It's a Wonderful Life movie review (1946) | Roger Ebert (2024)

The best and worst things that ever happened to "It's aWonderful Life" are that it fell out of copyright protection and into theshadowy no-man's-land of the public domain. Because the movie is no longerunder copyright, any television station that can get its hands on a print ofthe movie can show it, at no cost, as often as it wants to. And that has led inthe last decade to the rediscovery of Frank Capra's once-forgotten film, andits elevation into a Christmas tradition. PBS stations were the first to jumpon the bandwagon in the early 1970s, using the saga of the small-town heroGeorge Bailey as counter-programming against expensive network holidayspecials. To the general amazement of TV program directors, the audience forthe film grew and grew over the years, until now many families make the moviean annual ritual.

Thatwas the best thing that happened to "It's a Wonderful Life," bringingcheer into the lives of director Frank Capra and star James Stewart, who bothconsider it their favorite film. The worst thing--which has inspired Stewart totestify before a congressional committee and Capra to issue a sickbed plea--isthat the movie has been colorized. Movies in the public domain are sodefenseless that you could cut one up to make ukulele picks, and who couldlegally prevent you? And so a garish colorized version--destroying the purityof the classic original black-and-white images--has been seen on cable, isavailable for local syndication and is sold on cassette.

Itis a great irony that the colorized version has been copyrighted, and so manystations are paying a great deal for the rights to an inferior version of amovie that they could show for free in black and white. If I were a localtelevision program director with taste and a love of movies, I would find outwhen my competitor was going to air his colorized version, and counter-programwith the original black-and-white movie, patting myself on the back for apublic service. Maybe it could be promoted with a clip of Jimmy Stewart tellingCongress, in his inimitable way, "I tried to look at the colorized version,but I had to switch it off--it made me feel sick."

Whatis remarkable about "It's a Wonderful Life" is how well it holds upover the years; it's one of those ageless movies, like "Casablanca"or "The Third Man," that improves with age. Some movies, even goodones, should only be seen once. When we know how they turn out, they'vesurrendered their mystery and appeal. Other movies can be viewed an indefinitenumber of times. Like great music, they improve with familiarity. "It's aWonderful Life" falls in the second category.

Ilooked at the movie once again recently, on the splendid video laserdiskedition from the Criterion Collection. The movie works like a strong andfundamental fable, sort of a "Christmas Carol" in reverse: Instead ofa mean old man being shown scenes of happiness, we have a hero who plunges intodespair.

Thehero, of course, is George Bailey (Stewart), a man who never quite makes it outof his quiet birthplace of Bedford Falls. As a young man he dreams of shakingthe dust from his shoes and traveling to far-off lands, but one thing and thenanother keeps him at home -- especially his responsibility to the familysavings and loan association, which is the only thing standing between BedfordFalls and the greed of Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), the avaricious localbanker.

Georgemarries his high school sweetheart (Donna Reed, in her first starring role),settles down to raise a family, and helps half the poor folks in town buy homeswhere they can raise their own. Then, when George's absentminded uncle (ThomasMitchell) misplaces some bank funds during the Christmas season, it looks as ifthe evil Potter will have his way after all. George loses hope and turns mean(even his face seems to darken, although it's still nice and pink in thecolorized version). He despairs, and is standing on a bridge contemplatingsuicide when an Angel 2nd Class named Clarence (Henry Travers) saves him andshows him what life in Bedford Falls would have been like without him.

FrankCapra never intended "It's a Wonderful Life" to be pigeonholed as a"Christmas picture." This was the first movie he made after returningfrom service in World War II, and he wanted it to be special--a celebration ofthe lives and dreams of America's ordinary citizens, who tried the best theycould to do the right thing by themselves and their neighbors. After becomingHollywood's poet of the common man in the 1930s with an extraordinary series ofpopulist parables ("It Happened One Night," "Mr. Deeds Goes toTown," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "You Can't Take ItWith You"), Capra found the idea for "It's a Wonderful Life" ina story by Philip Van Doren Stern that had been gathering dust on studioshelves.

ForStewart, also recently back in civilian clothes, the movie was a chance to workagain with Capra, for whom he had played Mr. Smith. The original trailer forthe movie (included on the Criterion disk) played up the love angle betweenStewart and Donna Reed and played down the message--but the movie was not a boxoffice hit, and was all but forgotten before the public domain prints began tomake their rounds.

"It'sa Wonderful Life" is not just a heart-warming "message picture."The conclusion of the film makes such an impact that some of the earlier scenesmay be overlooked--such as the slapstick comedy of the high school hop, wherethe dance floor opens over a swimming pool, and Stewart and Reed accidentallyjitterbug right into the water. (This covered pool was not a set but actuallyexisted at Hollywood High School). There's also the drama of George rescuinghis younger brother from a fall through the ice, and the scene where Donna Reedloses her bathrobe and Stewart ends up talking to the shrubbery. The telephonescene--where an angry Stewart and Reed find themselves helplessly drawn towardeach other--is wonderfully romantically charged. And the darker later passageshave an elemental power, as the drunken George Bailey staggers through a townhe wants to hate, and then revisits it through the help of a gentle angel. Eventhe corniest scenes in the movie--those galaxies that wink while the heavensconsult on George's fate--work because they are so disarmingly simple. A moresophisticated approach might have seemed labored.

"It'sa Wonderful Life" did little for Frank Capra's postwar career, and indeedhe never regained the box office magic that he had during the 1930s. Such laterfilms as "State of the Union" (1948) and "Pocketful ofMiracles" (1961) have the Capra touch but not the magic, and the directordid not make another feature after 1961. But he remained hale and hearty untila stroke slowed him in the late 1980s; and he died in 1991. At a seminar withsome film students in the 1970s he was asked if there were still a way to makemovies about the kinds of values and ideals found in the Capra films.

"Well,if there isn't," he said, "we might as well give up."