Its a Wonderful Life may well be Frank Capra’s masterpiece. It is the film where his positive outlook on life, his humanity, his humane portrayal of the characters, shines through most brightly. All of Capra’s works present his philosophy on life and love, but this film defines that philosophy, and still stands as the greatest Christmas movie of all time.
Yes, yes, the nostalgic, inner child in you wants to say A Christmas Story is the greatest holiday film, or maybe How The Grinch Stole Christmas. The cynic in you chortles and says “No, Die Hard and Lethal Weapon are the best Christmas movies, LOL!” But no, sorry, this film is the greatest holiday film of all time, with Miracle on 34th Street being a distant second.
To begin with, the film deals with an aspect of the holidays that few other films are brave enough to handle: Depression, nihilism, disappointment, negativity. Heck, the movie’s first act ends with Jimmy Stewart, the friendliest and warmest actor that ever lived, getting ready to jump off a bridge and off himself!
Capra starts Stewart’s George Bailey at such an incredibly low, sad, dark point that it is truly heroic and triumphant to watch him climb from there. Any director can keep it positive by just never facing the hero with any challenge, but Bailey is beset on all sides by the tyranny of evil men, he’s put up against the world and told to make it alone. He starts low and ends on a high note.
The film ranks with Rocky as the greatest Happy Tears movies of all time. If you’re not crying by the time the film ends then… You probably weren’t actually watching the film! Put down your Nintendo DS or crossword puzzles for just a couple hours and actually watch the film! It is a triumphant display of how optimism and hope always trump negativity.
Interestingly, the film was a flop on release. The director had always been a popular, money-making film maker, but for some reason, this one just didn’t grab the movie-going audience. Of course, the movie has since become one of the most successful of all time on video, DVD, second runs and, of course, cable, but at the time, it almost sank Capra’s career.
Film legend has it that Capra had pegged Stewart from the start and would accept nobody else in the lead. Not true. In fact, he WANTED Henry Fonda, but Stewart was a close second. Fonda would have been a great lead in Bailey’s shoes, but Stewart owns and defines this role better than any other actor possibly could have. We can imagine what might have been, but we can’t imagine loving Bailey so much as anyone but Stewart.
There were actually several alternative endings written, and one or two filmed. If you’ve ever seen the Saturday Night Live episode where Bailey leads the whole town to Potter’s home to give him his comeuppance… That was actually based on an ending that was filmed by Capra! The one filmed for the movie probably wasn’t quite as goofy, but nevertheless, it WAS filmed!
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