Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings!’
Have you watched it this Christmas season? I bet you have. Of course, I am referring to It’s a Wonderful Life, the 1946 movie produced by Liberty Films and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures.
You have seen it, right? No December is complete without Jimmy Stewart gangly running through the streets yelling, ‘Merry Christmas, you old Savings and Loans!’ The movie follows George Bailey, played as a youngster by Bobbie Anderson and as an adult by the incomparable Jimmy Stewart. We follow George on his adventures along with Clarence, his guardian angel – a real angel watching him from Heaven. We are on the pond as George jumps into a hole in the ice to save his brother from drowning. We watch as George meets the love of his life, Mary Hatch. We see him sacrifice over and over for his friends and family. We watch as a young man who dreams of travelling the world instead becomes more rooted into the framework of his hometown.
George lives a good life in Bedford Falls, though not without some strife. He dreams of far-away, exotic places, but never manages to leave. I won’t go into too much detail. We watch as George grows to a young man in charge of the town’s Savings and Loans. He and his family lend money to people who otherwise couldn’t afford good housing. Our movie’s villain is Henry F. Potter, a crotchety old man who owns most of the town and the bank. He sees the town’s less-well-off residents as unsavory and unwanted. He tries multiple times to get George and his family to join him. Without the Savings and Loans, Potter would own the whole town.
Through a series of misfortune, George’s Uncle Billy loses a cash deposit for their business. Potter finds the money and hides it, seeing this as his chance to break George. Of course, this is the day that the bank examiner shows up. Without that deposit, George could end up in jail. He ends up at the bank and pleads with Potter. He needs a loan to cover the shortfall and offers his life insurance policy as collateral. That is when Mr. Potter utters the famous line, “Why, you are worth more dead than you are alive!” With the threat of the police hanging over him, George ends up on a snowy bridge. As he stares into the icy rapids below, he begins to agree with Potter. Maybe everyone would be better off without him.
Enter Clarence, our as-of-yet wingless angel, who splashes down into the water before George can go through with anything. Instead of jumping to his death, George jumps in without hesitation to save Clarence. From here, the two retrace George’s steps from earlier in the day. If George is so convinced that everyone in his life would be better off without him, so be it. George was never born.
Needless to say, things were not good for everyone. Again, I don’t want to give to many details. If you haven’t seen the movie, it is better not to know beforehand. If you love it as I do, you don’t need a recap! Clarence helps George see the error of his ways, and the movie concludes with one of the most heartwarming scenes in movie history.
I highly recommend this holiday classic. Grab a pair of fuzzy pajamas, a cup of hot chocolate, and spend the evening with George, Mary, and the rest of the Bedford Falls gang. I guarantee you will get in the Christmas spirit! I dare you not to shed a tear as the whole town sings Auld Land Syne and Clarence’s bell cheerfully rings! I triple dog dare you! (Sorry, wrong Christmas movie!)
After all, no man is a failure who has friends. Atta boy, Clarence!
From Amazon – Amazon.com It’s a Wonderful Life
Now perhaps the most beloved American film, It’s a Wonderful Life was largely forgotten for years, due to a copyright quirk. Only in the late 1970s did it find its audience through repeated TV showings. Frank Capra’s masterwork deserves its status as a feel-good communal event, but it is also one of the most fascinating films in the American cinema, a multilayered work of Dickensian density. George Bailey (played superbly by James Stewart) grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger (Henry Travers) arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born. The sequence is a vivid depiction of the American Dream gone bad, and probably the wildest thing Capra ever shot (the director’s optimistic vision may have darkened during his experiences making military films in World War II). Capra’s triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and disappointments of life, while affirming–in the teary-eyed final reel–his cherished values of friendship and individual achievement. It’s a Wonderful Life was not a big hit on its initial release, and it won no Oscars (Capra and Stewart were nominated); but it continues to weave a special magic. –Robert Horton
