Still 'Wonderful' All These Years Later

This post was originally published on FilmAutonomy.com on December 22, 2015. 

5 Reasons ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Still Endures as the Perennial Christmas Classic

In my family, it’s just not Christmas time (apologies to the PC police, but I’m relating this to my own personal holiday experiences) without a certain movie that has always and continues to be a nearly sacred tradition for us…Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life.  I’m fairly certain if you’re reading this, it is likely a part of your holiday traditions as well.  Or you’ve at least caught it on TV in between annual A Christmas Story marathons on TBS. 

I’m fully cognizant that much of my appreciation for the film is rooted in sentimentality.  I understand that much of what it means to me has to do with its incandescent black-and-white images burned into a young, fragile mind like melted candle wax.  There were many Christmas Eves spent tossing and turning, trying to force myself to sleep so Santa would arrive sooner, listening in the darkness to the film’s muffled dialogue from the other side of the door.  Movie memories don’t get much more hallowed than that.      

The film tells the story of exasperated building and loan owner, George Bailey.  We see most of the film from the point-of-view of Clarence, his guardian angel.  As a kid and young man, George had eager dreams of traveling the world, but circumstances (better known as “life”) prevented him from doing so.  He fell in love, got married and had children…then the emergence of World War II kept him busy handling volunteer duties on the home front (in actuality, the war had ended only about fifteen months before the film’s release).  Due to a banking mishap, George finds himself entwined in a potential scandal on Christmas Eve and, at his most desperate hour, he crosses paths with Clarence.  He swears that his family and the town of Bedford Falls as a whole would be better off if he had never been born.  So Clarence works his magic and gives George a glimpse of what exactly that alternate reality would be like if he had never existed. 

After all these years, why do new audiences still find and appreciate It’s a Wonderful Life?  The film was originally a box office flop based on a homemade greeting card.  What is it about the movie that keeps it relevant and close to people’s hearts?  How does it endure passing eras that move further and further away from the earnest simplicity of a place like Bedford Falls? 

Here are five reasons why: 

1.  George Bailey was one of the most relatable (if not always likeable) on-screen protagonists.

Who can forget that moment with the wooden post cap?  We had seen George accidentally yank it off before in the film, but it’s the next-to-last time he does it – he is about to wind up for a pitch and we all know that moment.  We’ve all been there before, ESPECIALLY during the malaise the holidays can bring.  We’ve all had the post cap clenched tightly in our grip before, either figuratively or even literally and still found the last remnants of resolve to walk away.  We see George at his absolute worst (screaming at the kids) and at his best (three times saving someone’s life and his family business with his own honeymoon cash).  But he’s not altogether likeable throughout.  We see him have some clear frenemy moments with his jealousy of Sam Wainwright’s success and he can be downright ornery, particularly with Mary even before the predicament on Christmas Eve.  With a combination of steady direction from Frank Capra that harnessed the precise notes in a vast symphony of emotions and a hit-the-bullseye performance from salt of the Earth everyman Jimmy Stewart (yes, even better here than in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance), they find a way to paint the portrait of George with the finest of brush strokes that don’t illustrate him as saintly or toxic – simply a hard-working family man who has his good days and bad days.  Whether it was our own fathers, uncles, or neighbors, we all grew up with a George Bailey in some capacity.  And it’s why we root for him so much to find a way back home.

2.  Mr. Potter was one of the best on-screen antagonists of all time. 

How miserable and detestable of an old bastard was Bedford Falls’ most notorious miser?  Even the angels in Heaven said he was the “meanest man in the county.”  Not just the town…the county!  Think about that, let that sink in – even the angels, the right hands of God Almighty himself, are in Heaven talking shit about this terrible human being they can’t stand and they probably see some pretty detestable figures on a daily basis!  That’s how awful Henry F. Potter was.  Lionel Barrymore nailed all the right notes to become the living embodiment of selfishness, greed and a total lack of empathy – the antithesis of the core values that defy the heartland of America in places such as the quaint town of Bedford Falls and its primarily blue collar population. 

3.  The film is a perfect genre splice.

It’s a romantic, family-driven Christmas comedy-drama, sure…but there are also strong elements of science fiction, German Expressionism and Film Noir working collectively here.  Clarence essentially teleports George into another dimension (without using that vernacular) to demonstrate the immense impact he had not only on those closest to him, but to just about all the citizens of Bedford Falls.  The third act takes place in this alternate universe, one in which young Harry wasn’t saved by his older brother and Mr. Gowers’ drunken error resulted in tragic consequences that young George had originally averted.  It all has a very Twilight Zone or Outer Limits feel to it.  In this parallel world, we also see many visual techniques typically employed in German Expressionism and Film Noir such as heavy uses of shadows, silhouettes, close-ups and an eerie score that gives this portion of the film a largely macabre, disorienting effect that perfectly hurls the viewer into this desolate, claustrophobic mental landscape alongside George.  It further heightens our terror that he may not find a way to get back.

4.  Despite perfect three-act structure, the film defies many standard screenwriting principles.    

If I booked a meeting for a first-look script deal with producer Megan Ellison and told her I had this great idea for a Christmas dramedy involving parallel dimensions, but the first 109 pages are all flashback portraying the character as a little boy and the main conflict is still another 40 pages away, I’d be thrown out of Annapurna Pictures with physical force.  She would think I was completely insane or at the very least (and worse in Hollywood) an amateur.  While the 47-page first act is just a tad bloated, it can’t be overlooked that this is also why the rest of the film works so well, hugely benefitting the successive acts and story as a whole.  We enjoy serendipitous moments with the players residing within the town (an old Shakespeare device) and it results in why the audience is able to despise Potter so much.  It’s why we feel such ambivalence toward Uncle Billy and, most importantly, why we’re weeping along with George during the bridge scene.  It goes to show that all the formulas, rigid craft techniques and fundamental mechanics are sometimes the very things that need to be defied for the sake of innovation.      

5.  If not WWII, there has always been a crisis each generation of viewership has been able to relate to.

It’s a Wonderful Life was released in 1946, just over a year and change since WWII had ended.  While it’s not at all worthy of any consideration to be called a “war movie,” it’s undeniable that the war is a looming part of the events that unfold.  Remember, the misplaced $8,000 deposit is accidentally folded in a newspaper talking about war hero Harry’s accomplishments that makes its way into Potter’s vile claws.  The film had disappeared for many years into obscurity, only making sporadic appearances on PBS throughout the 1960s (while America was entrenched in Vietnam) before becoming a network television staple in the late 1970s (during a national oil shortage).  

 In the 1980s, our nation found itself in the throes of the Cold War before enduring a 1987 stock market crash and then found itself embattled yet again in the Persian Gulf War to kick off the 1990s.  The tragedies have, sadly, never ended and have ranged from war to terrorist attacks to recessions and staggering unemployment rates to a major housing crisis, multiple mass shootings, and perpetual civil rights issues…there has always been national or global tragedies that people have been able to relate with the film to through their own personal devastation.  In 2001, when people were watching It’s a Wonderful Life, they weren’t seeing WWII; they were seeing the War in Afghanistan’s infancy.  In 2008, when they were watching it, they weren’t seeing the war, rather record numbers of home foreclosures and layoffs in their own neighborhoods.  While the film itself is generally uplifting, it’s the oft-ubiquitous sense of turmoil surrounding us which has served as means of expanding its viewership and relatability, allowing it to seem darkly contemporary. 

While that is undoubtedly saddening, it is also encouraging.  After all, this is a story that ends with George overcoming his plight during his most desperate hour when hope was at its most scarce.  The film celebrates family, friendship and optimism for the future…the way a Christmas tale should. 

Next year marks the 70^th anniversary of It’s a Wonderful Life’s release.  If you’ve never seen it, the movie is DEFINITELY worth your time.  Like George Bailey himself, nearly seven decades later, it’s a classic film that continues to touch the lives of so many others.