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''It's a Wonderful Life'' is a 1946 American
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...
produced and directed by
Frank Capra Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-born American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s ...
, based on the short story and booklet ''
The Greatest Gift "The Greatest Gift" is a 1943 short story written by Philip Van Doren Stern, loosely based on the Charles Dickens 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol'', which became the basis for the film ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946). It was self-published as ...
'', which Philip Van Doren Stern self-published in 1943 and is in turn loosely based on the 1843
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
novella ''
A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas ...
''. The film stars
James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality ...
as George Bailey, a man who has given up his personal dreams in order to help others in his community and whose thoughts of suicide on Christmas Eve bring about the intervention of his
guardian angel A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played a major role in A ...
, Clarence Odbody ( Henry Travers). Clarence shows George all the lives he touched and what the world would be like if he did not exist. Theatrically, the film's break-even point was $6.3 million, about twice the production cost, a figure it did not come close to achieving on its initial release. Because of the film's disappointing sales, Capra was seen by some studios as having lost his ability to produce popular, financially successful films. Although ''It's a Wonderful Life'' initially received mixed reviews and was unsuccessful at the box office, it became a Christmas classic after its copyright lapsed in 1974 and it fell into the public domain, which allowed it to be broadcast without licensing or royalty fees. , ''It's a Wonderful Life'' is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time and among the best Christmas films. It was nominated for five
Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
, including Best Picture, and has been recognized by the
American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...
as one of the 100 best American films ever made. It was No. 11 on the
American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...
's 1998 greatest movie list, No. 20 on its 2007 greatest movie list, and No. 1 on its list of the most inspirational American films of all time. Capra revealed that it was his favorite among the films he directed and that he screened it for his family every Christmas season. It was one of Stewart's favorite films. In 1990, ''It's a Wonderful Life'' was designated as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" and added to the
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
of the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
.


Plot

On
Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...
1945, in Bedford Falls,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
, George Bailey contemplates
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...
. The
prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deifie ...
s of his family and friends reach
Heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
, where
guardian angel A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played a major role in A ...
second class Clarence Odbody is assigned to save George in order to earn his wings. Clarence is shown flashbacks of George's life. He watches 12-year-old George rescue his younger brother Harry from drowning, but become deaf in his left ear. George later prevents the
pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...
, Mr. Gower, from accidentally poisoning a prescription. In 1928, George plans a world tour before college. He is reintroduced to Mary Hatch, who has been enamored with him since childhood. When his father dies suddenly, George postpones his travel to settle the family business, Bailey Brothers Building and Loan. Avaricious board member Henry F. Potter, who controls most of the town, seeks to dissolve it, but the board votes to keep the Building and Loan open if George runs it. George acquiesces and works alongside his uncle Billy, giving his tuition to Harry with the understanding that Harry will run the business when he graduates. Harry returns from college married and with a job offer from his father-in-law, and George resigns himself to running the Building and Loan. George and Mary rekindle their relationship and wed. They witness a run on the bank and use their
honeymoon A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds immediately after their wedding, to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase ...
savings to keep the Building and Loan solvent. Under George, the company establishes Bailey Park, a housing development surpassing Potter's overpriced
slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily ...
s. Potter entices George with a $20,000/year job but, realizing that Potter's true intention is to close the Building and Loan, George rebuffs him. On Christmas Eve 1945, the town prepares a hero's welcome for Harry, a U.S. Navy
fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...
who was awarded the
Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of val ...
for preventing a
kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending ...
attack on a troop transport. Billy goes to Potter's bank to deposit $8,000 of the Building and Loan's money. He taunts Potter with a newspaper headline about Harry, then absentmindedly wraps the cash in Potter's newspaper. Potter finds and keeps the money, while Billy cannot recall how he misplaced it. With a bank examiner reviewing the company's records, George realizes scandal and criminal charges will follow. Fruitlessly retracing Billy's steps, George berates him and takes out his frustration on Mary and their children. George appeals to Potter for a loan, offering his
life insurance Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the dea ...
policy as collateral. Potter scoffs that George is worth more dead than alive, refuses to help, and phones the police. George flees Potter's office, gets drunk at a bar, and prays for help. Suicidal, he goes to a nearby bridge, but before he can jump, Clarence dives into the river and George rescues him. When George wishes he had never been born, Clarence shows George a timeline in which he never existed. Bedford Falls is now Pottersville, an unsavory town occupied by sleazy entertainment venues, crime, and callous people. Mr. Gower was imprisoned for
manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...
because George was not there to stop him from poisoning the prescription. George's mother does not know him. Uncle Billy was institutionalized after the Building and Loan failed. Bailey Park is a cemetery, where George discovers Harry's grave. Without George, Harry drowned as a child, and without Harry to save them, the troops aboard the transport ship were killed. George finds Mary, now a
spinster ''Spinster'' is a term referring to an unmarried woman who is older than what is perceived as the prime age range during which women usually marry. It can also indicate that a woman is considered unlikely to ever marry. The term originally den ...
, and when he claims to be her husband, she screams for the police and George flees. George races back to the bridge and begs Clarence for his life back. The original reality is restored, and a grateful George rushes home to await his arrest. Meanwhile, Mary and Billy have rallied the townspeople, who donate more than enough to cover the missing money. Harry arrives and toasts George as "the richest man in town". Among the donations George finds a copy of '' The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'', a gift from Clarence and inscribed, "Remember, no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings!" When a bell on the
Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...
rings, George's youngest daughter, Zuzu, explains that "every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings." George looks upward smiling and says, "Atta boy, Clarence," and joins everyone in singing "
Auld Lang Syne "Auld Lang Syne" (: note "s" rather than "z") is a popular song, particularly in the English-speaking world. Traditionally, it is sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. By extension, it is also often ...
".


Cast

Famous or memorable uncredited cast members include: *
Jimmy the raven Jimmy (often erroneously credited as Jimmy the Crow) was a raven actor who appeared in more than 1,000 feature films from the 1930s to the 1950s. Profile He first appeared in '' You Can't Take It with You'' in 1938. Director Frank Capra would the ...
as Uncle Billy's pet * Stanley Andrews as Mr. Welch, the teacher's husband * Al Bridge as the Sheriff with the arrest warrant against George * Adriana Caselotti as Singer at Martini's *
Ellen Corby Ellen Hansen Corby (June 3, 1911 – April 14, 1999) was an American actress and screenwriter. She played the role of Esther "Grandma" Walton on the CBS television series '' The Waltons'', for which she won three Emmy Awards. She was also ...
as Bailey Brothers Building & Loan customer, Miss Davis * Dick Elliott as the bald man on his front porch * Charles Halton as the bank examiner, Mr. Carter * Harry Holman as high school principal, Mr. Partridge * Harold Landon as Marty Hatch *
J. Farrell MacDonald John Farrell MacDonald (June 6, 1875 – August 2, 1952) was an American character actor and director. He played supporting roles and occasional leads. He appeared in over 325 films over a four-decade career from 1911 to 1951, and directed fort ...
as the man whose great-grandfather planted the tree George drives into * Mark Roberts as Mickey, the student with the swimming pool floor key *
Carl Switzer Carl may refer to: * Carl, Georgia, city in USA * Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name * Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of ...
as Freddie Othello, the student who unsuccessfully tries to flirt with Mary * Joseph Granby voiced the Angel Joseph *
Moroni Olsen Moroni Olsen (June 27, 1889November 22, 1954) was an American actor. Life and career Olsen was born in Ogden, Utah to Latter-day Saint parents Edward Arenholt Olsen and Martha ( Hoverholst) Olsen, who named him after the Moroni found in the ...
voiced the Senior Angel; *
Tom Fadden Tom Fadden (January 6, 1895 – April 14, 1980) was an American actor. He performed on the legitimate stage, vaudeville, in films and on television during his long career. Early life Fadden was born in Bayard, Iowa, on January 6, 1895; his fathe ...
as the bridge tollhouse keeper


Production


Background

The original story, ''
The Greatest Gift "The Greatest Gift" is a 1943 short story written by Philip Van Doren Stern, loosely based on the Charles Dickens 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol'', which became the basis for the film ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946). It was self-published as ...
'', was written by Philip Van Doren Stern in November 1939. After it was rejected by several publishers, he had it printed as a 24-page pamphlet and mailed to 200 family members and friends for Christmas 1943.Ervin, Kathleen A
"Some Kind of Wonderful"
. ''Failure Magazine'' (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2007.
The story came to the attention of either
Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one of ...
or RKO producer David Hempstead, who showed it to Grant's agent. In April 1944,
RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...
bought the rights to the story for $10,000, hoping to turn it into a vehicle for Grant. Dalton Trumbo, Clifford Odets, and Marc Connelly each worked on versions of the screenplay before RKO shelved the project. In Trumbo's draft, George Bailey is an idealistic politician who grows more cynical as the story progresses, then tries to commit suicide after losing an election. The angel shows him Bedford Falls not as it would be if he had never been born, but if he had gone into business instead of politics. Grant went on to make another Christmas movie staple, ''
The Bishop's Wife ''The Bishop's Wife'' (also known as ''Cary and the Bishop's Wife'') is a 1947 American romantic comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven. The plot is about an angel who helps a bishop with his ...
''. RKO studio chief Charles Koerner urged Frank Capra to read "The Greatest Gift". Capra's new production company, Liberty Films, had a nine-film distribution agreement with RKO. Capra immediately saw its potential, and wanted it for his first Hollywood film after making documentaries and training films during the war. RKO sold Capra the rights for $10,000 and threw in the three earlier scripts for free. (Capra claimed the rights and the scripts cost him $50,000.) Capra salvaged a few scenes from Odets' earlier screenplay and worked with writers Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, Jo Swerling, Michael Wilson, and
Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. From a conflicted and unhap ...
(brought in to "polish" the script), on many drafts of the screenplay. It was not a harmonious collaboration. Goodrich called Capra "that horrid man" and recalled, "He couldn't wait to get writing it himself." Her husband, Albert Hackett, said, "We told him what we were going to do, and he said 'That sounds fine.' We were trying to move the story along and work it out, and then somebody told us that apraand Jo Swerling were working on it together, and that sort of took the guts out of it. Jo Swerling was a very close friend of ours, and when we heard he was doing this we felt rather bad about it. We were getting near the end and word came that Capra wanted to know how soon we'd be finished. So my wife said, 'We're finished right now.' We quickly wrote out the last scene and we never saw him again after that. He's a very arrogant son of a bitch."McBride, Joseph. "Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success." Univ. Press of Mississippi. 2011 Later, a dispute ensued over the writing credits. The final screenplay, renamed by Capra ''It's a Wonderful Life'', was credited to Goodrich, Hackett, and Capra, with "additional scenes" by Jo Swerling. Capra said, "The Screen Writers' Arbitration committee decided that Hackett and Goodrich and I should get the credit for the writing. Jo Swerling hasn't talked to me since. That was five years ago." Some in
Seneca Falls, New York Seneca Falls is a town in Seneca County, New York, United States. The population was 8,942 at the 2020 census. The Town of Seneca Falls contains the former village also called Seneca Falls. The town is east of Geneva, New York, in the nor ...
, believe Capra was inspired to model Bedford Falls after the town following a visit in 1945. The town has an annual "It's a Wonderful Life Festival" on the second weekend in December. On December 10, 2010, the "It's a Wonderful Life" Museum opened in Seneca Falls, with Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu in the movie, cutting the ribbon. However, film historian
Jeanine Basinger Jeanine Basinger (born 3 February 1936, in Ravenden, AR), a film historian, retired in 2020 as the Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies and Founder and Curator of The Cinema Archives at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut. Education B ...
, curator of the Frank Capra archives at Wesleyan University and author of ''The 'It's A Wonderful Life' Book'', has said no evidence exists for Seneca Falls' claim. "I have been through every piece of paper in Frank Capra's diaries, his archives, everything. There's no evidence of any sort whatsoever to support this. That doesn't mean it isn't true, but no one is ever going to prove it." Basinger said that Capra always described Bedford Falls as an "Everytown". Philip Van Doren Stern said in a 1946 interview, "Incidentally, the movie takes place in
Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...
. Actually, the town I had in mind was Califon, N.J." The historic iron bridge in Califon is similar to the bridge that George Bailey considered jumping from in the movie.


Casting

In his autobiography, Capra recalled: "Of all actors' roles I believe the most difficult is the role of a Good Sam who doesn't know that he is a Good Sam. I knew one man who could play it ... James Stewart. ... I spoke to Lew Wasserman, the MCA agent who handled Jimmy, told him I wanted to tell Jimmy the story. Wasserman said Stewart would gladly play the part without hearing the story." Stewart and Capra had previously collaborated on '' You Can't Take It with You'' (1938) and '' Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' (1939).
Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics. Born and ra ...
, Stewart's best friend, was also considered.Greene, Liz. ''Blockbuster Inc''. Retrieved August 2, 2011.Cox 2003, p. 6. Both actors had returned from the war with no employment prospects. Fonda, however, was cast in John Ford's ''
My Darling Clementine ''My Darling Clementine'' is a 1946 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp during the period leading up to the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The ensemble cast also features Victor Mature (as Doc Hol ...
'' (1946), which was filmed at the same time that Capra shot ''It's a Wonderful Life.'' For 17 supporting roles in the film, Capra considered more than 170 established actors. Jean Arthur, Stewart's co-star in ''You Can't Take It With You'' and ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,'' was first offered the role of Mary, but had recently dropped out of the Broadway show '' Born Yesterday'' from exhaustion shortly before its premiere. Capra next considered
Olivia de Havilland Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. ...
, Martha Scott,
Ann Dvorak Ann Dvorak (born Anna McKim; August 2, 1911 – December 10, 1979) was an American stage and film actress. Asked how to pronounce her adopted surname, she told ''The Literary Digest'' in 1936: "My fake name is properly pronounced ''vor'shack ...
, and Ginger Rogers before borrowing Donna Reed from MGM. Rogers turned it down because she considered it "too bland". In chapter 26 of her autobiography ''Ginger: My Story'', she questioned her decision by asking her readers: "Foolish, you say?" A long list of actors was considered for the role of Potter (originally named Herbert Potter): Edward Arnold, Charles Bickford,
Edgar Buchanan William Edgar Buchanan II (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the ''Petticoat Junction'', ''Green Acres'', and ''The ...
, Louis Calhern, Victor Jory,
Raymond Massey Raymond Hart Massey (August 30, 1896 – July 29, 1983) was a Canadian actor, known for his commanding, stage-trained voice. For his lead role in '' Abe Lincoln in Illinois'' (1940), Massey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Amo ...
, Thomas Mitchell, and
Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...
. Lionel Barrymore, who eventually was cast, was a famous
Ebenezer Scrooge Ebenezer Scrooge () is the protagonist of Charles Dickens's 1843 novella '' A Christmas Carol''. At the beginning of the novella, Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas. The tale of his redemption by three spirits (the Ghos ...
in radio dramatizations of ''
A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas ...
'' at the time, and was a natural choice for the role. Barrymore had also worked with Capra and Stewart on Capra's 1938 Best Picture Oscar winner, '' You Can't Take It with You''. Before Capra decided on Ward Bond as Bert, he also considered
Sam Levene Sam Levene (born Scholem Lewin; August 28, 1905 – December 28, 1980) was a Russian Empire-born American Broadway, film, radio, and television actor and director. In a career spanning over five decades, he appeared in over 50 comedy and dr ...
, Barton MacLane,
Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...
, John Alexander and
Irving Bacon Irving Bacon (born Irving Von Peters; September 6, 1893 – February 5, 1965) was an American character actor who appeared in almost 500 films. Early years Bacon was the son of entertainers Millar Bacon and Myrtle Vane. He was born in St. Jos ...
for the role. H. B. Warner, who was cast as the drugstore owner Mr. Gower, had studied medicine before going into acting. He was also in some of Capra's other films, including '' Mr. Deeds Goes to Town'', ''
Lost Horizon ''Lost Horizon'' is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. The book was turned into a film, also called '' Lost Horizon'', in 1937 by director Frank Capra. It is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamaser ...
'', '' You Can't Take It with You'', and '' Mr. Smith Goes to Washington''. In the silent era, he had played the role of
Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...
in Cecil B. DeMille's ''
The King of Kings King of Kings; grc-gre, Βασιλεὺς Βασιλέων, Basileùs Basiléōn; hy, արքայից արքա, ark'ayits ark'a; sa, महाराजाधिराज, Mahārājadhirāja; ka, მეფეთ მეფე, ''Mepet mepe'' ...
'' (1927). The name Gower came from Capra's employer
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
, which had been located on Gower Street for many years. Also on Gower Street was a drugstore that was a favorite for the studio's employees. Charles Williams, who was cast as Eustace Bailey, and Mary Treen, who was cast as Matilda "Tilly" Bailey, were both B-list actors, having appeared in 90 films each before ''It's a Wonderful Life''.
Jimmy the raven Jimmy (often erroneously credited as Jimmy the Crow) was a raven actor who appeared in more than 1,000 feature films from the 1930s to the 1950s. Profile He first appeared in '' You Can't Take It with You'' in 1938. Director Frank Capra would the ...
(Uncle Billy's pet) appeared in ''You Can't Take It with You'' and each subsequent Capra film.Cox 2003, p. 24.


Filming

''It's a Wonderful Life'' was shot at
RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...
Studios in
Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...
, and the 89-acre RKO
movie ranch A movie ranch is a ranch that is at least partially dedicated for use as a set in the creation and production of motion pictures and television shows. These were developed in the United States in southern California, because of the climate. The ...
in Encino, where "Bedford Falls" was adapted from Oscar-winning sets originally designed by art director Max Ree for the 1931 epic film '' Cimarron''. Covering 4 acres (1.6 ha), the town consisted of a main street stretching 300 yards (three city blocks) with 75 stores and buildings, and a residential neighborhood. Capra added a tree-lined center parkway, built a working bank set, and planted 20 full-grown oak trees. Pigeons, cats, and dogs were allowed to roam the mammoth set to give the "town" a lived-in feel. Due to the requirements of filming in an "alternate reality", as well as different seasons, the exterior set was extremely adaptable. RKO studio's head of special effects, Russell Shearman, developed a new compound using water, soap flakes, foamite, and sugar to create "chemical snow" for the film. Before then, movie snow was usually made from untoasted cornflakes, which were so loud when stepped on that dialogue had to be redubbed afterwards. Filming started on April 15, 1946, and wrapped on July 27, 1946, exactly on deadline for the 90-day principal photography schedule. Only two locations from the film survive. The first, the swimming pool that was unveiled during the high-school dance sequence, is located in the gymnasium at Beverly Hills High School and is still in use . The second is the "Martini home" in
La Cañada Flintridge, California La Cañada Flintridge, commonly known as "La Cañada" (Spanish for "The Canyon"), is a city in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountains in Los Angeles County, California. Located in the Crescenta Valley, in the western edge of Southern Califor ...
. RKO's movie ranch in Encino was razed in 1954. The scene where young George saves his brother Harry from drowning was different in an early draft of the script. The boys play ice hockey on the river (which is on Potter's property) as Potter watches with disdain. George shoots the puck, but it goes astray and breaks the "No Trespassing" sign and lands in Potter's yard. Potter becomes irate and his gardener releases attack dogs, which cause the boys to flee. Harry falls in the ice and George saves him with the same results. In another draft, after he unsuccessfully attempts to consult his father about Mr. Gower and the pills, George considers asking Uncle Billy, but he is on the phone with the bank examiner. Billy lights his cigar and throws his match in the wastebasket. George turns to Tilly (who, along with Eustace, are his cousins, although not Billy's kids), but she is on the phone with her friend, Martha. She says, "Potter's here, the bank examiner's coming. It's a day of judgment." The wastebasket suddenly catches fire and Billy cries for help. Tilly runs in and puts the fire out with a pot of coffee. George decides to deal with the Gower situation by himself. According to Bobbie Anderson, in the confrontation between Mr. Gower and young George, H. B. Warner slapped him for real and made his ear bleed, reducing him to tears. Warner hugged him after the scene was shot. Composer
Dimitri Tiomkin Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (, ; May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a Russian-born American film composer and conductor. Classically trained in St. Petersburg, Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution, he moved to Berlin and then New York Ci ...
had written "Death Telegram" and "Gower's Deliverance" for the drugstore sequence, but Capra elected to forgo music in those scenes. Tiomkin had worked on many of Capra's previous films, but those changes, and others, led to a falling out between the two men. Tiomkin felt as though his work was being seen as a mere suggestion. In his autobiography ''Please Don't Hate Me'', he called the incident, "an all around scissors job".Willian 2006, p. 15. In the scene where Uncle Billy gets drunk at Harry and Ruth's welcome home/newlyweds' party and staggers away off camera, a crash is heard off screen. Mitchell, as Uncle Billy, yells, "I'm all right! I'm all right!", implying that Uncle Billy had knocked into some trash cans. A technician had actually knocked over some equipment; Capra left in Mitchell's impromptu ad lib and rewarded the technician with $10 (equal to $141.84 in 2021), thanking him for his 'sound improvement'. According to rare stills that have been unearthed, several sequences were filmed but subsequently cut.Cox 2003, p. 15. Alternative endings were also considered. Capra's first script had Bailey fall to his knees to recite "The Lord's Prayer" (the script also called for an opening scene with the townspeople in prayer). Feeling that an overly religious tone undermined the emotional impact of the family and friends rushing to George's rescue, the closing scenes were rewritten. Capra found the film's original cinematographer
Victor Milner Victor Milner, A.S.C. (December 15, 1893 – October 29, 1972) (sometimes Victor Miller) was an American cinematographer. He was nominated for ten cinematography Academy Awards, winning once for 1934 ''Cleopatra''. Milner worked on more than 130 ...
slow and pretentious, and hired Joseph Walker. When
Harry Cohn Harry Cohn (July 23, 1891 – February 27, 1958) was a co-founder, president, and production director of Columbia Pictures Corporation. Life and career Cohn was born to a working-class Jewish family in New York City. His father, Joseph Cohn, w ...
demanded that Walker return to
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
to shoot a film for one of the studio's female stars, Walker trained Joseph Biroc to be his replacement. Although working with three cinematographers was difficult for Capra, in Walker's opinion it turned out very well because the scenes each cinematographer shot were so different that they did not have to match each other's visual styles.


Reception


Critical response

According to a 2006 book, "A spate of movies appeared just after the ending of the Second World War, including ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946) and ''
Stairway to Heaven "Stairway to Heaven" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971. It was composed by the band's guitarist Jimmy Page and lead singer Robert Plant for their untitled fourth studio album (often titled ''Led Zeppelin IV'') ...
'' (1946), perhaps tapping into so many people's experience of loss of loved ones and offering a kind of consolation." ''It's a Wonderful Life'' premiered at the
Globe Theatre The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend, and ...
in New York City on December 20, 1946, to mixed reviews. While Capra thought the contemporary critical reviews were either universally negative, or at best dismissive, ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'' 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."
Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
, writing for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', complimented some of the actors, including Stewart and Reed, but concluded, "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, which went into general release on January 7, 1947, placed 26th ($3.3 million) in box-office revenues for 1947 (out of more than 400 features released), one place ahead of another Christmas film, ''
Miracle on 34th Street ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (initially released as ''The Big Heart'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1947 American Christmas comedy-drama film released by 20th Century Fox, written and directed by George Seaton and based on a story by Valentine Davi ...
''. The film was supposed to be released in January 1947, but was moved up to December 1946 to make it eligible for the 19th Academy Awards held in March 1947. This move was seen as worse for the film, as 1947 did not have quite the stiff competition as 1946. If it had entered the 1947 awards, its strongest competitor would have been ''Miracle on 34th Street''. The number-one grossing movie of 1947, ''The Best Years of Our Lives'', made $11.5 million. The film recorded a loss of $525,000 at the box office for RKO.Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, ''The RKO Story''. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p215 On May 26, 1947, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice ...
issued a memo stating, "With regard to the picture ''It's a Wonderful Life'', edactedstated in substance that the film represented rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a 'scrooge-type' so that he would be the most hated man in the picture. This, according to these sources, is a common trick used by Communists. naddition, edactedstated that, in his opinion, this picture deliberately maligned the upper class, attempting to show the people who had money were mean and despicable characters." Film historian Andrew Sarris observed as "curious" that "the censors never noticed that the villainous Mr. Potter gets away with robbery without being caught or punished in any way".Sarris, 1998. p. 356 In 1990, ''It's a Wonderful Life'' was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
and selected for preservation in their
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...
. In 2002,
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
in the United Kingdom ranked ''It's a Wonderful Life'' as the seventh-greatest film ever made in its poll "The 100 Greatest Films". The channel airs the film to British viewers annually on Christmas Eve. In June 2008, AFI revealed its '' 10 Top 10'', the best 10 films in 10 "classic" American film genres, after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. ''It's a Wonderful Life'' was acknowledged as the third-best film in the fantasy genre. Somewhat more iconoclastic views of the film and its contents are occasionally expressed. In his review for ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
'' in 1947, film critic
Manny Farber Emanuel Farber (February 20, 1917 – August 18, 2008) was an American painter, film critic and writer. Often described as "iconoclastic",Grimes, William (August 19, 2008) ''New York Times''Kiderra, Inga (August 21, 2008Obituary: Artist and Crit ...
wrote, "To make his points, apraalways takes an easy, simple-minded path that doesn't give much credit to the intelligence of the audience", and adds that it has only a "few unsentimental moments here and there". Wendell Jamieson, in a 2008 article for ''The New York Times'' which was generally positive in its analysis of the film, observing that far from being simply a sweetly sentimental tale, it "is a terrifying, asphyxiating story about growing up and relinquishing your dreams, of seeing your father driven to the grave before his time, of living among bitter, small-minded people. It is a story of being trapped, of compromising, of watching others move ahead and away, of becoming so filled with rage that you verbally abuse your children, their teacher, and your oppressively perfect wife." In a 2010 essay for ''
Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ( ...
'', Richard Cohen described ''It's a Wonderful Life'' as "the most terrifying Hollywood film ever made". In the "Pottersville" sequence, he wrote, George Bailey is not seeing the world that would exist had he never been born, but rather "the world as it does exist, in his time and also in our own". Nine years earlier, another ''Salon'' writer, Gary Kamiya, had expressed the opposing view that "Pottersville ''rocks!''", adding: "The gauzy, Currier-and-Ives veil Capra drapes over Bedford Falls has prevented viewers from grasping what a tiresome and, frankly, toxic environment it is ... We all live in Pottersville now." The film's elevation to the status of a beloved classic came three decades after its initial release, when it became a television staple during Christmas season in 1976. This came as a welcome surprise to Frank Capra and others involved with its production. "It's the damnedest thing I've ever seen", Capra told ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' 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."Cox 2003, p. 11. In a 1946 interview, Capra described the film's theme as "the individual's belief in himself" and that he made it "to combat a modern trend toward atheism". It ranked 283rd among critics, and 107th among directors, in the 2012 ''Sight & Sound'' polls of the greatest films ever made. The film's positive reception has continued. On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 94% based on 85 reviews, with an average rating of 9.00/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The holiday classic to define all holiday classics, ''It's a Wonderful Life'' is one of a handful of films worth an annual viewing." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a score 89 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Many filmmakers have praised the film, ranging from
Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...
,
Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...
,
Frank Darabont Frank Árpád Darabont (born Ferenc Árpád Darabont, January 28, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. In his early career, he was primarily a ...
and
David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...
. Spielberg once said of the film: "''It’s a Wonderful Life'' shows that every human being on this Earth matters -- and that’s a very powerful message."
Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
played Mr. Potter in the made-for-television remake ''
It Happened One Christmas ''It Happened One Christmas'' is a 1977 American made-for-television Christmas fantasy-comedy-drama film directed by Donald Wrye, starring Marlo Thomas, Wayne Rogers, Orson Welles, and Cloris Leachman. It originally premiered as ''The ABC Sunday ...
''; when asked by Henry Jaglom what he thought of the movie, Welles said, "There's no way of hating that movie".


Awards and honors

Prior to its Los Angeles release, Liberty Films mounted an extensive promotional campaign that included a daily advertisement highlighting one of the film's players, along with comments from reviewers.
Jimmy Starr Jimmy Starr (3 February 1904 – August 13, 1990) was an American screenwriter and columnist. Starr worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood during the 1930s. From the 1940s he worked as a film writer and columnist, providing reviews and insight ...
wrote, "If I were an Oscar, I'd elope with ''It's a Wonderful Life'' lock, stock and barrel on the night of the Academy Awards". The ''New York Daily Times'' published an editorial that declared the film and James Stewart's performance to be worthy of Academy Award consideration. ''It's a Wonderful Life'' received five
Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
nominations:"The 19th Academy Awards (1947) Nominees and Winners"
. ''oscars.org''. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
''The Best Years of Our Lives'', a drama about servicemen attempting to return to their pre-World War II lives, won most of the awards that year, including four of the five for which ''It's a Wonderful Life'' was nominated. (The award for "Best Sound Recording" was won by '' The Jolson Story''.) ''The Best Years of Our Lives,'' directed by
William Wyler William Wyler (; born Willi Wyler (); July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a Swiss-German-American film director and producer who won the Academy Award for Best Director three times, those being for '' Mrs. Miniver'' (1942), '' The Best Years o ...
, Capra's business partner along with
George Stevens George Cooper Stevens (December 18, 1904 – March 8, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer.Obituary '' Variety'', March 12, 1975, page 79. Films he produced were nominated for the Academy Award for ...
in Liberty Films, was also an outstanding commercial success, ultimately becoming the highest-grossing film of the decade, in contrast to the more modest initial box-office returns of ''It's a Wonderful Life''. ''It's a Wonderful Life'' received a
Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...
for Capra as Best Motion Picture Director. He also won a "CEC Award" from the Cinema Writers Circle in
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
, for ''Mejor Película Extranjera'' (Best Foreign Film). Jimmy Hawkins won a "Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement Award" from the
Young Artist Awards The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...
in 1994; the award recognized his role as Tommy Bailey as igniting his career, which lasted until the mid-1960s.


Release


Ownership and copyright issues

Liberty Films was purchased by
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
, and remained a subsidiary until 1951. In 1955, M. & A. Alexander purchased the movie. This included key rights to the original television syndication, the original nitrate film elements, the music score, and the film rights to the story on which the film is based, ''
The Greatest Gift "The Greatest Gift" is a 1943 short story written by Philip Van Doren Stern, loosely based on the Charles Dickens 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol'', which became the basis for the film ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946). It was self-published as ...
''. National Telefilm Associates took over the rights to the film soon thereafter. A clerical error at NTA prevented the copyright from being renewed properly in 1974. Despite the lapsed copyright, television stations that aired it still had to pay royalties because—though the film's images had entered the public domain—the film's story was still restricted as a
derivative work In copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major copyrightable elements of an original, previously created first work (the underlying work). The derivative work becomes a second, separate work independent in ...
of the published story ''The Greatest Gift'', whose copyright Philip Van Doren Stern had renewed in 1971.Cox 2003, p. 115. The film became a perennial holiday favorite in the 1980s, possibly due to its repeated showings each holiday season on hundreds of local television stations. It was mentioned during the deliberations on the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998. In 1993,
Republic Pictures Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City a ...
, which was the successor to NTA, relied on the 1990 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in ''
Stewart v. Abend ''Stewart v. Abend'', 495 U.S. 207 (1990), was a United States Supreme Court decision holding that a successor copyright owner (one who obtains ownership later on, such as the heirs of a copyright owner who dies) has the exclusive right to permit ...
'' (which involved another Stewart film, ''
Rear Window ''Rear Window'' is a 1954 American mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder". Originally released by Paramount Pictures, the film st ...
'') to enforce its claim to the copyright. While the film's copyright had not been renewed, Republic still owned the film rights to ''The Greatest Gift''; thus, the plaintiffs were able to argue its status as a derivative work of a work still under copyright."Notes for 'It's a Wonderful Life'"
Retrieved October 29, 2011. ''TCM Movie Database'', 2010. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
That year, Republic made a deal with
Turner Broadcasting System Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (lat ...
, authorizing only three airings of the movie, all on cable's TNT and TBS. However, the studio's attempt to reassert control was widely ignored since there were still some existing distribution deals that Republic had to honor. In 1994, the studio sold exclusive television rights to NBC. "We're thrilled that we will have the opportunity to broadcast this picture," said NBC Entertainment President Warren Littlefield at the time. "We will broadcast the original director's cut in black and white, full-length, the way Frank Capra intended this picture to be seen." NBC traditionally shows it during the holidays after Thanksgiving and on Christmas Eve. Paramount (via parent company Viacom's 1998 acquisition of Republic's then-parent,
Spelling Entertainment Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes (writing system) to represent a language in its written form. In other words, spelling is the rendering of speech sound (phoneme) into writing (grapheme). Spelling is one ...
) once again has distribution rights for the first time since 1955. Due to all the above actions, this is one of the few RKO films not controlled by
Turner Entertainment Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner in 1986. Purchased by Time Warner in 1996 as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing th ...
/ Warner Bros. in the US. It is also one of two Capra films Paramount owns despite not having originally released it—the other is ''
Broadway Bill ''Broadway Bill'' is a 1934 American comedy-drama film directed by Frank Capra and starring Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy. Screenplay by Robert Riskin and based on the short story "Strictly Confidential" by Mark Hellinger, the film is about a ...
'' (originally from
Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...
, remade by Paramount as '' Riding High'' in 1950).


Colorization

Director Capra met with Wilson Markle about having Colorization Inc.
colorize Film colorization (American English; or colourisation [British English], or colourization [Canadian English and Oxford English]) is any process that adds color to black-and-white, sepia, or other monochrome moving-picture imag ...
''It's a Wonderful Life'' based on an enthusiastic response to the colorization of '' Topper'' from actor Cary Grant. The company's art director, Brian Holmes, prepared 10 minutes of colorized footage from ''It's a Wonderful Life'' for Capra to view, which resulted in Capra signing a contract with Colorization Inc., and his "enthusiastic agree
ent Ents are a species of beings in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world Middle-earth who closely resemble trees; their leader is Treebeard of Fangorn forest. Their name is derived from an Old English word for giant. The Ents appear in ''The Lor ...
to pay half the $260,000 cost of colorizing the movie and to share any profits" and giving "preliminary approval to making similar color versions of two of his other black-and-white films, ''
Meet John Doe ''Meet John Doe'' is a 1941 American comedy-drama film directed and produced by Frank Capra, written by Robert Riskin, and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The film is about a "grassroots" political campaign created unwittingly by ...
'' (1941) and '' Lady for a Day'' (1933)". However, the film was believed to be in the public domain at the time, and as a result, Markle and Holmes responded by returning Capra's initial investment, eliminating his financial participation, and refusing outright to allow the director to exercise artistic control over the colorization of his films, leading Capra to join in the campaign against the process. Three colorized versions have been produced. The first was released by
Hal Roach Studios Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and television production studio. Known as ''The Laugh Factory to the World'', it was founded by producer Hal Roach and business partners Dan Linthicum and I.H. Nance as the Rolin Film Company on Ju ...
in 1986. The second was authorized and produced by the film's permanent owner, Republic Pictures, in 1989. Both Capra and Stewart took a critical stand on the colorized editions. The Hal Roach color version was re-released in 1989 to VHS via
Video Treasures Anchor Bay Entertainment (formerly Video Treasures and Starmaker Entertainment) was an American home entertainment and production company. It was a subsidiary of Starz Inc. Anchor Bay Entertainment marketed and sold feature films, television ser ...
. A third, computer-colorized version was produced by
Legend Films Legend Films is a San Diego-based company founded in August 2001. The company specializes in the conversion of feature films, both new release and catalog titles, and commercials from their native 2D format into 3-D film format utilizing proprietar ...
in 2007 and has been released on DVD, Blu-ray, and streaming services.


Home media


VHS

Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, when the film was still under public domain status, ''It's a Wonderful Life'' was released on VHS by a variety of home video companies. Among the companies that released the film on home video before Republic Pictures stepped in were Meda Video (which would later become Media Home Entertainment), Kartes Video Communications (under its Video Film Classics label),
GoodTimes Home Video GoodTimes Entertainment, Ltd. was an American home video company that originated in 1984 under the name of GoodTimes Home Video. Though it produced its own titles, the company was well known due to its distribution of media from third parties and ...
, and Video Treasures (now Anchor Bay Entertainment). After Republic reclaimed the rights to the film, all unofficial VHS copies of the film still in the hands of video distributors were supposed to have been destroyed. Artisan Entertainment (under license from Republic) took over home video rights in the mid-1990s. Artisan was later sold to
Lions Gate Entertainment Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...
, which continued to hold US home video rights until late 2005, when they reverted to Paramount, which also owns video rights throughout Region 4 (
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...
and
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
) and in
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. Video rights in the rest of the world are held by different companies; for example, the UK rights were once with
Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
, but have since reverted to Paramount.


Technological first: CD-ROM

In 1993, due in part to the confusion of the ownership and copyright issues,
Kinesoft Kinesoft Development Corporation was a British video game development company founded by Peter Sills in 1991. Mark Achler joined the company in 1994 to serve as president. Along with Director of Technology, Andrew Glaister, Sills developed the co ...
Development, with the support of Republic Pictures, released ''It's a Wonderful Life'' as one of the first commercial feature-length films on
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both com ...
for the Windows PC (
Windows 3.1 Windows 3.1 is a major release of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992, as a successor to Windows 3.0. Like its predecessors, the Windows 3.1 series ran as a shell on top of MS-DOS. Codenamed Janus, Windows ...
). Antedating commercial DVDs by several years, it included such features as the ability to follow along with the complete shooting script as the film was playing. Given the state of video playback on the PC at the time of its release, ''It's a Wonderful Life'' for Windows represented another milestone, as the longest-running video on a computer. Prior to its release, Windows could play back only about 32,000 frames of video, or about 35 minutes at 15 frames per second. Working with Microsoft, Kinesoft was able to enhance the video features of Windows to allow for the complete playback of the entire film—all of this on a PC with a 486SX processor and 8 MB of RAM. ''
Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly throug ...
'' said in April 1994, "The picture quality still has a way to go before it reaches television standards", but was "a noble effort" that would "please fans of the film".


DVD and Blu-ray

The film has seen multiple DVD releases since the availability of the format. In the autumn of 2001, Republic issued the film twice, once in August, and again with different packaging in September of that same year. On October 31, 2006, Paramount released a newly remastered "60th Anniversary Edition". On November 13, 2007, Paramount released a two-disc "special edition" DVD of the film that contained both the original theatrical black-and-white version, and a new, third colorized version, produced by
Legend Films Legend Films is a San Diego-based company founded in August 2001. The company specializes in the conversion of feature films, both new release and catalog titles, and commercials from their native 2D format into 3-D film format utilizing proprietar ...
using the latest colorization technology. On November 3, 2009, Paramount re-released the previous DVD set as a "Collector's Edition" and debuted a
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
edition, also containing both versions of the film.


Restoration

In 2017, the film was restored in
4K resolution 4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 38402160 (4K UHD) is the domi ...
, available via streaming services and DCP.


4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

On October 29, 2019, the film was released for the first time on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, along with digital copy featuring a new
Dolby Vision Dolby Vision is a set of technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories for high dynamic range (HDR) video. It covers content creation, distribution, and playback. It includes dynamic metadata that are used to adjust and optimize each frame of the ...
transfer.


Adaptations in other media

The film was twice adapted for
radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30  hertz (Hz) and 300  gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...
in 1947, first on '' Lux Radio Theater'' (March 10) and then on '' the Screen Guild Theater'' (December 29), then again on the ''Screen Guild Theater'' broadcast of March 15, 1951. James Stewart and Donna Reed reprised their roles for all three radio productions. Stewart also starred in the May 8, 1949 radio adaptation presented on the '' Screen Directors Playhouse''. A musical stage adaptation of the film, titled '' A Wonderful Life'', was written by
Sheldon Harnick Sheldon Mayer Harnick (born April 30, 1924) is an American lyricist and songwriter best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on musicals such as ''Fiorello!'' and '' Fiddler on the Roof''. Early life Sheldon Mayer Harnick was ...
and Joe Raposo. This version was first performed at the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
in 1986, but a planned professional production was stalled by legal wrangling with the estate of Philip Van Doren Stern. It was eventually performed in
Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morg ...
, by
Arena Stage Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest, Washington, D.C. Established in 1950, it was the first racially integrated theater in Washington, D.C. and its founders helped start the U.S. regional theater movement. It is ...
in 1991, and had revivals in the 21st century, including a staged concert version in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in 2005 and several productions by regional theatres. Another musical stage adaptation of the film, titled ''It's a Wonderful Life – The Musical'', was written by Bruce Greer and Keith Ferguson. This version premiered at the
Majestic Theatre Majestic Theatre or Majestic Theater may refer to: Australia * Majestic Theatre, Adelaide, former name of a theatre in King William Street, Adelaide, built 1916, now demolished * Majestic Theatre, Launceston, a former cinema in Tasmania designed ...
,
Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, in 1998. It was an annual Christmas show at the theater for five years. It has since been performed at venues all around the United States. In July 2019, it was revealed that another stage musical adaptation was in development with music and lyrics by
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
(making his musical theatre debut), lyrics and book by Lee Hall and produced by
Bill Kenwright William Kenwright, CBE (born 4 September 1945) is an English West End theatre producer and film producer. He has also been the chairman of Everton Football Club since 2004. Kenwright was born in Liverpool and attended Booker Avenue County Pri ...
. The musical was set to debut late 2020, but is still yet to be announced. A 1986 skit on ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...
'' features
William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship ''Enterpris ...
introducing the "lost ending" of ''It's a Wonderful Life'' in which George Bailey (
Dana Carvey Dana Thomas Carvey (born June 2, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, impressionist, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his seven seasons as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1986 to 1993, which earned him fiv ...
) and the citizens of Bedford Falls discover that Mr. Potter ( Jon Lovitz) has stolen George's money and take turns beating him up in his office. In 1992, the final episode of ''
Tiny Toon Adventures ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' is an American animated comedy television series that was broadcast from September 14, 1990, to December 6, 1992. It was the first collaborative effort of Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Animation a ...
'' parodied ''It's A Wonderful Life'' entitled "It's A Wonderful Tiny Toon Christmas". In it, Buster Bunny feels sad after the failure of his play and wishes he had never become a Tiny Toon, so a guardian angel shows Buster what life would have been like without him. The film was also adapted into a play in two acts by James W. Rodgers. It was first performed on December 15, 1993, at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. The play opens with George Bailey contemplating suicide and then goes back through major moments in his life. Many of the scenes from the movie are only alluded to or mentioned in the play rather than actually dramatized. For example, in the opening scene, Clarence just mentions George having saved his brother Harry after the latter had fallen through the ice. ''It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play'', a stage adaptation presented as a 1940s radio show, was adapted by Joe Landry and has been produced around the United States since 1997. The script is published by Playscripts, Inc. In 1997, PBS aired '' Merry Christmas, George Bailey'', taped from a live performance of the 1947 ''Lux Radio Theatre'' script at the Pasadena Playhouse. The presentation, which benefited the
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing pediatric HIV infection and eliminating pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention and treatment programs. Founded in 1988 ...
, featured an all-star cast, including Bill Pullman as George, Nathan Lane as Clarence,
Martin Landau Martin James Landau (; June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017) was an American actor, acting coach, producer, and editorial cartoonist. His career began in the 1950s, with early film appearances including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's ''North ...
as Mr. Potter, Penelope Ann Miller as Mary, and
Sally Field Sally Margaret Field (born November 6, 1946) is an American actress. She has received many awards and nominations, including two Academy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Fe ...
as Mother Bailey. In 2002, the television film ''
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie ''It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie'' is a 2002 American musical fantasy comedy television film directed by Kirk R. Thatcher and written by Tom Martin and Jim Lewis. The film premiered November 29, 2002 on NBC and the first film to be ...
'' premiered on NBC. The film is a homage to ''It's a Wonderful Life''. In the film,
Kermit the Frog Kermit the Frog is a Muppet character created and originally performed by Jim Henson. Introduced in 1955, Kermit serves as the everyman protagonist of numerous Muppet productions, most notably ''Sesame Street'' and ''The Muppet Show'', as well ...
wishes that he had never been born. Tony Palermo's 2005 stage adaptation has the story presented as actors making a radio-play complete with them making live sounds effects Philip Grecian's 2006 radio play based on the film ''It's a Wonderful Life'' is a faithful adaptation, now in its third incarnation, that has been performed numerous times by local theatres in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
. ''The Last Temptation of Clarence Odbody'' is a 2011 novel written by John Pierson. The novel imagines the future lives of various characters if George had not survived his jump into the river. Scenes from the film are seen in the 2016 documentary '' Abacus: Small Enough to Jail'', where Abacus Federal Savings Bank founder and chairman Thomas Sung talked about how ''It's a Wonderful Life'' influenced him. A stage-adaptation of the story was presented at The Tower Theatre in Winchester in December 2016 by Blue Apple Theatre with Lawrie Morris in the role of George Bailey. This is believed to be the first time an actor with an intellectual disability (Lawrie Morris had Down's Syndrome) has had the role. A new "cinematic audio" adaptation by
David Ossman David Ossman (born December 6, 1936 in Santa Monica) is an American writer and comedian, best known as a member of the Firesign Theatre and screenwriter of such films as '' Zachariah''. Early life Ossman attended Pomona College, where he starr ...
of the Firesign Theatre was produced and directed by Ossman and his wife Judith Walcutt of Otherworld Media in December 2019 at the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts. Their version combined elements of traditional and radio theatre, with costumes, sets, makeup, and lighting effects, as well as live music, live
sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...
s, and over 20 microphones.


Remakes

*''
It Happened One Christmas ''It Happened One Christmas'' is a 1977 American made-for-television Christmas fantasy-comedy-drama film directed by Donald Wrye, starring Marlo Thomas, Wayne Rogers, Orson Welles, and Cloris Leachman. It originally premiered as ''The ABC Sunday ...
'' was a 1977
television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the sam ...
of the classic film, whose screenplay
Lionel Chetwynd Lionel Chetwynd (born January 29, 1940) is a British-American screenwriter, director and producer. Life and career Lionel Chetwynd was born to a Jewish family in Hackney, London, the son of Betty (née Dion) and Peter Chetwynd. His family move ...
based on both the original Van Doren Stern short story and the 1946 screenplay. This remake employed gender-reversal, with Marlo Thomas as the protagonist Mary Bailey, Wayne Rogers as George Hatch, and
Cloris Leachman Cloris Leachman (April 30, 1926 – January 27, 2021) was an American actress and comedian whose career spanned nearly eight decades. She won many accolades, including eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations, making her the most nomina ...
as the angel Clara Oddbody. Leachman received her tenth
Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
nomination for this role. In a significant departure from his earlier roles,
Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
was cast as Mr. Potter. Following initial positive reviews, the made-for-television film was rebroadcast twice in 1978 and 1979, but has not been shown since on national re-broadcasts or issued to home media.Webb, Chad
"Missing: It Happened One Christmas"
. ''411mania.com'', 2010. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
*'' Merry Christmas, George Bailey'' was a 1997 PBS television movie adaptation of the film directed by Matthew Diamond and starring Bill Pullman as George Bailey, Penelope Ann Miller as Mary, Nathan Lane as Clarence and
Martin Landau Martin James Landau (; June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017) was an American actor, acting coach, producer, and editorial cartoonist. His career began in the 1950s, with early film appearances including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's ''North ...
as Potter. *''The Christmas Spirit'' was a retelling of the movie starring
Nicollette Sheridan Nicollette Sheridan (born 21 November 1963) is an English-born American actress. She began her career as a fashion model before landing a role in the short-lived ABC primetime soap opera '' Paper Dolls'' in 1984, as well as starring in the rom ...
as Charlotte Hart. This was a made-for-TV film aired on December 1, 2013, on the
Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies a ...
executive produced by Sheridan under her company, Wyke Lane Productions, and Brad Krevoy Television. The film was directed and written by Jack Angelo. ''Spirit'' was set in the present day, with the Hart character working to save a "quiet New England town from a ruthless real estate developer". The film was planned to kick off a film series about the Hart character. The film had 3.372 million viewers overall. * "The Greatest Gift", the 2011 ''
Warehouse 13 ''Warehouse 13'' is an American science fiction television series that originally ran from July 7, 2009, to May 19, 2014, on the Syfy network, and was executive produced by Jack Kenny and David Simkins for Universal Cable Productions. Describ ...
'' season 3 Christmas episode, tells a similar story after agent Pete Lattimer touches Stern's brush.


Sequel

In 1990, the made-for-television film ''
Clarence Clarence may refer to: Places Australia * Clarence County, New South Wales, a Cadastral division * Clarence, New South Wales, a place near Lithgow * Clarence River (New South Wales) * Clarence Strait (Northern Territory) * City of Clarence, a l ...
'' stars
Robert Carradine Robert Reed Carradine ( ; born March 24, 1954) is an American actor. A member of the Carradine family, he made his first appearances on television Western series such as ''Bonanza'' and his brother David's TV series, '' Kung Fu''. Carradine's fi ...
in a new tale of the helpful angel, Clarence Odbody.


Potential

A purported sequel was in development for a 2015 release, and was to be called ''It's a Wonderful Life: The Rest of the Story''. It was to be written by Bob Farnsworth and Martha Bolton and follow the angel of George Bailey's daughter Zuzu (played once again by Karolyn Grimes), as she teaches Bailey's evil grandson how different the world would have been if he had never been born. Producers were considering directors and hoped to shoot the film with a $25–$35 million budget in Louisiana early in 2014. The film had been announced as being produced by Star Partners and Hummingbird Productions, neither of which are affiliated with Paramount, owners of the original film (Farnsworth claimed that ''It's a Wonderful Life'' was in the public domain). Later, a Paramount spokesperson claimed that they were not granting permission to make the film; "To date, these individuals have not obtained any of the necessary rights, and we would take all appropriate steps to protect those rights", the spokesperson said. As of 2022, no further developmental plans have since arisen.


''Sesame Street'' urban legend

It is commonly believed that the characters of Bert and Ernie on ''
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...
'' were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the cabdriver. However, in a correction for the 1999 "Annual Xmas Quiz" in the ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pa ...
'', which made this claim, series writer Jerry Juhl confirmed that, per producer Jon Stone, the shared names were merely a coincidence. Despite this, the 1996 holiday special '' Elmo Saves Christmas'' references the rumor, during a scene where Bert and Ernie walk by a TV set, which is playing the movie. The pair are surprised by the line: "Bert! Ernie! What's the matter with you two guys? You were here on my wedding night!"


Stephan's Quintet usage

The angelic figures depicted at the beginning of the film is an image of
Stephan's Quintet Stephan's Quintet is a visual grouping of five galaxies of which four form the first compact galaxy group ever discovered. The group, visible in the constellation Pegasus, was discovered by Édouard Stephan in 1877 at the Marseille Observatory. ...
, a group of four interacting galaxies.


See also

* "
Buffalo Gals "Buffalo Gals" is a traditional American song, written and published as "Lubly Fan" in 1844 by the blackface minstrel John Hodges, who performed as "Cool White". The song was widely popular throughout the United States, where minstrels often al ...
", the song George Bailey and Mary Hatch liked to sing * '' Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.'' (a legal case partially relating to another example of an out-of-copyright adaptation of a work still under copyright) * ''
The Family Man ''The Family Man'' is a 2000 American romantic fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Brett Ratner, from a screenplay by David Diamond and David Weissman. The film stars Nicolas Cage and Téa Leoni, with Don Cheadle, Saul Rubinek, and Jerem ...
'', a 2000 film *
List of Christmas films Many Christmas stories have been adapted to feature films and TV specials, and have been broadcast and repeated many times on television; since the popularization of home video in the 1980s, their many editions are sold and re-sold every year d ...
* List of films about angels *
List of films considered the best This is a list of films considered the best in national and international Opinion poll, surveys of Film criticism, critics and the public. Some surveys focus on all films, while others focus on a particular genre or country. Electoral system, ...
* List of films featuring the deaf and hard of hearing * '' Mr. Destiny'', a 1990 film * Parallel universes in filmdom * ''A Wonderful Life'' (film), a 1951 short film for the Christian film industry based on this film *
Zu Zu Ginger Snaps Zu Zu Ginger Snaps was a brand of round drop cookies originally manufactured in 1901 by the National Biscuit Company (NBC) –later changed to Nabisco– and produced until the early 1980s. The snaps are "a spicy combination of ginger and sugar-can ...


References


Citations


Bibliography

* Barker, Martin, and Thomas Austin. "Films, Audiences and Analyses". ''From Antz To Titanic: Reinventing Film Analysis''. London: Pluto Press, 2000, pp. 15–29. . * Cahill, Marie. ''It's a Wonderful Life''. East Bridgewater, Massachusetts: World Publications Group, 2006. . * Capra, Frank. ''Frank Capra, The Name Above the Title: An Autobiography''. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1971. . * Cox, Stephen. ''It's a Wonderful Life: A Memory Book''. Nashville, Tennessee: Cumberland House, 2003. . * Eliot, Mark. ''Jimmy Stewart: A Biography''. New York: Random House, 2006. . * Finler, Joel W. ''The Hollywood Story: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the American Movie Business, But Didn't Know Where to Look''. London: Pyramid Books, 1988. . * Goodrich, Francis, Albert Hackett and Frank Capra. ''It's a Wonderful Life: The Complete Script in its Original Form''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986. . * Jones, Ken D., Arthur F. McClure and Alfred E. Twomey. ''The Films of James Stewart''. New York: Castle Books, 1970. * McBride, Joseph. ''Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success''. New York: Touchstone Books, 1992. . * Michael, Paul, ed. ''The Great Movie Book: A Comprehensive Illustrated Reference Guide to the Best-loved Films of the Sound Era''. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1980. . * Rodgers, James W. ''It's a Wonderful Life: A Play in Two Acts''. Woodstock, Illinois: Dramatic Publishing, 1994. . * Sarris, Andrew. 1998. ''"You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet." The American Talking Film History & Memory, 1927-1949''. Oxford University Press. * Walters, James. "Reclaiming the Real: It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946)". ''Alternative Worlds in Hollywood Cinema''. Bristol UK: Intellect Ltd, 2008, pp. 115–134. . * Wiley, Mason, and Damien Bona. ''Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards''. New York: Ballantine Books, 1987. . * Willian, Michael. ''The Essential It's a Wonderful Life: A Scene-by-Scene Guide to the Classic Film, 2nd ed.'' Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2006. .


Further reading

* Stewart, Jimmy.
Jimmy Stewart Remembers 'It's a Wonderful Life'
. 1977. MyMerryChristmas.com, 2012. Web. January 9, 2012. * Cox, Stephen.
On a Wing and a Prayer
. ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' December 23, 2006: E-1. Web. January 9, 2012. * Sullivan, Daniel J.
Sentimental Hogwash?: On Capra's ''It's a Wonderful Life''
, ''Humanitas'' (2005) 18.1–2: 115–140. Web. January 9, 2012. * Kamiya, Gary.
All hail Pottersville!
''
Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ( ...
'' December 22, 2001. Web. January 9, 2012. *


External links

* * * * * * *
''It's a Wonderful Life''
at Filmsite.org *"It's a Wonderful Life" essay by Daniel Eagan in ''America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry'', A&C Black, 2010, , pages 401–40


The Making of ''It's A Wonderful Life'' Frank Capra Online
at Eeweems.com

at AmericanMusicPreservation.com
''It's a Wonderful Life''
on '' Lux Radio Theater'': March 10, 1947
''It's a Wonderful Life''
on '' Screen Directors Playhouse'': May 8, 1949 {{Authority control 1946 films 1946 romantic drama films 1940s American films 1940s Christmas drama films 1940s English-language films 1940s fantasy drama films 1940s romantic fantasy films Alternate timeline films American alternate history films American black-and-white films American Christmas drama films American fantasy drama films American romantic drama films American romantic fantasy films Existentialist films Films about angels Films about banking Films about depression Films about suicide Films about wish fulfillment Films adapted into operas Films based on short fiction Films directed by Frank Capra Films scored by Dimitri Tiomkin Films set in 1919 Films set in 1928 Films set in 1932 Films set in 1945 Films set in New York (state) Films shot in California Films whose director won the Best Director Golden Globe Liberty Films films Metaphysical fiction films United States National Film Registry films