It's a Wonderful Life

 It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), directed by and co-scripted by Frank Capra, explores how a person finds a purpose in life. Sometimes that goal leads to the selfish acquisition of wealth. It may mean performing a heroic act on a large scale. And just sometimes it occurs in a small town in helping others find a little happiness in their lives.

This movie is a bit dark for a Capra film, whose credits include It Happened One Night and A Pocketful of Miracles, although another Jimmy Stewart /Capra movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, shows the cynical side of politics. This story takes place between 1919 and Christmas Eve, 1945. The opening seems tacky today as twinkling stars in the sky, which represent angels, discuss the need to help George Bailey (Stewart). They have received prayers that he is in despair. They choose the angel Clarence (Henry Travers) for the job so he can finally earn his wings. What follows is a summation of George's life up to December 24 of 1945 so that Clarence knows what he is dealing with.

A couple of incidents in young George’s life set the stage for how even what seems like an insignificant life can have important consequences in the grand scheme of things. The local druggist in the small town of Bedford Falls, Mr. Gower (H. B. Warner) owns a soda shop where George, the boy, works. Gower is distraught because his son died most likely due to the Spanish Flu pandemic. He accidentally puts a poison in a prescription, and George brings that mistake to his attention. George also saves his younger brother from drowning in a break in the winter ice in a pond.

George's father (Samuel S. Hinds) and Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell) work at the struggling Building and Loan company that makes low interest loans to people to buy houses. The greedy man who owns most of the town is Henry Potter (Lionel Barrymore). He is on the Building and Loan’s board and would like to put it out of business so he can have a monopoly on charging exorbitant rates on loans to the people of the town. There are references to “Potter’s Field” in the film, which is where poor people were buried when they died, and the implication is that Potter is the nasty capitalistic force that drains the life out of deprived people during their lives. Potter’s appearance almost looks like a ghost and IMDb states that Capra wanted to depict him to look like the famous painting “American Gothic.

The film was seen by some as leaning toward Communism since the banker is depicted as the villain. George’s father says, “All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away,” which suggests that generosity is the true virtue because one is putting others above one’s own needs. George as an adult tells Potter, “this rabble you’re talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn’t think so. People were human beings to him. But to you, a warped and frustrated old man, they’re cattle. Well, in my book my father died a much richer man than you’ll ever be.” These statements sound more Christian that communistic, and a Marxist wouldn’t put much stock in prayers and angels.

George is not so altruistic as a young man. He finds his father’s work dreary and wants to get out of “this crummy little town.” He wants to go to college and eventually gain success by building “airfields,” and “skyscrapers,” and “bridges a mile long.” However, his father dies, and his brother Harry (Todd Karns) first goes to college and then marries. His father-in-law offers him a job upstate. George sacrifices his ambitions to take over the family business. He even sees a friend, Sam Wainwright (Frank Albertson), become prosperous. His dreams for himself become eclipsed by his commitment to his father’s vision.

One positive aspect that comes from George’s staying in Bedford Falls is that he marries his childhood sweetheart, Mary Hatch (Donna Reed). Her character is an example of American positivity as she works hard to turn their broken-down house into a welcoming, lovely family home. On their honeymoon night, though, the house is a wreck before her renovations. George’s friend, Bert (Ward Bond), a policeman, and Ernie (Frank Faylen), a cab driver, serenade the newlyweds in their leaky home. The scene stresses how love and friendship overcome financial distress. The couple sacrificed their honeymoon money to keep the business open after Potter maneuvered a run on the Building and Loan company. The investors in the family business also compromise to keep the business afloat, which shows the story’s theme of how generosity toward others aids the community. (Apparently Jim Henson did not consciously name his Muppet characters after the Bert and Ernie characters in this film).

George's company provides several families a chance to own their own homes which aggravates the killjoy, Potter. He offers George an exorbitant salary to work for him and dissolve the Bailey business. Potter is like Satan tempting the Christ-like figure of George. Although leaning toward accepting the job at first, George quickly recovers his moral vision and vehemently rejects Potter’s deal. Capra’s view of moral fortitude offsetting selfish temptation seems a lost hope in our egocentric present times.

Another Job-like event occurs which sends George into despair. Uncle Billy accidentally leaves the $8000 that he is to deposit in the company’s account in a newspaper that Potter acquires. When George learns that the money went missing he becomes desperate. He goes to Potter to beg for a loan but all he has is a small amount of cash surrender value in his life insurance policy. Potter refuses of course and mentions that George is worth more dead than alive based on the payoff upon his death. That plants the seed of suicide in George's mind.

George’s positive disposition turns dark, and he becomes cruel when he goes home, knocking things over and bemoaning the fact that he even has children he must raise. Stewart’s acting ability is strong here as he delves into the depths of a lost soul. He goes to a bridge and is ready to jump off when Clarence appears and dives into the icy waters below. This action sparks a momentary return of George's unselfish nature, and he dives in to save Clarence. As they dry out Clarence realizes that he must show that George’s life has worth. He erases George’s existence. There is a cold wind that blows through the scene and the desolate winter setting points to George's absence in the town’s life.

 George, of course, is unbelieving of what Clarence says he did. But as he goes through the town nobody recognizes him. Bedford Falls now is called Pottersville. There are bars and seedy clubs in place of small family stores. (This scenario may have influenced the story line in Back to the Future II when Biff alters history and takes over the town. Also, this “glimpse” of another life is echoed in another Christmas movie, The Family Man with Nicholas Cage). Martini (William Edmunds) does not own the bar because he never was able to establish himself with his on home the Bailey business provided. George wasn’t there to prevent Mr. Gower from causing the poisoning of his customer. And, George’s brother, Harry, died in the ice water as a child. So, he never became a fighter pilot in the war and didn’t win the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving a whole convoy of soldiers. Mary is a woman without the love of another and has no children, which deeply affects George as she is frightened by his pursuing her. Clarence states the Butterfly Effect when he says, “Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?” He goes on to say, “You see George, you’ve really had a wonderful life. Don’t you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?”

When George finds himself back on the bridge he prays and says he wants to live. Clarence reverses his act, and George is now part of the community he helped build. When he returns home Mary has done a “Go Fund Me” action and tapped into the generosity that Capra sees as exiting underneath all the greed and selfishness in the world. Everyone contributes to save George’s business, and there is a welcoming home of Harry as a war hero. Clarence left a note for George in a copy of Tom Sawyer which says, “Remember, George, no man is a failure who has friends.” The film is saying that it is one’s worth to others that enriches a person.  

Clarence said that when a bell rings an angel gets his wings. A chime on the Christmas tree sounds, telling us that Clarence has been promoted. The film has all sorts of bells ringing, including cash registers, telephones, and doorbells. These chimes not only announce the winning of an angel’s wings but also the saving of human souls. It is thus fitting that the last image of the film is a huge bell ringing, suggesting the possibility of the triumph of human morality.