I'm trying
something different to get in the holiday spirit this year. Every
day, from now through Christmas, I will be watching a different
Christmas movie or television special. I have compiled the list of
features ahead of time and am drawing one, at random, from my
Christmas stocking everyday to determine what gets watched. Thank
you for joining me in this endeavor. We have finally arrived at the
penultimate Christmas feature. What will it be?
It’s a
Wonderful Life (1946)
This may be the most stereotypical
Christmas classic on this list. It airs as an event on NBC every
year, with a near 4 hour run time with commercials. Beyond this,
numerous shows have riffed on it, borrowing the idea of showing
characters and events as they would be without one of the primary
character’s involvements. My own personal confession is that I
have never really cared all that much for this film. It could be the
length, two hours and ten minutes seems exorbitant for this type of
feature. Though I do like other Capra films and I think it is
impossible to hate Jimmy Stewart so I really don’t know why this
has never completely clicked for me. It has been a number of years since
I last gave it a try so maybe this year will be different. At the
very least, it has to be better than Nestor.
Synopsis
It’s
a Wonderful Life opens with multiple people praying for someone named
George Bailey. From here the scope switches to the heavens and we
see flashing galaxies representing angels debating what to do
regarding George. They settle on sending a junior wingless
angel,
Clarence, to help him but first he must learn all that he can about
George Bailey’s life. We view along as the movie moves us through
an abbreviated version of George’s life in the small town of
Bedford Falls. He always wanted to get out of there and travel the
world and do great things but something always ends up conspiring
against him and thwarted his plans every time that he got close. He
has ended up spending his whole life in Bedford Falls. We see him
meet his wife, Mary, and watch them build a family together.
 |
| I dare you to look at this picture without hearing Jimmy Stewart's voice in your head. |
After
viewing all of this, the movie catches up to the events that lead to
the prayers that kicked it off. George’s absent minded uncle,
Billy,
has misplaced the bank deposit for the Building and Loan that George
and he run. The
bank examiner has been auditing them and without that $8,000, the
Building and Loan is doomed and George would be personally liable.
George is panicked and after being brought to the point where he
begged for and was refused money from Mr. Potter, the evil, old miser
who at one point, before George’s Building and Loan started helping
the community, had most of Bedford Falls under his thumb he is
brought to contemplate suicide. Clarence intervenes but George still
sees no point in going on. Clarence grants George’s wish that he
had never been born. This allows George to see all the good his
existence has wrought despite never leaving Bedford Falls. George
wants to exist again and Clarence returns things to the way there
were. George’s friends rally to his aid, the $8,000 is raised and
Clarence gets his wings.
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| A classic Christmas movie celebration ending if ever there was one. |
Final Thoughts
I’m actually amazed. Things have
indeed changed. I still feel that this film may be a bit longer
than it needs to be and spends more time on certain scenes than may
be necessary. That being said I did enjoy this film. I don’t know
if it is the fact that being older myself I can better relate to the
thwarted dreams of George Bailey or if it is simply the fact that I
have more patience for longer films than I once did. Regardless, I
think that I am beginning to understand what everybody else sees in
this one. I can’t say for certain if it will become a yearly
watch. After all, two free hours can be hard to come by in the
rushed holiday season. However, I am sure that I will watch it again
and gladly.
We will be wrapping up this project
tomorrow. If
you’ve stuck with it this
long, I ask you to join me for one more. Then we can get around to
the business of retro video games and non-Christmas themed nostalgia.
See you then.
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