‘It’s a Wonderful Life’: from box-office failure to holiday classic

In some respects, it’s a shame that “It’s a Wonderful Life” has been pigeonholed as a Christmas classic.

By Rick Anderson

For Grays Harbor News Group

In some respects, it’s a shame that “It’s a Wonderful Life” has been pigeonholed as a Christmas classic.

At one time, director Frank Capra’s 1946 dramatic fantasy was shown sparingly on television throughout the year. It was a movie nearly everyone liked.

Then its copyright expired. With all stations free to show it at will, it became so much of a holiday staple that it was possible to watch it on some channel nearly every day between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This type of overexposure sparked a critical backlash from those who derided its sentimentality. Some of the criticism subsided when NBC purchased the film’s rights for more limited holiday presentations.

It will be shown on the big screen Saturday and Sunday at Hoquiam’s 7th Street Theatre.

Sentimental it is, but “It’s a Wonderful Life” is also a wonderful film — well-constructed, well-acted and containing an obvious but still powerful feel-good message.

James Stewart stars as ambitious but kindhearted George Bailey, whose desire to leave his small town of Bedford Falls is continually foiled — even on his wedding day — by circumstances beyond his control.

Driven in part to thwart the ambitions of greedy banker Mr. Potter (played by Lionel Barrymore), Bailey remains in Bedford Falls to run his deceased father’s building-and-loan institution and raise a family with his wife, Mary (Donna Reed).

But when his absent-minded uncle (Thomas Mitchell) misplaces a key bank payment that is pocketed by Potter, George is threatened with financial ruin and possible imprisonment for embezzlement.

Believing he is worth more dead than alive, George contemplates suicide. He is interrupted in that attempt by the elderly angel Clarence (Henry Travers). While George’s friends rally to help out, Clarence shows him what Bedford Falls would be like if he hadn’t been born.

Many film-goers know that “It’s a Wonderful Life” was a box-office disappointment at the time of its release.

Its financial woes caused the dissolution of Liberty Films, the fledgling studio Capra founded in partnership with fellow directorial icons William Wyler and George Stevens, and all but ended Capra’s career. The two-time Academy Award-winning director made only five more movies — none particularly successful and two of them remakes of his previous works — before retiring in the mid-1960s.

Most historians attribute the film’s box-office failure to the public’s desire for more escapist fare following the end of World War II. Perhaps so, but I’ve often wondered if movie-goers at the time stayed away partly because of plot similarities between “It’s a Wonderful Life” and Capra’s last pre-war film, “Meet John Doe.” The latter — a dark, cynical political satire that tanked at the box office — also featured a hero (played by Gary Cooper) who considers suicide.

In contrast, “It’s a Wonderful Life” neatly mixes drama, comedy and romance until the concluding fantasy sequences. It also offers a stronger performance from its lead actor and more believable characterizations than Capra’s earlier film.

The villain in “Meet John Doe,” a right-wing, power-hungry newspaper publisher played by Edward Arnold, is evil incarnate. Unrepentant (and unpunished) to the end, Barrymore’s Potter isn’t exactly a role model. But he’s also a recognizable character not too dissimilar to some of today’s profit-hungry CEOs.

Contrary to legend, Stewart did not win an Academy Award for playing George Bailey (the film, in fact, was blanked on Oscar night). But it’s hard to imagine the story working without the actor’s unique ability to portray both idealism and anguish. During the darker passages, the audience can truly feel his pain.

At least, most in the audience. One of the film’s early detractors called it “saccharine and simple-minded, pandering to a nostalgia for a small-town America that never existed.”

I strongly disagree. Even today’s news is filled with stories about friends and neighbors coming to the aid of victims during times of crisis.

That may be the real reason behind the metamorphosis of “It’s a Wonderful Life” from box-office failure to holiday classic.

Regardless of the season, it’s a quality film with a life-affirming message that is timeless.