doesn't think the Building & Loan has enough money to stay in business, and informs him that if all of George's clients go to Mr. Potter, he'll refund their accounts 50 cents on the dollar. Without the Building and Loan, they would all be at the mercy of Potter, who cares little for them. George refuses the offer and hangs up before Potter can warn him that if his business closes before the regular time, it will be out of business. With the stakes looming overhead, George pleads with the people not to sell their shares to Potter at half their value: "Don't you see what's happening? Potter isn't selling; Potter's buying!" However, the panicked crowd refuses to listen and starts making for the door.

Seeing what is necessary, Mary offers their $2,000 in honeymoon money to bolster the dwindling assets and satisfy the depositors, to tide them over until the bank reopens in a week. Thus, George sacrifices another chance to leave town. The townspeople, although still fearful, trust in George's honesty and agree to withdraw only what they need to last the week.

Thanks to this cash infusion, the Building and Loan is able to survive the bank run and close its doors at its regular time. George, Uncle Billy, and the rest of the Building & Loan staff celebrate the two remaining dollars left over. Suddenly, the phone rings, and it's Mary, informing him to "come home" to 320 Sycamore—the old house whose windows they once broke.

When George arrives there, he is welcomed inside to a leaking roof, drafty house, and posters of the South Seas and Florida covering up broken windows and holes in the walls in an effort to create some approximation of the honeymoon they sacrificed. As Mary kisses George, police officer Bert and taxi driver Ernie serenade them from outside. Embracing George, Mary whispers "Remember the night we broke the windows in this old house? This is what I wished for."

Cutting years later, George opens a development called Bailey Park, opening with the ceremony of working class Italian family the Martinis getting their first home in America. Sam Wainwright stops by in his shiny car and tells George that he and his wife, who is wearing a fancy hat and fur stole, are off to Florida. George, furious that everyone else gets their dreams fulfilled except for him, kicks the door to his car shut.

Meanwhile, Mr. Potter is aware that the Bailey Park development is infringing on his profits, to the point where his rent collector predicts that George Bailey will eventually be the dominant business figure in the town. Frustrated by Bailey's tenancy and business skill, Mr. Potter comments: "The Bailey family's been a boil on my neck long enough." George is then summoned to Mr. Potter's office, and is, strangely, congratulated for beating the old man. Mr. Potter offers him an insanely wealthy future: $20,000 a year salary, business trips to New York and Europe... meaning the best things in the world for his new bride. However, George suddenly comes to his senses, realizing that he can't accept this temptation, because it would mean ruin for the good people of Bedford Falls. His voice rising with his increasing disgust, he tells Mr. Potter

I don't need twenty-four hours. I don't have to talk to anybody. I know right now, and the answer's no. No! Doggone it! You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money! Well, it doesn't, Mister Potter! In the—in the whole vast configuration of things, I'd say, you were nothing but a scurvy little spider!

That very night, George comes home after dark while Mary is sleeping, and the words of his recent conference with Mr. Potter haunt him. The promises of wealth, happiness, and good clothing and home for Mary seem even more enticing, and George realizes just how much he has had to sacrifice during his life, and what meager material rewards he has gained from it.

His eyes drift from his sleeping young bride to the peeling paint on the walls, and to an old caricature that Mary drew of him as cowboy throwing a rope around the moon. He remembers the night he and Mary walked home from Harry's graduation, the high aspirations for the future that he expressed to her, how carefree and hopeful they were. Thus, George realizes precisely what he has missed out on by passing up Mr. Potter's offer.

Mary then sits up in bed, and when George notes she could have married Sam Wainright, she firmly asserts her life now is exactly what she wanted. "George Bailey lassoes stork!" she tells him. George and Mary end up having four children in all.

The War; Christmas Eve

Afterwards, during a montage, angel Joseph explains to Clarence what happened to Bedford Falls during World War II. Harry Bailey went off to war, and his heroics saved a convoy of troops. Sam Wainwright made a fortune off of plastic hoods for airplanes. Mary and other women in the town worked for the USO. Mary's brother Marty, Ernie and Bert also went off to fight in the war. Mr. Potter takes control of the draft board. Uncle Billy and Mr. Gower sell war bonds.

George Bailey is rejected from the draft board: after saving Harry from the ice as a young boy, he went deaf in one ear, and is therefore ineligible for the U.S. Armed Forces. He stays behind to fight "The Battle of Bedford Falls" as an Air Raid Warden and scrap metal collector, and against Mr. Potter.

File:You used to be so cocky.jpg
Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) insults George in his moment of need: "You used to be so cocky."

The war ends; and Harry Bailey's heroics have landed him a Congressional Medal of Honor, announced in a banner headline across The Bedford Falls Sentinel. At the bank, with an envelope of $8,000 of Bailey Building & Loan cash to deposit, Uncle Billy is writing out the deposit slip when Potter is wheeled into bank. Potter is greeted enthusiastically by four bankers and then sarcastically by Uncle Billy, who, noticing a copy of the Sentinel in Potter's lap, boasts

Well, good morning, Mister Potter! What's the news? Oh, well, well, well: Harry Bailey wins Congressional Medal. That couldn't be one of the Bailey boys. You just can't keep those Baileys down, now, can you, Mister Potter?

However, in his joy, Uncle Billy inadvertently wraps the envelope of cash in Potter's newspaper before returning it to him. Uncle Billy leaves; and Mr. Potter, having discovered the money, greedily and diabolically keeps it all for himself, aware that it means ruin for the Baileys.

At the Building & Loan, Violet Bick asks George for a loan to start a new life in New York City. George agrees to the loan, and consults Uncle Billy as a matter of protocol. He finds Uncle Billy in a state of distress over not being able to locate the eight thousand dollars he was supposed to deposit that morning. George searches in the obvious places in the office, and then races through the snow, hatless and coatless, retracing Uncle Billy's path in a vain attempt to find the cash. Enraged at Uncle Billy's forgetfulness, George, panicking, beats him, shouting "Where's that money? Do you realize what this means? It means bankruptcy and scandal and prison; that's what it means! One of us is going to jail. Well, it's not gonna be me!"

George is now depressed and distraught, and returns home to find his family joyous and anxious for the coming Christmas tomorrow. His daughter practices piano, while his sons decorate the tree with Mary. The now seemingly inane and stupid pleas of his family make him even more discouraged. He cries as he hugs his son Tommy, knowing that he himself will be the one who goes to jail, and will be to blame for all his clients' financial ruin. He is then told that his daughter Zuzu has a cold. Zuzu tells George that she didn't put on her coat because she didn't want to crush the rose she won at school. She asks her father to paste the wilting petals back on her rose, but they fall off in George's hand. He hides the petals in his pants pocket and returns the flower to her as if he'd mended it. Under extreme duress now, he blames her schoolteacher for not telling Zuzu to put on her coat, and George makes her cry. Gripped in terrible distress, George leaves the house while Mary calls Billy to find out what is bothering her husband.

Utterly desperate for a way out of prison and scandal and the suffering of his family, George asks Mr. Potter for help. Potter knows that Uncle Billy has misplaced $8,000 of the Building & Loan's money; he suggests that George has been gambling or having an extramarital affair, and taunts George:

Look at you: you used to be so cocky. You were going to go out and conquer the world! You once called me a warped, frustrated old man. What are you but a warped, frustrated young man? A miserable little clerk, crawling in here on your hands and knees and begging for help.

File:George-prays.jpg
Critical moment, George prays. "Dear God...show me the way".

Potter declines to lend George any money, because the only collateral that he offers is a $15,000 life-insurance in which his equity is $500. In a bit of sinister, chilling humor, Potter says "Why, George, you're worth more dead than alive" and says that he will swear out a warrant for George's arrest on charges of malfeasance and manipulation of funds.

Realizing this is indeed true, George departs while Potter is still speaking, and drives to Mr. Martini's bar, where he drinks. He prays to God for deliverance from his woes. Mr. Welch, husband of Zuzu's schoolteacher, recognizes George and, irate that his wife cried for an hour after George yelled at her over the telephone, punches George in the face. He is then quickly thrown out of the bar as the other customers as well as Mr. Martini admire George and hate to see him so upset.

Feeling his life insurance policy in his coat pocket, George interprets this blow as God's answer to a man in need, and, sick with the way the world has been cruel to him for his entire life, is now on the verge of suicide. George has truly lost faith in the people of the world, and in God.

Clarence

George drunkenly crashes his car into a tree near a bridge, and stumbles out into the middle of the span. He looks down into the churning, frigid river, knowing that if he jumped in right now, the temperature and the rapids would kill him in no time. Contemplating suicide, and about to do himself in, George suddenly sees a stranger in a black coat and wearing a black hat fall into the river. George jumps in to save him, and the bridgekeeper quickly pulls them from the water.

As Clarence (Henry Travers) introduces himself, George's face reeks skepticism.

The stranger introduces himself to George as Clarence Oddbody, Angel Second Class, George's guardian from Heaven, a reader of a damp copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer who recommends "the new book Mark Twain's writing now" and claims to have died in his old-fashioned undergarments. George is very skeptical, and the bewildered bridgekeeper leaves. Clarence attempts to convince George that he jumped in order to save George, knowing that George would rather save a life than take his own.

George, despondent and ruined, explains his situation to Clarence, who already knows all too well the plight of George and Uncle Billy. George claims "Everyone'd be better off if I'd never been born at all."

Clarence takes this statement to heart, and having conferred with his superiors in Heaven, grants George's wish: the world has never known of a man named George Bailey, and he truly has never been born. George is surprised to find that not only has his lip stopped bleeding, but also that his hearing has been restored to both his ears. George, although wary of Clarence, decides to go and pick up his car...

Pottersville

They walk in this new reality past the tree where George crashed his car—but it is gone. There is not even a mark in the tree where the car had smashed the trunk in. They then go to Martini's Bar (now "Nick's") for a drink. Clarence hears the cash register's bell, and tells George "Every time you hear a bell ring, an angel gets his wings", garnering unfriendly laughter.

In the bar, Clarence (with characteristic child-like naïveté) is unafraid to discuss angels in front of a bemused Nick and others in the bar: "Why? Don't they believe in angels?" Clarence asks. Embarrassed by his slightly daffy companion, George tells Nick "He never grew up." Nick is less than amused. When Clarence states his age as "two hundred and ninety-three...uh, next May", Nick orders the two "pixies" out for "giv[ing] the joint atmosphere". Shortly before they are manhandled toward the door, Mr. Gower comes stumbling in. Nick calls Gower as a "rummy" and a "panhandler" and sprays him in the face with soda water. George is shocked by Gower's condition and hopes that his former employer will recognize him: but the reply is a mystified "No." Nick tells George that the former druggist Gower "spent twenty years in jail for poisoning a kid" and suggests that, to know Gower, George, too, "must be a jailbird".

File:Pottersville.jpg
George Bailey stands, shocked, as a riot breaks out at a dance hall in corrupt Pottersville.

After they are tossed out, Nick sarcastically begins opening and closing the cash register, making the bell in it ring, and cries "Get me; I'm givin' out wings!" Dismayed by the experience, but incredulous of Clarence's explanation, George interrogates Clarence, who assures George that he is his Guardian Angel. George ask what else he is: "A hypnotist?" Trying to assert his identity, he finds that, just as Clarence predicts, his wallet, all his identification, even Zuzu's flower petals, are gone from his pockets. Clarence remarks "You've been given a great gift, George: a chance to see what the world would be like without you."

In a horrific series of events, George shakes off Clarence and discovers the changed Bedford Falls—now called Pottersville. The main street has been transformed into a gaudy cavalcade of jitterbug dance halls, strip clubs, and taverns. George sees the Building & Loan has been replaced by a dance hall, while a pawn broker now serves the people of Pottersville. Violet Bick is now a prostitute facing arrest. Ernie and Bert are now callous and suspicious of everyone. The old house at 320 Sycamore is as dilapidated as ever, since George never lived there.

Ma Bailey runs the Bailey home as a boarding house. George rings the doorbell, and she answers. Her face is hard and cruel, not at all like the Ma Bailey we've seen earlier. He calls her "mother," and she reacts with disdain. It's obvious she doesn't recognize him. George asks if he can come in and stay until he's better, but she replies that she doesn't take in anyone unless they're sent by someone she knows. George replies that he knows everyone she knows, like her brother in law, Uncle Billy. She says "you know him?" He replies "yes." She says that Billy's been in an insane asylum since losing his business, "and if you ask me, that's where you belong." Then she slams the door in George's face.

After running down the steps, George's horrified, confused, despondent face is viewed in a fantastic close-up. He seeks closure by trying to locate the Italian immigrant family, the Martinis, in Bailey Park, but is terrified to find a cemetery there instead. Clarence appears, and tells George he wasn't there to build any house for the Martinis.

In the first of three climactic scenes of the movie, George discovers Harry Bailey's name on a tombstone. It reads "HERE LIES HARRY BAILEY: 1911–1919". Clarence tells George that, because George never existed, Harry Bailey fell through the ice and drowned at the age of nine. George, thinking he's going mad, is convinced that he saved Harry, and that Harry went on to save the lives of an entire ship of men in the war.

Every man on that transport died! Harry wasn't there to save them because you weren't there to save Harry! You see, George: you've really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?

George's mind is now battling between what he thinks he knows and what is being obviously presented to him, and he demands to know what has become of Mary. He feels that if he can just find Mary, things will be back to normal. But he finds that Mary is an old-maid librarian: a plain, bespectacled woman, sad, lonely, and frightened of the world. George approaches her as she closes up the public library, pleading and begging Mary to help him. But she doesn't recognize him, and screams before running away from him. Bert comes to her defense, and tries to pry George from her. George, finally realizing everything Clarence has told him, knocks Bert to the ground. His fears deepened, George flees from the center of town, with gunshots ringing in his ears.

Faith renewed

Fleeing the horrors of Pottersville, George Bailey at last grasps the truth. As he once again arrives at the bridge, he finally realizes what Clarence has been trying to explain: that every man's life affects the world greatly. Forgetting himself and his problems, a humbled George pleads with Heaven to restore his existence and make the world as it was – problems and all:

Clarence! Clarence! Help me, Clarence. Get me back. Get me back. I don't care what happens to me. Get me back to my wife and kids. Help me, Clarence, please. Please! I want to live again! I want to live again. I want to live again. Please, God, let me live again.

File:Zuzu's petals.jpg
George Bailey (James Stewart) lovingly greets Bert (Ward Bond) on the bridge after being granted a second chance.

Having learnt his lesson, George's prayer is answered: at the precise instant George utters the word "God", the blowing gusts die down, and snow begins to fall once more.

At once, George's lip starts to bleed. Bert's police car turns onto the bridge. Restored to life, George at first rounds on Bert angrily, but when Bert says his name, he euphorically asks "Bert, do you know me?"

Bert replies "Know you? I've been lookin' all over town tryin' to find you!", leading George to jump and yell with joy. Bert demands to know where he has been, since the whole town has been looking for him. He then points out that George's lip is bleeding. Feeling for the blood, George gleefully cackles

My mouth's bleeding, Bert! My mouth's bleed—[He checks his pocket]—Zuzu's petals! Zuzu's—There they are! Bert! What do you know about that! I'm back! Merry Christmas!

George's eyes have been opened to the true wonder of living. All of the miseries of his Christmas Eve he now greets with humorous joy: he lauds the tree he'd crashed into, lovingly pats his dilapidated car with the door that won't stay closed, and, in the film's most memorable scene, runs ecstatically down Main Street, shouting hellos to the Bijou Movie House, Emporium, Bailey Building & Loan, and the entire city of Bedford Falls, the "crummy little town" he had come to hate. George's holiday greetings are even offered to Mr. Potter, who answers George's "Merry Christmas!" with "Happy New Year to you—in jail!"

George returns home. The bank examiner, the sheriff, and two newsmen are there to arrest him; but he enthusiastically shakes hands with the examiner, who says "Mr. Bailey, there's a deficit."

Responding happily both to the examiner and to the sheriff's arrest warrant, a small price for him to have his family and friends back, George exclaims "Isn't it wonderful? I'm going to jail!"

Spying his children on the upstairs landing, George rushes up to kiss them. When he asks where their mother is, they answer that she has gone looking for him.

With renewed faith in humanity, George Bailey (James Stewart) embraces Mary (Donna Reed) and their children.

The richest man in town

Mary rushes in moments later, shouting "George, it's a miracle! It's—it's a miracle!" George's years of selfless investment in his fellow men now pay off with interest. The people of Bedford Falls, for whom George has sacrificed his dreams, now appear in his hour of need. One by one, then in a crowd, George Bailey's neighbors offer him their money—Mr. Martini, Violet Bick, Annie the housekeeper, Mr. Gower, the customers who had trusted him in the bank run. As each comes forward, George utters their names under his breath, lovingly. The money collected is considerable, perhaps enough to save George from jail, the Bailey Building & Loan from ruin, and Bedford Falls from control by Mr. Potter.

Suddenly, Ernie shouts for silence so that he can read them a telegram: Sam Wainwright, made aware of George's peril, has cabled from London that his office is authorized to advance George up to twenty-five thousand dollars. "Hee-haw and Merry Christmas!" Everyone cheers, knowing that the money should maintain the Bailey Building & Loan, and the homes and neighborhoods it has created, for years to come. The crowd bursts into "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", while cousin Eustace, the Building & Loan clerk, begins gladly tallying the contributions which even include cash from the bank examiner and the sheriff, who also tears up the arrest warrant.

Someone shouts "Harry Bailey" and, unexpectedly, Bert the cop brings in George's brother, whom he has driven from the airport: "The fool flew all the way up here in a blizzard." Harry explains that he left his banquet in New York in the middle of it to support his brother upon receiving a telegram from Mary about the crisis.

Still in uniform from his decoration in Washington and a subsequent event in New York City, Harry proposes "A toast: to my big brother, George—the richest man in town."

"To my big brother George. The richest man in town"

The crowd cheers again, and then breaks into "Auld Lang Syne", this time accompanied by Bert on his accordion and Janie on the piano. Suddenly, a book appears atop the pile of money: Tom Sawyer. George reaches down and opens the cover; inside, he finds an inscription:

Dear George:—
Remember no man is a failure who has friends.
Thanks for the wings!
Love
Clarence.

A branch is shaken on the Christmas tree, and a bell on the branch starts to jingle. Zuzu cries out "Teacher says 'Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.'" George looks skyward and says "That's right." He winks upward and says "atta boy, Clarence," knowing who has received the wings for a job well done.

As he stands in his beloved home, surrounded by his family and the neighbors he has come to love, George Bailey truly grasps how wonderful his life has been, and realizes that a human life—no matter how wretched—is always worth living, if lived for the sake of the people that one loves.

Template:Endspoiler

Inspiration, casting, production, and distribution

In 1943, writer Philip Van Doren Stern made a Christmas card titled "The Greatest Gift", of which he printed 200 copies that he mailed to family and friends, while also registering its copyright. RKO Pictures bought the rights to the story for $10,000 in 1946. The studios intended to star Cary Grant, but he found his Christmas story in The Bishop's Wife, and made three unsatisfactory scripts before shelving the planned movie. Frank Capra read The Greatest Gift and immediately saw its potential. RKO, anxious to unload the project, sold the rights to Capra for the same $10,000, throwing in the three scripts for free.

Capra, with his "one man, one show" motto (what some called "the Capra touch") and writers Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, took what he liked from the scripts and added some elements of his own, including the character Mr. Potter and making the town of Bedford Falls a believable place.

The cast included:

Donna Reed, James Stewart and Karolyn Grimes

Although James Stewart's previous roles had been less dramatic and complex, he was Capra's only choice to play George Bailey, around which time Capra changed the name of the film from The Greatest Gift to It's a Wonderful Life. Among the alternative actors Capra considered to cast were Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Brennan, Adolphe Menjou, and W.C. Fields for Uncle Billy, Edgar Buchanan, Claude Rains, Charles Coburn, and Vincent Price for Mr. Potter, Jean Arthur (a Capra personal favorite who had starred under Capra and alongside James Stewart in the classic movies You Can't Take it With You and Mr. Smith goes to Washington but had committed to a Broadway show), Olivia de Havilland, Ann Dvorak, and Ginger Rogers for Mary Hatch. Capra also considered Henry Travers for the roles of Uncle Billy, Mr. Gower, and Peter Bailey (Pa).

It's a Wonderful Life was shot at the RKO ranch in Encino, California, where Bedford Falls was a set covering four acres assembled from three separate parts with a main street stretching 300 yards, three city blocks, a tree-lined center parkway, and 75 stores and buildings, and 20 full grown oak trees. Filming started on April 15, 1946, and ended on July 27, 1946. The film premiered on December 20, 1946 in the New Globe Theater on Governors Island.

Reviews were mixed. Time magazine said, "It's a Wonderful Life is a pretty wonderful movie. It has only one formidable rival (Goldwyn's The Best Years of Our Lives) as Hollywood's best picture of the year. . . . Director Capra's inventiveness, humor and affection for human beings keep it glowing with life and excitement." But Bosley Crowther, writing for The New York Times, complained that "the weakness of this picture, from this reviewer's point of view, is the sentimentality of it—its illusory concept of life. Mr. Capra's nice people are charming, his small town is a quite beguiling place and his pattern for solving problems is most optimistic and facile. But somehow they all resemble theatrical attitudes rather than average realities."

The film placed 26th in box office revenues for the year (out of more than 400 features released), one place ahead of another Christmas movie, Miracle on 34th Street). It received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor.

Liberty Films was purchased by Paramount Pictures, and remained a subsidiary until 1951. Paramount owned the film until 1955, when they sold a few of their features and most of their cartoons and shorts to television distributor U.M.&M. T.V. Corp.. This included key rights to It's a Wonderful Life, including the original television syndication rights, the original nitrate film elements, the music score, and the story on which the film is based, "The Greatest Gift".

Public Domain

National Telefilm Associates took over the rights to the U.M.&M. library soon afterward. A clerical error at NTA prevented the copyright from being renewed properly in 1974, however. Around this time, people began to take a second look at this film. A popular fallacy began that it entered the public domain and many television stations began airing the film without paying royalties. The film was still protected by virtue of it being a derivative work of all the other copyrighted material used to produce the film such as the script, music, etc. whose copyrights were renewed. In the 1980s (the beginning of the home video era) the film became a perennial holiday favorite. For several years, it became expected that the movie would be shown multiple times on at least one station and on multiple stations in the same day, often at the same or overlapping times. It was a common practice for American viewers to jump in and out of viewing the movie at random points, confident they could easily pick it up again at a later time. The film's warm and familiar ambiance gave even isolated scenes the feel of holiday "comfort food" for the eyes and ears. The film's accidental public domain success is often cited as a reason to limit copyright terms, which have been frequently extended by Congress in the United States.

The film's success decades after its release came as a welcome but unexpected surprise those for worked on it, including Capra. "It's the damnedest thing I've ever seen," he told the Wall Street Journal in 1984. "The film has a life of its own now and I can look at it like I had nothing to do with it. I'm like a parent whose kid grows up to be president. I'm proud … but it's the kid who did the work. I didn't even think of it as a Christmas story when I first ran across it. I just liked the idea."

Two colorized versions have since been produced; they are widely considered inferior to the black-and-white original and are often held up by opponents of colorization as an example of the flaws associated with the process: in the scene of the dinner-table chat between George and Peter Bailey, for example, James Stewart's shirt is conspicuously pink. For many years, some television stations paid substantial royalties to show a colorized version, figuring that color would attract more viewers.

In 1993, Republic Pictures, which was the successor to NTA, relied on the 1990 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Stewart v. Abend (which involved the movie Rear Window) to enforce its claim of copyright; while the film's copyright had not been renewed, it was a derivative work of various works that were still copyrighted. As a result, the film is no longer shown as much on television (NBC is currently licensed to show the film on U.S. network television, and only shows it traditionally twice during the holidays, with one showing primarily on Christmas Eve from 8-11 Eastern time), the colorized versions have been withdrawn, and Republic now has exclusive ancillary rights to the film. Artisan Entertainment (under license from Republic) took over home video rights in the mid-1990s, Artisan was later sold to Lions Gate Entertainment, which continued to hold home video rights until late 2005 when they reverted to Republic's sister studio Paramount, whose parent is Viacom.

Critique

Although generally acclaimed for its affirmation of positive values, the film has attracted some negative critique.

In 1947, a memo to the Director of the FBI reported that some sources viewed the film as subversive and pro-Communist on grounds of its negative depiction of the capitalist Potter and the triumph of the common man Bailey. The identity of these sources is unknown because the public version of the memo has been redacted.

NBC's annual showing of the film during the Christmas season is widely regarded as tacky and detractive of the film's spirit. Many national critics, including Leonard Maltin and Roger Ebert, say that adding commercials to such an "atmosphere of drama" forces "breaks" in the emotions evoked by the movie's excellence. To grasp the true greatness of the movie, they suggest either simply to rent the film, or to see it in revival theatrical screenings, as it was meant to be experienced in 1946.

Myths and rumors

A popular belief is that Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie were named after secondary characters in the film; this belief is strengthened by the fact that Uncle Billy ties strings around his fingers to remember things just as Ernie does in Sesame Street. In fact, portions of the film are shown throughout the Christmas special, Elmo Saves Christmas. However, the producers of Sesame Street claim there is no connection.

Another rumor is that Pink Floyd album Wish You Were Here can be played alongside the film with key events in the movie tying in with song lyrics. The similarities are said to be more noticeable than in the other claimed Pink Floyd movie sync with The Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon. [citation needed] See Dark Side of the Rainbow and It's a Wonderful Life/Wish You Were Here for similarities between Wish You Were Here and this film.

It is also often quoted that psychiatrists would recommend It's a Wonderful Life to patients suffering from depression. This was because it was such a well known feel-good movie, and it generated positive results. However, contemporary psychiatrists would probably scoff at this idea; in the Special Edition video, this theory is quoted.

Awards and nominations

Contrary to its widespread acclaim in recent years, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did not give an award to It's a Wonderful Life for any of its Oscar nominations. Best Actor, Best Editing, Best Director, and Best Picture were lost all to The Best Years of Our Lives.

These losses can be explained in part by Best Years' box office success in 1946, and its relevance to the movie-going audience of the time. Best Years is a dramatic look at the lives of servicemen returning home after World War II, and is itself considered a milestone film. The ingredients of Best Years – drama, social relevance, a character overcoming disability, another character facing madness – are all quite in keeping with what is considered an "Oscar Winning Film". Seen today, the movie still retains much of its power, though not the same place in the American psyche as It's a Wonderful Life.

It's a Wonderful Life's nominated categories in 1946 were:

Capra won Best Motion Picture Director from the Golden Globes, and a CEC Award from the Cinema Writers Circle in Spain, for Mejor Película Extranjera (Best Foreign Film). Jimmy Hawkins won a "Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Young Artist Awards in 1994; the awards centred out his role as Tommy Bailey for igniting his career which lasted until the mid-1960s.

  • In Bruce Almighty, Jim Carrey's character throws a pantomimed lasso around the moon and pulls it down, referencing to the famous quote "You want the moon? I'll give ya the moon! I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down."
  • George's Daughter Zuzu has a rose whose petals are an important plot point. The name has been used several times in other mediums.
    • Rock band ZuZu's Petals
    • A character in The Adventures of Ford Fairlane is named ZuZu Petals.
    • One strip of "The Far Side" finds a botanical enthusiast boasting about how long it took him to find "the rare... Zuzu's Petals!"
  • In 1977, a scene for scene remake was done for television called It Happened One Christmas with Marlo Thomas playing the Jimmy Stewart role.
  • It's a Wonderful Life is the title of an album by Fishbone, as well as one by Sparklehorse.
  • Stephen Jay Gould based the title of his Wonderful Life, a book about evolution and the Burgess Shale, on this movie.
  • The movie has inspired other alternate reality sections of movies, such as the alternate 1985 in Back to the Future II and the "glimpse" given to Jack Campbell in The Family Man.
  • Don Rosa wrote a Donald Duck comic story for the character's 60th birthday titled "The Duck Who Never Was", in which Donald sees what Duckburg would be like if he never was born. Like Bailey, he feels like a nobody, but realizes that he has indeed made an enormous difference.
  • "It's a Bundyful Life" of Married... with Children had comedian Sam Kinison play the role of Clarence as he showed Al Bundy what his world would've been like had he never been born. Unfortunately it turns out the world would've been much better without him. However, Al is furious his family is happy in the alternate world, so he opts to remain out of sheer spite, and Clarence gets his wings.
  • The second half of the Beavis and Butt-head Christmas special is entitled "It's a Miserable Life", and directly parodies the movie; instead of the townspeople praying for the pair's safety, they pray for their demise. At this point Charlie, Butt-head's guardian angel, shows Butt-head how much better the town of Highland would be without him before trying to get him to kill himself by jumping off a bridge. The episode ends with Charlie himself falling off the bridge and Beavis and Butt-head surviving.
  • In a Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries episode, Uncle Billy, anxious about the lost money, is urged by his two pet rats to call Granny to help him find it. At one point, Sylvester crashes into a wall. As he lays on the ground in a daze, little angel cats ringing bells circle his head and he comments, "look at me, I'm giving out wings."
  • "It's a Wishful Life" is an episode of The Fairly OddParents that parodies this film. Like the Married... with Children episode, Timmy Turner also gets a glimpse of how different and wonderful things would be for everyone if he hasn't existed.
  • The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 cartoon took a spin on the concept with the episode "Shredderville". The TMNT wish they had never been born, and have a dream about an alternative history where they never existed, and where Shredder rules New York City, now renamed Shredderville.
  • 2 games in the Harvest Moon video game series have the titles of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life and Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life
  • The TV show Saturday Night Live once presented a sketch in which the residents of Bedford Falls, after the closing scenes of the film, discover that Potter is the real villain and proceed as a mob to invade his home and attack him after they also discover that he can walk and doesn't need a wheelchair. (Cast: Dana Carvey as George, Jan Hooks as Mary, Dennis Miller as Harry, Phil Hartman as Uncle Billy and Jon Lovitz as Potter.)
  • The 1993 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Tapestry," features a story where Jean-Luc Picard dies and is offered by Q to see what his life would have been like if he had made different choices.
  • The Simpsons contains several references to the film:
    • "Natural Born Kissers" showed Bart and Lisa finding and watching an alternate ending to Casablanca. Afterwards, they are ordered to bury it where they found it, and then are asked to bury another old movie reel along with it. On this second reel is affixed the label: "It's a Wonderful Life – Killing Spree Ending".
    • "Beyond Blunderdome", when Homer is watching a test screening for Mel Gibson's remake of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, he badmouths it, saying "At least the Jimmy Stewart version had the giant rabbit who ran the savings and loan!"
    • "The PTA Disbands!", Bart causes a bank run by inserting rumors about the bank's insolvency. This causes a Jimmy Stewart-like bank manager to say "I don't have your money here. It's at Bill's house and Fred's house!" referring to the bank run on It's a Wonderful Life. This starts a fistfight among the townspeople, who each want to know what their money is doing in other people's homes.
    • "The Last Temptation of Homer", Homer's guardian angel shows him what life would be like if he hadn't married Marge. We see him living in a huge mansion, while Marge is President of the United States.
    • "Grift of the Magi", it is mentioned at the end of this episode that Moe, in his annual suicide attempt, was shown what the world would be like without him.
    • In "When Flanders Failed", Ned Flanders opens the Leftorium, a store for left-handed people. The store fails and the Flanders are ruined, until Homer tells him to open the store. As Ned starts up the escalator, his wife is at the top telling him: "Hurry Neddy. It's a miracle!" Homer has rounded up every left-handed person he knows and the store, and the Flanders family, is saved. Ned stands with his family and everyone faces him, Homer raises a glass and says to Ned Flanders, the richest left-handed man in town.
  • The British sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry and Laurie once presented a sketch entitled, "It a Soaraway Life". In the sketch, the angel Clarence saves the life of Rupert, who had decided that the world would have been better off without him. When it is revealed that without Rupert the world is now a paradise, Rupert decides that he wants to live and make a huge profit by economically taking over paradise. Upon hearing Rupert's plans, Clarence promptly knocks him off a bridge.
  • The story was done as an episode of Rugrats titled "Chuckie's Wonderful Life". After Angelica steals one of his father's CDs, Chuckie believes it's his fault and decides to run away. Chuckie is shown by his guardian angel how, without him, no one would have been told that some things "weren't such a good idea".
  • In the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Christmas with the Joker", Bruce Wayne tells Dick Grayson that he's never seen It's A Wonderful Life because he "could never get past the title." They later watch the movie at the end of the episode.
  • A Johnny Bravo episode contains an angel Maurice who must earn his halo, a reference to Clarence Oddbody's eagerness to earn his wings.
  • "It's a Wonderful Life" is the name of a Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution song.
  • The first two Home Alone films featured the movie, first in French while the family is visiting Paris, France, then in Spanish when the family goes to Florida for Christmas.
  • The Tiny Toons Christmas special spoofs the film with Buster Bunny acting as the George Bailey of the story and shown by a guardian Toon angel named Harvey (actually Bugs Bunny in disguise) what Acme Acres (or Montyville in the alternate reality) would be like if he was never on Tiny Toons.
  • In an episode of Rocko's Modern Life, shortly after Rocko recovers a lost gas cap for his car, a nearby child mentions to his father, "Daddy, daddy! Teacher says whenever a gas cap is found, an angel gets its wings!" to which the father replies, "Your teacher's full of snot!"
  • In the Family Guy Christmas episode, an irate Lois Griffin, on her way to ruin the Christmas cheer, passes George Bailey just as he exclaims "I want to live again!" and shoves him off the bridge.
  • An episode of Donkey Kong Country used the film's plot and even its title. Here, Donkey Kong is in the George Bailey role, and Eddie the Mean Old Yeti is the guardian angel who shows DK a world where Diddy is an evil emperor, Candy is married to Bluster, and King K. Rool is trying to defend a papier-maché lilypad.
  • Garfield and Friends spoofed the idea in a U.S. Acres segment titled "It's a Wonderful Wade", in which Wade, upset after letting the farm's vegetable crop seemingly vanish, is shown an alternate reality where he doesn't exist. Surprisingly, it isn't much different from the normal reality, but he does find out how Orson's brothers were stealing the vegetables to begin with.
  • The webcomic Melonpool parodied the concept in a two-week storyline in December 1999. In dramatic irony, the Bailey character, Ralph, wishes that Mayberry had never been born rather than himself. DeForest Kelley then appears to show Ralph what life would be like without Mayberry. Ralph prefers this alternate reality, though, but eventually caves in because he's broke and needs the crew for the added income.
  • It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie showed a Muppets rendition of the storyline with Kermit the Frog in the George Bailey role.
  • In an episode of the sitcom Friends, "The One Where Old Yeller Dies", Monica advises a depressed Phoebe to watch It's A Wonderful Life to cheer herself up. However, Phoebe stops watching before the ending, claiming that the film ought to be called "It's a Sucky Life and Just When You Think It Can't Suck Any More, It Does".
  • The title of a short British film from 1993, Franz Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life, makes a pun on Frank Capra's name and its similarity to that of the author Franz Kafka.
  • The characters in Mystery Science Theater 3000 frequently use lines from It's a Wonderful Life while riffing the films they watch, such as "Why don't you kiss her instead of talking her to death!" and "This is a very interesting situation!" Perhaps their most frequent reference is the use of "Out you two pixies go, through the door or out the window!" (or variations thereof) whenever characters in a film are being forcibly evicted. Also, in dogging a short entitled "A Case of Spring Fever," a man awakens, sprawled on his broken couch, from an alternate reality where springs never existed, and the characters cry out "Merry Christmas, you wonderful old couch!"
  • In 2001, That 70's Show did a spoof called by the same title, "It's a Wonderful Life". In this takeoff, Eric Foreman is shown what his life would have been like if he had never kissed Donna by an shifty angel played by Wayne Knight.
  • The 2006 Nicktoon Kappa Mikey has an episode called "A Christmas Mikey", where Mikey, in the role of George Bailey, feels he was never wanted and is about to leave for home. He meets Lawrence, his guardian angel, who shows him what things would've been like if he had never come to Tokyo and had never established the premise of the show. Not only does it spoof this film, but with the premise at stake, this episode is also a crucial one for the show itself.
  • While most likely not thought of at the time of the making of the movie, this shows an example of the "Butterfly Effect." When George is contemplating suicide, it is snowing in Bedford Falls. When Clarence creates the situation where George wasn't born, the snow stops (George points this out). Later, after George "wants to live again," the snow starts falling again, rather heavily. This implies that George not being in the world (one small condition) cause it not to snow in the Bedford Falls (Pottersville) area.
  • It's a Wonderful Life is playing on the television in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
  • The Fox television show The O.C. indicates that Season 4 Episode 7 (The Christmukk-huh?) will use a similar plot device in which Ryan is shows what life in Newport would be like without him.
  • The WB show Popular featured an episode ("The Consequences of Falling") which paralleled the It's a Wonderful Life plot device.
  • The WB show Smallville featured an episode ("Lexmas" )where Lex Luthor is shown a life where he had made different choices.
  • The CW show One Tree Hill featured an episode (Songs to Live and Die By) where main character Lucas is shown a world if he died. It also shows a TV airing It's a Wonderful Life.
  • The ABC show Moonlighting included an episode, "It's a Wonderful Job", in which Maddie's guardian angel showed her an alternate reality in which Jonathan and Jennifer Hart from the earlier series Hart to Hart were the owners of the Blue Moon detective agency.
  • In "Stairway To Heaven", a third season episode of the NBC series ALF, the title character is shown what life would have been like for the Tanners if his spaceship had not crashed into the family garage, in accordance with "the Capra Law", after wishing things could be different after another unfortunate dilemma.
  • Parts of the scene where George mentions lassoing the moon were used in a 2006 Kay Jewelers ad.
  • The animation Pale Force included an episode ("Pale Christmas", shown on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien on December 14, 2006), where Conan O'Brien greets everybody in town with "Merry Christmas!" on Christmas Eve (similar to Jimmy Stewart near the end of the movie). However, he is mocked by everybody (including Jesus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) for his paleness, and fired by boss Jeff Zucker (in a wheelchair a la Mr. Potter) as he says "I'm a Jew, you moron!" With his holiday spirit broken, Conan arrives at a bridge and meets Jimmy Stewart, who greets him with "What's the matter little girl?" and tells him "Why don't you jump off the bridge and kill yourself? That's what I'd do you pale freak." At this moment Conan wishes he had never been pale. Suddenly his skin becomes tanned, and Jim Gaffigan appears to show him what Conan's life would be if he had never been pale. Episode page
  • NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien featured a segment called Christmas Holiday Specials that presented a version of It's a Wonderful Life where the ending goes wrong. The first two scenes are from the original movie, whereas the third and final scene is edited. George is first seen running through the street, followed by Bart taking out his gun and shooting it, ending with a distant view of George dropping to his knees, falling forward, and dying.
  • A TV commercial for Kay Jewelers features a couple watching the scene where George tells Mary that he'll give her the moon, prompting the husband to present his wife with a pair of earrings. The commercial ends with the scene where the man watching George and Mary from his porch urges George to kiss Mary instead of talking to her, prompting the couple watching the scene to kiss.

Trivia

  • A 1977 gender-reversal version made for television, It Happened One Christmas, starred Marlo Thomas as Mary Bailey Hatch. Aside from the sex-switch, it essentially was a verbatim remake of the original.
  • Some critics have called it Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol in reverse: a good man who is visited by a spirit and receives much more than a second chance.
  • Of It's a Wonderful Life, director and producer Frank Capra, whose movies' idealistic, optimistic approach to weighty topics earned them the nickname "Capra-corn", said "That’s a great film; I love that film. It’s my favorite film, and in a sense it epitomizes everything I’ve been trying to do and trying to say with the other films, only it does it very dramatically with a very unique story."
  • Capra had wanted the movie to inspire a sense of religiosity in a nation he feared was increasingly drifting toward atheism, and to provide hope to the human spirit, but he did not consider it a holiday film despite its Christmas-y symbols of wreaths and snow and themes of love, friendship, and family. In fact, he had originally scheduled It's a Wonderful Life to debut in January, 1947 but rushed it to come out before the end of the year to be eligible for the 1946's Academy Awards.
  • The Motion Picture Association of America's strict production code in 1946 censored such phrases and words as "nuts to you", "impotent", "dang", "lousy", and "jerk". But Capra managed to bypass the production code stipulating that criminals be punished for their crime: Potter never met justice for stealing the $8,000. Capra noted several times that he had received more mail about this point than anything else in the film.
  • Movie snow at the time was usually cornflakes painted white, but they made a loud crunch sound that would have prevented dialogue Capra wanted to record. To solve this problem, Bedford Falls was covered in 3,000 tons of shaved ice, 300 tons of gypsum, 300 tons of plaster, and 6,000 gallons of a fomite-soap-water mixture that later won the movie an Academy Award. The illusion succeeded in spite of the heat wave during the filming strong enough that Capra gave the crew a day off to relieve them from the weather.
  • Movie critics jeered at the Charleston contest scene, calling it "movie fakery at its worst," but it was shot at Beverly Hills High School, where the gym floor really did part to reveal a swimming pool below.
  • Someone had been hired to throw the rock at the window of the old house at 320 Sycamore for Donna Reed, but the MGM contract player surprised the crew with the power and accuracy of her arm and threw it herself.
  • Regarding the phone scene, Stewart, who was acting in his first movie since serving in the United States Army in World War II, complained that he was away from cameras too long for such a hot and heavy scene. "A fella gets rusty," he said. Capra refused to accommodate his request to delay the scene but restaged it to have George and Mary share the phone. It was shot in one take. The script girl said, "It came out fine all right but they left out a whole page of dialogue." Capra replied, "With technique like that, who needs dialogue? Print it." This story can be disputed somewhat, as the theatrical trailer included on all DVD releases features an alternate yet similar take of the shared phone call which also bypasses "scripted" dialogue.
  • In the scene at Martini's bar where George prays for the first time, the camera zooms in tight on Stewart's face. This shot was intended to be wider, but Stewart's performance in the take was so effective that Capra processed the film to go in tighter than originally shot, and "blow up" the image of Stewart's face. This can be partially noticed by paying attention to the slow "zoom in" effect which occurs a few moments into the scene, and also by the fact that the picture becomes marginally grainier as a result of a portion of the shot being blown up to fill the screen.
  • In the bank run scene in which George used the $2,000 for his Honeymoon to tide over the demands of angry customers, everything was scripted except the final request by Miss Davis, played by Ellen Corby. Capra asked Ellen Corby to surprise Stewart. Corby asked for $17.50 and Stewart kissed her on the mouth, provoking a roar of laughter from the crowd.
  • After Uncle Billy chooses between his three wavering hats and leaves George's house drunk, it sounds as if he is falling over trash cans. This scene was unplanned. A technician accidentally dropped some equipment off-set, making a loud noise. Shouting "I'm all right, I'm all right," the actor saved the take and made comedic history. The stagehand made an extra $10.
  • According to Mr. Gower's telegram, Bedford Falls is in New York state.
  • In one scene, during a run on the bank, George must persuade Bailey Building & Loan depositors not to demand the return of their deposits. This scene takes place about 1932 or 1933, just before the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation were created to prevent such financial catastrophes.
  • The film can still be seen on the big screen in Baltimore, Maryland. Each year, around the second weekend of December, the Senator Theatre shows It's A Wonderful Life and Scrooge (1951 film), as part of a benefit for the Maryland Food Bank. The print is reportedly loaned to the theater by an anonymous film collector.

See also

References

Wikiquote has quotations related to It's a Wonderful Life.
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