NFR Project: 'it's a Wonderful Life' (1946)

 

NFR Project: “It’s a Wonderful Life”

Dir: Frank Capra

Scr: Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra, Jo Swerling

Pho: Joseph Walker, Joseph Biroc

Ed: William Hornbeck

Premiere: Dec. 20, 1946

131 min.

This movie’s fate was much like that of its protagonist – it was initially thought a failure, but turned out to be a big success.

When director Frank Capra returned from military duty in World War II, he looked for an inspirational text to adapt. He found Philip Van Doren Stern’s 1939 story “The Greatest Gift,” and set teams of writers to work on it. The result is the most “Capraesque” of his film fables, and his most popular film.

It’s set in beautiful little Bedford Falls, NY, on Christmas Eve. Small-town banker George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) has lost $8,000 of the depositors’ finds and faces the arrival of the bank examiner. Convinced that he will be prosecuted and lose everything, George drives out to a nearby bridge and contemplates throwing himself into the river.

However – the angels have been debating what to do about his dilemma. They review his life – one in which he found his own dreams thwarted over and over as he consistently did the right thing for others. His nemesis, the mean old Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) also schemes to bring him down.

A junior angel, Clarence (Henry Travers) is sent down to Earth to intercede with George and give him hope. Frustrated to the point of despair, George wishes he had never been born. Clarence takes him at his word, and shows him what life would have been like if he had not. The results are terrible – Bedford Falls is now “Pottersville.” Poverty, crime, and corruption abide there; people whose lives George improved are unredeemed, miserable.

George decides he wants to live after all, despite the consequences. He returns home to find that the whole town has chipped in to make up for the lost money. Clarence gets his wings, and George learns that “no man is a failure who has friends.”

This paean to the impact of even an ordinary life is deeply moving, and its message of redemption still resonates.

The movie was unsuccessful initially. In 1974, its copyright lapsed and local stations began programming it. (It was a favorite at my regional public TV station.) Frequent showings led to increased popularity, until it finally became acclaimed as one of the greatest American films.

Its message is grounded in Capra’s populist sentiments, in which ordinary people have superior wisdom to the fat cats, in which democratic values are highly touted, and in which simple human kindness is elevated to saintly status.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: John Henry and the Inky-Poo.