A Christmas film everyone will enjoy

Rating: 8/10 (15 July 2014)

This was James Stewart's third (and final) collaboration with Capra, following on from pre-war films You cant take it with you and Mr Smith goes to Washington. Later in life he claimed it was his favourite work.
James Stewart, born in 1908, often portrayed the everyday middle class American, usually a character struggling with adverse circumstances to win through, in many ways the reality of his own early life. After studying at Princeton, Stewart tried to establish a career on the stage. Coinciding with the height of the Depression there was little work, and he later claimed only to have had employment for 3 months between 1932 and 1934. Signed by a talent scout to MGM in 1935, he moved to Los Angeles and stated his film career, working with a series of stars including Jean Arthur, Marlene Deitrich and Katherine Hepburn. World War II brought an interruption: Stewart, a skilled pilot, was eventually enlisted in the air corps. Resisting official attempts to use him merely as a recruiting prop, Stewart was ultimately transferred to an operations squadron, becoming commanding officer and flying bombing missions over Germany. He was awarded the DFC and the Croix de Guerre. His return to Hollywood saw a further 4 decades of films, including noted collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock in the 1950s.
It's a Wonderful Life was his first film in five years: in it he plays the part of George Bailey, a man living in Bedford Falls, a small town in America, but yearning to get away and fulfil big ambitions. Using a plot device, the audience sees George's past life up to the point, on Christmas Eve, when he tries to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. Using a similar device, George then sees what the world would look like if his attempt were to succeed.
The film was not a huge commercial success at the time, but has since come to be regarded as a masterpiece of storytelling. Traditionally associated with Christmas, which forms its backdrop, the film has a wider scope. George makes constant choices of self sacrifice which enable those around him to prosper. This prosperity is more emotional than financial, and a key message is perhaps the value of relationships above money. This self sacrifice is not without cost, but George uniquely gets to see what would have happened if he hadn't existed at all.
The film also examines differing approaches to business and looks at their results. On the one side is the Building and Loan Company, a financial institution run not on a financial basis, but on the idea of mutual support. On the other Mr Potter, who owns most of the rest of Bedford Falls and who wants to end the Building and Loan so he can complete his financial exploitation.
Whilst the film clearly includes many elements which can be regarded as fantasy (changing the past and future, angels descending to earth) it keeps one foot firmly on the ground, offering an ultimately happy ending which only the most jaded viewer will be able to resist.