Each man's life touches so many others.

Rating: 10/10 (25 December 2018)

In looking at this glorious Christmas classic, it's easy to get so involved in the psychology behind it. we obviously become so caught up in our own lives that we often forget about how others around us have influenced who we become and vice versa. This film, which has been redone in many different forms, including taking popular characters from TV shows, both daytime and nighttime and putting them in the same situation as Jimmy Stewart, truly stands the test of time. Not only is it watching one man's slow destruction from things that seem to be beyond his control, it's seeing how one person can deal with the ruthless machinations of the pure evil around him and open the eyes of everybody else to see what's really going on.
In a return to the Christmas theme that he earlier used in 1941 classic "Meet John Doe", director Frank Capra saves the seasonal Twist of the story for the film's last half-hour. An unseen angel is sent to a small town to aid a possible suicide victim when the actions of the greedy and evil Lionel Barrymore threatens to send him to prison for embezzlement. Stewart's life is seen in flashbacks for much of the film, but when the film joins the present day, it is almost like it has gone some 70 years into the future to today with Barrymore representing the truly evil Scrooge like banker who wants to control everybody's life.
It is quite a shocker to see Barrymore playing such a nasty, evil man after playing the kindly Dr. Gillespie in the series of MGM medical dramas. he is basically expanding the role of Scrooge which he did on radio for many years and adds an essence of true malevolence to his characterization. Even Scrooge wasn't as crass as his character here. It seems to be a continuation of the role that Edward Arnold played so beautifully in Capra's earlier films "Mr Smith Goes to Washington" and "Meet John Doe".
The lovely Donna Reed crosses over from MGM ingenue to classy leading lady, adding much depth to her role of Stewart's girlfriend, later wife, with Beulah Bondi saintly as usual his lovable mother. (Bondi played Stewart's mother in so many films and on TV that it is obvious that somehow in real life, he did call her ma.) Then there's Gloria Grahame as the town flirt, Thomas Mitchell as Stewart's rascal uncle, and of course Henry Travers as Clarence, the angel who desperately wants his wings. The smaller roles are filled out by many familiar actors, some of whom were in pretty much every Capra film, as well as Danny Mummert and Larry Simms, both from the "Blondie" series and Karolyn Grimes, an underrated child star who stole many movie programmers in the mid-1940s.
There are so many other things to credit for this film's excellence beyond the cast and direction, namely the brilliant script, fast pacing and brilliant production design. This film holds up regardless of whether you see it in its original black-and-white form or it's decently restored colorized version. I'm not in favor of colorizing classic movies, but somehow this one actually came out all right. while I watch this one every other year rather than every year, I can say that I am continuously touched and discover new seems in its that I had not seen before. It is no wonder that this is on nearlt everybody's list of the top Christmas movies of all time.