By: Alice Robert
It’s that time of year again, when a 76 year old film stirs up thoughts about life, love, and purpose.
by Alice Robert
The surprising Jersey roots of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
James Stewart, center, is reunited with his wife, Donna Reed, left, and children during the last scene of Frank Capra’s “It’s A Wonderful Life.” The classic 1946 film is marking its 75th anniversary and has been re-issued in a special two-disc version.
Donna Reed’s daughter plays guardian angel for ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
Since 1974, when a copyright lapse sent it into the public domain, the 1946 Frank Capra drama “It’s a Wonderful Life” has been a Christmas classic, largely because it offered free programming for television stations. Over two decades, the uplifting story of George Bailey (James Stewart) overcoming suicidal despair with the help of a guardian angel became the quintessential Christmas movie, replete with a suitably evil villain — the heartless banker Mr. Potter — and wholesome, heartwarming romance, by way of George’s loyal and resourceful wife, Mary, played by Donna Reed.
For the past 15 years, Mary Owen — Reed’s youngest daughter — has been appearing at annual screenings in small independent theaters that have become a cherished seasonal ritual throughout the country. “It’s become a tradition,” she said recently from her home in Iowa City, 200 miles from where her mother grew up in Denison, Iowa.
But that tradition faced an existential threat on a par with George Bailey’s earlier this year, when some small theaters thought they wouldn’t be able to play “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Although several venues were able to book the film as usual, others say they were told they wouldn’t have access to it until January, after an exclusive run sponsored by Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies and distributor Paramount Pictures.
“The first time I heard about it I thought, ‘We have left Bedford Falls,’” recalls Owen, referring to the fictional town where Bailey grows up and, by the end of the film, discovers that he has been a force for good all along. When she heard that her local nonprofit art house, FilmScene, might be barred from showing “It’s a Wonderful Life,” she was incensed.
How to stream ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ on Christmas Eve
“It’s a Wonderful Life” follows the life of George Bailey, a man who has put others in his life before himself, but when an innocent mistake threatens to upend the life he’s built, he begins to wonder if everyone would be better off without him. There to guide him away from such thoughts is his Guardian Angel Clarence who is on a mission of his own — get his wings by proving to George that the world would be worse off without him. Below, we’re breaking down some of the best ways to catch the beloved film this season.
And I think about those around me as well, often wondering if I would have made it through college without the close friend who helped me stay in school when I was ill, tutoring me and supporting me in unimaginable ways.
Looking around, I think about the people who are generous with their time and their money all in an effort to help others. What if they had never been born?
In one of the most poignant scenes in It’s a Wonderful Life, angel Clarence points out to George Bailey, “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?
Forgiving for the time period appropriate use of the less inclusive term ‘man’ in this statement, what Clarence says is absolutely true.