Although a box office failure in 1946, Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life today is a well-loved Christmas classic for many Americans. Combining sentimental nostalgia and tough realism to deliver a popular message of faith in God and faith in basic human decency, the film tells the story of everyman George Bailey (James Stewart), and his desire to escape what he considers the everyday boredom of his hometown, Bedford Falls. Despite his efforts, events conspire against him, forcing him to give up his dreams of travel he stays home to run the family Building and Loan. In the meantime, without realizing it, George becomes a pillar of his community, helping to protect the people of Bedford Falls from Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), a mean, frustrated millionaire. Finally, on Christmas Eve 1946, Potter threatens George with financial ruin. George considers suicide but is rescued by an elderly angel, Clarence Oddbody (Henry Travers). Clarence shows George how much poorer the world would be without him, teaching him that each life touches another, and that no one is a failure as long as one has a friend. The film ends on an exhilarating note as grateful friends bring George all the cash they can scrape together and help him defeat Potter.
It's a Wonderful Life began life as "The Greatest Gift," a short story by Philip Van Doren Stern. Stern had sent it as a Christmas card to his friends, and the story was later published in Good Housekeeping. Charles Koerner, head of production at RKO, purchased the rights to "The Greatest Gift" and hired three writers—Dalton Trumbo, Marc Connelly, and Clifford Odets—to make it into a screenplay. However, they were unable to produce a solid script. Odets's main contribution, it seemed, was to name one of George's children "Zuzu." Knowing that Capra (just out of the army and trying to establish his own production company, Liberty Films) was looking for good material for his first postwar film, Koerner offered it to him. Delighted with the story, Capra bought the film rights and developed a script with writers Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett (Jo Swerling and Dorothy Parker also contributed, although they received no screen credit).
The film Capra crafted from this final script is an artful mixture of nostalgia, light sentimentality, and film noir. Capra makes clear links between George's personal life and national events (for example, the influenza epidemic of 1919, the Roaring Twenties, the GreatDepression, and World War II) that would profoundly and nostalgically resonate with his audience. Although many of these milestones were moments of great trial for the country, he sentimentalized them by depicting his small-town characters as facing these difficulties with courage, pluck, and warmth. For example, during the Depression, we see George and his new bride, Mary (Donna Reed), successfully fend off Potter's attempted takeover of the Building and Loan. In a remarkable example of American virtue, the couple sacrificed their own honeymoon money, loaning it to their worried customers. Later that night, in a warm and endearing scene, Mary arranges a simple, homespun honeymoon complete with a roaring fire, a homemade dinner, and local townspeople crooning "I Love You Truly" outside. By contrast, Capra depicts the world without George as a dark, cold, and pitiless place. Borrowing shooting techniques from the popular film noir genre, he used deep shadows and uncomfortably odd closeups and camera angles to produce the paranoia, distrust, and heartlessness that reigns in a George-less Pottersville.
James Stewart (center) in a scene from the film It's a Wonderful Life.
Considering the film's immense popularity today, it may be hard to believe that it was not a hit with the audiences or critics of 1946, who were not quite ready to accept a dark Christmas story. Furthermore, it was simply too naive in the wake of the Second World War. The film's heartwarming conclusion could not expunge the dark cruelties of Pottersville. Although it was nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award (with Capra and Stewart also receiving nominations), it could not draw enough box office to cover its production costs. Liberty Films went under, and the rights to It's a Wonderful Life reverted to Capra's distributor, RKO. Capra went on to make other films, including State of the Union (1948) and A Pocketful of Miracles (1961), but his career never recovered.
Eventually, RKO sold It's a Wonderful Life to television, where it began to develop a following each Christmas season. By the late 1980s, the film was enormously popular among holiday audiences. With the advent of cable, it could be seen on various networks for practically twenty-four hours a day, generating thousands of dollars in advertising revenue. (Ironically, however, Capra received no royalties, having lost them to RKO with the collapse of Liberty. The situation was later rectified when grateful broadcasters paid him a large sum of money.)
Capra himself called It's a Wonderful Life his favorite of all his films. Most critics also have come to recognize the film as Capra's best and most typical work, although not always without reservations. The New Yorker, for example, grudgingly admitted that "in its own icky, bittersweet way, it's terribly effective."
Further Reading:
Bassinger, Jeanine. The It's a Wonderful Life Book. London, Pavilion, 1986.
Schickel, Richard. The Men Who Made the Movies. New York, Athenum, 1975.
Umphlett, Wiley Lee. Mythmakers of the American Dream: The Nostalgic Vision in Popular Culture. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, Bucknell University Press, and New York, Cornwall Books, 1983.
Willis, Donald C. The Films of Frank Capra. Metuchen, New Jersey, The Scarecrow Press, 1974.
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