It’s A Wonderful Life Night

 

By a show of hands, how many of you have never seen It’s A Wonderful Life? It’s okay, don’t be shy. Until I was married I hadn’t seen it either, and I was no stranger to old movies. I am a movie nerd, I used to program my family VCR to record movies in the middle of the night. I grew up with Gone With The Wind, Mommy Dearest, and Shenandoah playing in the background. But somehow I managed to miss It’s A Wonderful Life, or tuned it out when it was on.

That changed a week or so before Christmas in 1998. Another couple who’d never seen it decided to join us in watching it for the first time, and I suspect I was more interested in the take-out pizza and coffee with Schnapps than the movie. I was tasked with driving to Video City to make the rental, but when I got there the three copies they had were all checked out. I looked around for a different movie but noticed they had some VHS copies for sale that even came with a little bell Christmas tree ornament. If we’d had cell phones back in those days, my wife probably would have told me not to buy it.

It’s supposed to be a classic, I reasoned, and figured it would fit nicely next to my VHS copies of Casablanca and Schindler’s List.

I made my way home to the two-bedroom apartment and the four of us settled in to watch the old movie with varying degrees of interest. Two hours later, four twenty-somethings were smiling, moved (maybe to tears), and experiencing what can only be understood by those who’ve seen it.

It’s A Wonderful Life is more than a classic film; it’s a perfect film, and I don’t say that lightly. Nor am I alone. For a more detailed explanation about its cinematic superiority, check out the Critical Drinker’s review — after you’ve watched it, that is, because spoilers abound. But that’s not what this post is about.

A year after that first viewing, my wife and I decided to watch it again, maybe with the same couple, maybe with others, I don’t remember exactly. We loved it all over again and it became a tradition. We started calling it It’s A Wonderful Life Night, a Guerra tradition that’s continued for 22 years. Every year in mid-December we invite a few families over, provide two big pots of soup (my wife makes great soup) and fresh bread. Guests are welcome to bring a sugary snack if they want to, but it’s not requisite.

We start the party at 5:30, start the movie at 6, and let them know they can stay as long as they want, which almost always ends up being well past everyone’s normal bedtime. It’s an event dedicated to simplicity, fellowship, coziness, and fun.

Over the years the faces have changed; so have our houses. There are some old friends who are always invited, others who have moved out-of-state (but we’re working on luring them back), and usually a family or two we’ve been interested in getting to know better.

As the families arrive and get settled in, the quiet atmosphere punctuated by candlelight and Christmas lights becomes loud and lively. The movie starts and everyone gets their bowls of soup, settling down in some area of the house. Often the older kids and a couple of dads engage in conversations and have no interest in the movie, so talk during the whole thing. That’s fine because something interesting always happens, usually right around the time George and Mary fall into the pool: The story captivates them and they turn their attention to the screen. They even put away their phones.

Soon everyone — even those who’ve seen it over 30 times — starts paying attention. It draws them in and the characters play out life’s (sometimes brutal) truths, truths that 22-year-old newlywed Vince understood one way, but that 35-year-old Vince with four kids saw another. Now, 44-year-old Vince with eight kids and no steady income feels George Bailey a little differently than that younger Vince did, with a top-notch health insurance plan and a Christmas bonus in his pocket.

By the time Harry Bailey hoists his glass, everyone is hanging on his words, even the teenagers — just like some of them used to, when their little hands gripped mugs of hot cocoa that were too big for them to finish when they first watched it ten years earlier.

The movie ends, our guests smile, and the conversations that flow from those viewings over the years have been as variable as the times we’ve lived through — sometimes light and silly, sometimes deep and serious (like this year), but always valuable.

It’s A Wonderful Life reminds us that there is no shame in feeling the weight of the world on our shoulders, or even in calling out to God for a Christmas miracle when all other human options have failed.

When I think back on the friends who’ve shared that night with us, I’m reminded of the important lessons of the film: the connections we make with people are what matter most, and the part we play in other’s lives, even if they’ve floated away from us, will count for something in the end.


Fun fact: Due to its initial lackluster reception, It’s A Wonderful Life became public domain and the current licensing rights are complex. As a result, you can watch it several places for free.

Millennial Movie Monday is a fun, YouTube reaction series. Her reaction to It’s A Wonderful Life is as it should be.

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  1. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Last I remember seeing, NBC shows it once or twice a year, usually in a 3- or even 4-hour time slots, with a LOT of commercials.

    If you buy the film, it takes only 2 hours and 10 minutes.  Only $9.99 at Amazon.  Well worth it to not be shacked by network schedules.

     

     

    • #31
  2. OldPhil Coolidge
    OldPhil
    @OldPhil

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Last I remember seeing, NBC shows it once or twice a year, usually in a 3- or even 4-hour time slots, with a LOT of commercials.

    If you buy the film, it takes only 2 hours and 10 minutes. Only $9.99 at Amazon. Well worth it to not be shacked by network schedules.

     

     

    Free on Amazon Prime. Watched it tonight.

    • #32
  3. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    OldPhil (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Last I remember seeing, NBC shows it once or twice a year, usually in a 3- or even 4-hour time slots, with a LOT of commercials.

    If you buy the film, it takes only 2 hours and 10 minutes. Only $9.99 at Amazon. Well worth it to not be shacked by network schedules.

     

     

    Free on Amazon Prime. Watched it tonight.

    Even better!  Thanks.

    • #33
  4. JosePluma Coolidge
    JosePluma
    @JosePluma

    Hang On (View Comment):

    colleenb (View Comment):

    I am generally not a fan of “It’s a Wonderful Life” even though I like old movies (anything after 1950 is suspicious in my books) and like Capra. I think I do need to sit down and watch it through again. I heard someone mentioning that it was James Stewart’s first movie after WWII and it reflects that shift from more innocent, pre-WWII to post- WWII for both the country and Stewart as an actor.

    Hmm. Have you seen pre-WWII gangster movies? Not sure those classify as innocent. Jimmy Stewart also played the bad guy (a murderer) in a pre-WWII movie After the Thin Man.

    Also the slimy Nihilist professor in Rope.

    • #34
  5. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    Skyler (View Comment):
    They have the same old tired cliches of rich people having no morals and all the virtue is in the poor.

    There are a dozen characters of all walks and the only rich jerk is Potter. The rich businessmen on the board of directors side with George, Sam Wainwright is the rich hero at the very end who saves the day to help his friend. 

    I kinda think you’re missing the point about the value of man on this. The angels call George’s life God’s greatest gift.

    • #35
  6. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    OldPhil (View Comment):

    I haven’t sat down to watch it in a couple of years, but will this year. Tried to get my wife to watch it a couple years ago, but she fell asleep. Come to think of it, she does that pretty much any time we sit down to watch something that lasts more than 30 minutes.

    It usually takes me three or four nights to get through a regular length movie.

    • #36
  7. Tex929rr Coolidge
    Tex929rr
    @Tex929rr

    Mrs Tex found it on a streaming service a few evenings ago and watched it; all the while the DVD was in the player from when she watched it a few days before. 

    • #37
  8. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Your gathering sounds wonderful.

    Since you asked, I have never seen the movie.

    You have to see it – it is the best movie ever – they don’t make them like that anymore…

    • #38
  9. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Your gathering sounds wonderful.

    Since you asked, I have never seen the movie.

    You must see it. Don’t miss this. I am so jealous of you being able to see it for the first time. Merry Christmas my friend.

    I’ve seen it a hundred times and cry at the end every time……..

    • #39
  10. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    It was, indeed, the first post-war effort for all involved, including Stewart and director Frank Capra. It was produced independently by Liberty Films, which was founded by Capra, George Stevens, William Wyler and Sam Briskin. All four were veterans of the Hollywood studio system (the first three directors, the latter one a producer) and all four were drafted and assigned to US Army Signal Corps in WWII. 

    They wanted to break the system and reached a deal to have their pictures distributed by RKO and use their sound stages for production. The myth associated with this picture is that it bombed at the box office. It was, in fact, 26th on the list of top grossing films for 1946 in an era where 400+ films were released every year. The problem was is that Capra spent way too much in production and was unable to recoup the costs.

    That was the beginning of the end for Liberty. They had just one more film in them which Capra filmed at MGM to secure the use of Spencer Tracy. Capra eventually had to sell his interest to Parmount (where he would helm two movies with Bing Crosby, Riding High and Here Comes the Groom.) Paramount would eventually sell It’s A Wonderful Life to M&A Alexander who in turn flipped it to National Telefilms Associates. It was NTA that screwed up and allowed the film to slip into the public domain.

    In the complicated and never ending world of corporate mergers and intellectual property purchases, the movie ended up at Republic Pictures when it was subsidiary of Aaron Spelling Entertainment. They discovered that they still own the rights to the music and the original story the movie was based on and clawed it back under copyright. Spelling would sell out to Paramount, which is now owned by ViacomCBS. So, when NBC shows the film every year they’re now sending the check to CBS.

    Here’s a bit of trivia (as if the rest of this comment wasn’t), when George Bailey runs past the movie theater in Bedford Falls the marquee is for the Bing Crosby film The Bells of St. Mary’s. That film was produced and directed by Leo McCarey’s Rainbow Productions which also had a distribution deal with RKO. Despite the success of Bells, Rainbow Productions  wasn’t really any more successful than Liberty in breaking up the studio system. That would be left to a one-two punch from the DOJ and television.

    • #40
  11. OwnedByDogs Lincoln
    OwnedByDogs
    @JuliaBlaschke

    Watched it last night with my 30 year old son who had never seen it. We both enjoyed it. I hadn’t seen it in years and there was much I had forgotten. We saw the colorized version but it didn’t bother me except you could see that James Stewart was much older than the young man he played initially. I read he was 38 when it was filmed.

    • #41
  12. Cliff Hadley Inactive
    Cliff Hadley
    @CliffHadley

    Skyler (View Comment):

    [I]f you don’t examine the lesson too deeply, it makes some people feel good. I guess that’s good enough for a movie, if not a philosophy.

    Agree. Fine movie. Lousy theology.

    • #42
  13. Jim Beck Inactive
    Jim Beck
    @JimBeck

    Afternoon Cliff and Skyler,

    I am hoping to offer a different way of thinking about this movie that might make it more satisfying.  Think about George Bailey, in many ways he is a model material man, when we first see him he is dreaming of world travel.  He is almost obsessed with an image of exotic life.  This is a life he knows nothing about, but in his ignorance his mind has made this other material his idol.  It rules his thoughts.  Later in a dinner with his father, George praises his father as the man he most admires, yet he can’t take on this model of life because he won’t (with emphasis) grovel to Potter.  We see George’s pride, we see that he really thinks his father is weak to grovel to Potter, so he does not really hold his father in high esteem.  We see a modern world where sons can walk away from their family, sons only have obligations to themselves, not their family or community.  Yet in this modern world these “ Prodigal like” sons are publically liked and admired.

    Later we see George’s typical human (that is selfish) heart, during the war he feels resentment about his little local jobs, he is bitter when his brother comes home and is told that he has been offered a job with his wife’s family.  Yes, he accepts, his brother changing their agreement, but his has buried the resentment.  We see the depth of this resentment when the crisis comes.  The resentment and pride are so deep that he images that life would have been better had he never been born.  So he is even will to toss the existance of his children, when he is left with the possibility of failure of the bank.  He thinks that that totally expresses the failure of his life.

    So thinking about the theology, George deeply craves something about which he know only the superficial looks and what he has read.  This is a core human trait, from the first man and woman on.  We all dream that our life has value, and joy when we get what we are dreaming of.  We don’t need counsel, we don’t need to follow the path of our fathers, we are master of our own fate.  George thinks his life has been dominated by circumstances that leave him no choice.  His father dies, ok he will lead the savings and loan temporary, he will go to college when his brother come home, he can’t even be said to have chosen to be married and of course his honey moon was taken by the savings and loan.  What does he learn from the struggles and suffering in life, his or anyone else’s.  He doesn’t learn much, again typically human,  he resents that he has had his dreams blocked at every turn while others get everything they want, think Ps 73, yet George doesn’t even have a solid belief to fall back on as our psalmist.

    We are also told the God knows all the details of this George Bailey from Bedford Falls, this suggests that God knows all the details of every human and implies (I think states) that the arena of events and humans in our life happen and are there with a purpose.  This means that George was never alone, his frustrations were well understoood by God, and those frustrations and disappointments and failures were there so that George would begin to see that what you do for the least of them you do for Me. 

    I also think that this film describes the problem of modern life where obligations to family and community are set aside. Modern life prizes liberty, liberty weakens our obligations.  It is our personal growth we are after even if it is at the expense of the family that raised us and the community that supported the family.

    • #43
  14. OwnedByDogs Lincoln
    OwnedByDogs
    @JuliaBlaschke

    Watching either Die Hard or Scrooged tonight. And yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie!

    • #44
  15. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    OwnedByDogs (View Comment):

    Watching either Die Hard or Scrooged tonight. And yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie!

    Sho is.

    • #45
  16. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    Cliff Hadley (View Comment):

    Skyler (View Comment):

    [I]f you don’t examine the lesson too deeply, it makes some people feel good. I guess that’s good enough for a movie, if not a philosophy.

    Agree. Fine movie. Lousy theology.

    No argument there. 

    • #46
  17. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    Another interesting take on It’s a Wonderful Life.

    • #47
  18. OwnedByDogs Lincoln
    OwnedByDogs
    @JuliaBlaschke

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):

    OwnedByDogs (View Comment):

    Watching either Die Hard or Scrooged tonight. And yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie!

    Sho is.

    It was Scrooged. But I will have Die Hard on while I am cooking tomorrow! Scrooged is excellent.

    • #48
  19. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    A) The scene where George comes home after learning all is lost is one of those harrowing things for a family man; you keep wanting to pull him back, caution him to shut up, but no, he plows his miserable furrow until the children cry. After he leaves, there’s an exchange you wouldn’t find in a movie today:

    “Is daddy in trouble?” asks one of the kids.

    “Yes,” says Mom. 

    “Should we pray for him?”

    “Yes. Pray very hard.”

    It’s almost a matter-of-fact exchange. Two quick rivet bolts: truth and faith. 

    B) I adore this movie, and not just because my wife looks like Donna Reed. I would also like to spend a Saturday night in Pottersville.

    C) I can really do without the whole her-haw thing

    D) Maybe next year I’ll post a story I wrote 20+ years ago; it has the banal title of “It’s a Wonderful Christmas Carol,” because I couldn’t come up with anything that warned the reader. It’s about Potter getting the three-ghost treatment the same night George has his trials. Because he, too, was deserving of redemption, no? 

     

    • #49
  20. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    A) The scene where George comes home after learning all is lost is one of those harrowing things for a family man; you keep wanting to pull him back, caution him to shut up, but no, he plows his miserable furrow until the children cry. After he leaves, there’s an exchange you wouldn’t find in a movie today:

    “Is daddy in trouble?” asks one of the kids.

    “Yes,” says Mom.

    “Should we pray for him?”

    “Yes. Pray very hard.”

    It’s almost a matter-of-fact exchange. Two quick rivet bolts: truth and faith.

    B) I adore this movie, and not just because my wife looks like Donna Reed. I would also like to spend a Saturday night in Pottersville.

    C) I can really do without the whole her-haw thing

    D) Maybe next year I’ll post a story I wrote 20+ years ago; it has the banal title of “It’s a Wonderful Christmas Carol,” because I couldn’t come up with anything that warned the reader. It’s about Potter getting the three-ghost treatment the same night George has his trials. Because he, too, was deserving of redemption, no?

    Sounds good!  But I like the SNL ending too.  :-)

    • #50
  21. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    It’s about Potter getting the three-ghost treatment the same night George has his trials.

    Harry Potter?  I’ve not seen the movie.

    • #51
  22. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    D) Maybe next year I’ll post a story I wrote 20+ years ago; it has the banal title of “It’s a Wonderful Christmas Carol,” because I couldn’t come up with anything that warned the reader. It’s about Potter getting the three-ghost treatment the same night George has his trials. Because he, too, was deserving of redemption, no?

    This film certainly doesn’t need it, but a flaw common in so many Capra movies is the exclusion of an epilogue. Capra liked to cut his films on a high note, but the viewer wants assurance that the ends are tied off. In this case, what happened to Potter and the cash?   A redemption story would be fascinating.

    • #52
  23. OldPhil Coolidge
    OldPhil
    @OldPhil

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    D) Maybe next year I’ll post a story I wrote 20+ years ago; it has the banal title of “It’s a Wonderful Christmas Carol,” because I couldn’t come up with anything that warned the reader. It’s about Potter getting the three-ghost treatment the same night George has his trials. Because he, too, was deserving of redemption, no?

    This film certainly doesn’t need it, a flaw common in so many Capra movies is the exclusion of an epilogue. Capra liked to cut his films on a high note, but the viewer wants assurance that the ends are tied off. In this case, what happened to Potter and the cash? A redemption story would be fascinating.

    Potter’s silent wheelchair-pushing aide leaks the story to the Bedford Falls Enquirer. Special prosecutor Adam Schiff investigates, and CNN is there live to see Potter rousted out of bed in his nightclothes after being indicted by Preet Bahara. He gets 20 years, and Biden pardons him after it’s made public that Potter funded Hunter’s latest Ukraine gig.

    • #53
  24. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    C) I can really do without the whole her-haw thing

    While it is tiresome, it does identify Sam Wainwright very, very quickly, and he starts the whole “hee-haw” thing at the very start of the movie during the sledding.  Since we get only one “hee haw” a half or full hour, it is tolerable.  I used to dislike it, but now find it vaguely familiar.  In other words, it was grown on me from being irritating to being a sign post, like Violet’s blond hair.

    I was tempted to go to You Tube to pick out of the various “hee haw” moments, but James in a true friend and I don’t want to push his patience.  Some teases should never be done.

    • #54
  25. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    There is a nice review of It’s a Wonderful Life in National Review.  https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/12/its-still-a-wonderful-movie/  The concluding two paragraphs:

    “After this epiphany, we see that George is capable of taking the best about the past and marrying it to the best promises for the future. His Bailey Park is a welcome addition to Bedford Falls, not a separation from it, and as a community it can probably foster the kinds of relationships that make life meaningful. We are left with the conviction that America needs more men like George Bailey.

    “A moral vision for America that rejects the messages of It’s a Wonderful Life is a sad one indeed. So this year, when you watch Capra’s masterpiece, say ‘Bah, humbug’ to the critics and follow the example of George. Delight in what’s near and dear to you: family, friends, even a broken bit of your dear old home.”

    • #55
  26. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    D) Maybe next year I’ll post a story I wrote 20+ years ago; it has the banal title of “It’s a Wonderful Christmas Carol,” because I couldn’t come up with anything that warned the reader. It’s about Potter getting the three-ghost treatment the same night George has his trials. Because he, too, was deserving of redemption, no?

    This film certainly doesn’t need it, but a flaw common in so many Capra movies is the exclusion of an epilogue. Capra liked to cut his films on a high note, but the viewer wants assurance that the ends are tied off. In this case, what happened to Potter and the cash? A redemption story would be fascinating.

    Or if not redemption, at least justice:  See #30.

    • #56
  27. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    OldPhil (View Comment):

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    D) Maybe next year I’ll post a story I wrote 20+ years ago; it has the banal title of “It’s a Wonderful Christmas Carol,” because I couldn’t come up with anything that warned the reader. It’s about Potter getting the three-ghost treatment the same night George has his trials. Because he, too, was deserving of redemption, no?

    This film certainly doesn’t need it, a flaw common in so many Capra movies is the exclusion of an epilogue. Capra liked to cut his films on a high note, but the viewer wants assurance that the ends are tied off. In this case, what happened to Potter and the cash? A redemption story would be fascinating.

    Potter’s silent wheelchair-pushing aide leaks the story to the Bedford Falls Enquirer. Special prosecutor Adam Schiff investigates, and CNN is there live to see Potter rousted out of bed in his nightclothes after being indicted by Preet Bahara. He gets 20 years, and Biden pardons him after it’s made public that Potter funded Hunter’s latest Ukraine gig.

    Wouldn’t happen, because Soros… err, that is, Potter… owns the Enquirer, CNN, AND Adam Schiff.

    • #57
  28. OldPhil Coolidge
    OldPhil
    @OldPhil

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    In other words, it was grown on me from being irritating to being a sign post, like Violet’s blond hair.

    Ahh, Violet. Love Ernie’s reaction. (Frank Faylen later played Dobie Gillis’ Dad in the early 60’s series.)

    • #58
  29. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    While it is tiresome, it does identify Sam Wainwright very, very quickly, a

    Yep. It also makes you wonder if people in the 40s had tell-tale utterances or catch phrases, callbacks they used the same way people have email sigs. 

    • #59
  30. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Also, I’d forgotten Lilian Randolph was in the movie. She has a small part – she comes in at the end when everyone’s dumping money in the basket, and says she was saving up for a divorce if ever she got married. She’s twice as big as life in just one line. I think a lot of the audience would’ve recognized her from her real job, playing Gildersleeve’s maid – her voice is familiar, and she’d played the role in a few Gildy movies. 

    • #60
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