It's a Wonderful Life (1946) is an American film produced and directed by Frank Capra and loosely based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern.The film takes place in the fictional town of Bedford Falls shortly after World War II and stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve gains the attention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers) who is sent to help him in his hour of need. Much of the film is told through flashbacks spanning George's entire life and narrated by Franklin and Joseph, unseen Angels who are preparing Clarence for his mission to save George. Through these flashbacks we see all the people whose lives have been touched by George and the difference he has made to the community in which he lives.
The film is regarded as a classic and is a staple of Christmas television around the world, although, due to its high production costs and stiff competition at the box office, financially, it was considered a "flop." The film's break-even point was actually $6.3 million, approximately twice the production cost, a figure it never came close to achieving in its initial release. An appraisal in 2006 reported: "Although it was not the complete box-office failure that today everyone believes … it was a major disappointment and confirmed, at least to the studios, that Capra was no longer capable of turning out the populist features that made his films the must-see, money-making events they once were."
It's a Wonderful Life was nominated for five Oscars without winning any, but the film has since been recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 best American films ever made, and placed number one on their list of the most inspirational American films of all time.
On Christmas Eve 1946, George Bailey (James Stewart) is deeply depressed, even suicidal. Prayers for George Bailey are heard by angels appearing as stars in the night sky. Clarence Odbody, an Angel Second Class, is sent to Earth to save him—and thereby earn his wings. Joseph, the head angel, is told to review George's life with Clarence.
As a 12-year-old boy in 1919, George (Bobby Anderson) saved the life of his younger brother Harry from falling through ice, though George caught a cold that became an ear infection and left him hearing-impaired in one ear. Returning weeks later to his job as errand boy in a pharmacy, George stopped his boss, local druggist Mr. Gower (H.B. Warner), from accidentally filling a child's prescription with poison while grief-stricken over the death of his son from influenza.
From childhood, George's greatest ambition has been to see the world and design bridges and skyscrapers. However, George repeatedly has to sacrifice his dreams for the well-being of the people of Bedford Falls. Four years older than Harry, he puts off going to college to help in the family business until Harry graduates from high school and can replace him at the Bailey Building & Loan Association, essential to many of the disadvantaged in town. But on Harry's graduation night in 1928, as George discusses his future with Mary Hatch (Donna Reed) — who has had a crush on him since she was a little girl — family friends arrive after George and Mary were throwing rocks at an old house to make wishes, and break the news to George that his father has had a stroke. Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), a vicious slumlord, seizes this opportunity and tries to persuade the Board of Directors to end the "sentimental hogwash" of home loans for the working poor. George persuades the board members to reject Potter's proposal; they agree, but only on condition that George himself run the Building and Loan. George reluctantly stays in Bedford Falls and gives his school money to his brother.
Harry goes on to college, but George's hopes of leaving Bedford Falls upon his return are dashed once again when Harry unexpectedly brings home a new wife. Her father has offered Harry a job in his company too good to turn down. Although Harry offers to do precisely that to help his brother, George cannot bring himself to ruin his brother's prospects.
George's mother tries to set George up with Mary, despite Sam Wainwright (Frank Albertson) supposedly being attracted to her. Sam is an insouciant friend of George working in New York City, with the catchphrase "Hee haw!" George and Mary eventually get married, but on their way out of town for their honeymoon witness a run on the bank that leaves the Building & Loan in serious danger. Potter, sensing another opportunity, offers George's clients "50 cents on the dollar," but George and Mary use the $2,000 intended for their honeymoon to lend the townspeople what they need to quell the panic until their funds are restored. Later, Mary (with the aid of cabbie Ernie and Bert the cop) concocts an elaborate mock honeymoon in their new house, the abandoned mansion on which they had once made wishes. Mary confides to him that this was what she had wished for that night.
George then starts up Bailey Park, an affordable housing project, with bar owner Martini and his family as the first homeowners. They and the other residents are rescued from paying high rents in the slum the locals have nicknamed Potter's Field; Potter grouses that their homes "are worth twice what [they] cost ... to build." Potter tries to derail the competition by tempting George with a job at eight times his current salary, $20,000 a year, but George realizes that Potter is trying to bribe him and vehemently rejects the offer.
Over the next several years, George and Mary raise a growing family. When World War II erupts, George is unable to enlist due to his bad ear. Harry becomes a Navy pilot and is awarded the Medal of Honor for shooting down fifteen enemy aircraft, including two Japanese kamikaze planes that were about to crash into a Navy troop transport.
On Christmas Eve, while on his way to deposit $8,000 for the Building & Loan, Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell) encounters Mr. Potter and, bursting with pride, shows him the newspaper article about his nephew Harry, about to be honored by the President. Absentmindedly, he leaves the deposit envelope with the $8000 in the folds of the newspaper; Potter discovers it later in his office and keeps it. That day, the bank examiner is to inspect the Building & Loan's records; George discovers Billy's mistake and becomes unhinged while searching the town for the money. Returning home, George takes out his anger on his wife and children, as well as yelling at the teacher of his youngest daughter for allowing her to walk home without a coat — to protect a flower she had received — and catch a cold, then after comforting the child by pretending to reattach petals to the flower while secretly stashing them in a pocket. Downstairs, he is tormented by everything the children do and by the thought that his sacrifices have left him unable to provide a safe home for his family. In desperation, George tells Potter that he has misplaced the $8,000, and appeals to him for a loan to rescue the company. Potter, knowing that Uncle Billy has actually misplaced the money, reacts with subtle surprise to George's admission. Potter turns George down and, smirking, insults him. Later, George crashes his car into a tree during a snowstorm and runs to a nearby bridge, intending to commit suicide, feeling he's "worth more dead than alive" because of a $15,000 life-insurance policy). Before George can leap in, however, Clarence the angel jumps into the water. After a shocked George saves him, Clarence reveals himself to be George's guardian angel and pleads to help him. (In this movie, angels are actually ghosts, or the departed souls of humans, who, if they do some good deed or enough good deeds after death, earn their wings — heralded by a bell ringing somewhere on earth.)
George bitterly wishes he had never been born. Clarence then shows him what the town would have been like if George had never existed. Bedford Falls is called Pottersville and is mostly a slum with Main Street dominated by pawn shops and sleazy bars. Bailey Park was never built; the land is part of a desolate cemetery. George's home remains a run-down, abandoned mansion. George sees the people he knows and loves, but in this alternative world where he doesn't exist, none of them recognize him and their lives are hard and grim. Mr. Gower was convicted of poisoning the child, spent years in prison, and is now an alcoholic reduced to panhandling. Martini no longer owns the bar. Ernie and Bert, although still friends, are much darker characters, and think George is insane when he claims to know them. Violet is a dancer who gets arrested as a pickpocket. Uncle Billy has been in an insane asylum for years, while Harry is dead, since George was not around to save him when he fell through the ice. Consequently, the men Harry would have saved in the war have also perished. His mother is a lonely, embittered widow running a boarding house, and Mary is a spinster librarian.
George returns to the bridge and calls upon Clarence and God to let him live again. His prayer is answered and George is returned to the moment he met Clarence. Small changes that had occurred while he didn't exist, such as his daughter's petals in his pocket, his crashed car, and even the weather being windy instead of snowy, are now just as they were, but George runs home filled with a new appreciation of what he has accomplished. There, he finds that his friends and family have collected a huge amount of money to save George and the Building & Loan from scandal and ruin. The newly arrived Harry proposes a toast to his brother, "the richest man in town." Seeing how many lives he has touched, and the difference he has made to the town (and having helped Clarence earn his wings), George Bailey realizes that despite his problems, he "really has a wonderful life."
