It's a Wonderful Life (1946) - Plot Summary - IMDb It's a Wonderful Life (1946) Plot Summary Showing all 6 plot summaries George Bailey has spent his entire life giving of himself to the people of Bedford Falls. He has always longed to travel but never had the opportunity in order to prevent rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town. All that prevents him from doing so is George's modest building and loan company, which was founded by his generous father. But on Christmas Eve, George's Uncle Billy loses the business's $8,000 while intending to deposit it in the bank. Potter finds the misplaced money and hides it from Billy. When the bank examiner discovers the shortage later that night, George realizes that he will be held responsible and sent to jail and the company will collapse, finally allowing Potter to take over the town. Thinking of his wife, their young children, and others he loves will be better off with him dead, he contemplates suicide. But the prayers of his loved ones result in a gentle angel named Clarence coming to earth to help George, with the promise of earning his wings. He shows George what things would have been like if he had never been born.

In a nightmarish vision in which the Potter-controlled town is sunk in sex and sin, those George loves are either dead, ruined, or miserable. He realizes that he has touched many people in a positive way and that his life has truly been a wonderful one. - Written by alfiehitchie A young George Bailey, overwhelmed by family obligations and a sense of responsibility toward his community, feels tied down to a company he never had an interest in working for, and a life he never wanted to live. As he ages, he sees his youth, dreams and opportunities pass him by. Unknown to George, all of his friends and family have been praying for him to get through those hard times. Told through the point of view of a group of angels, he is met by his guardian angel Clarence, as he contemplates ending his life. - Written by Marielle <msaz.movies@gmail.com> George Bailey never got a chance to fulfill his life's ambitions of exploring the world and building skyscrapers. As he watches his friends and family become success stories he dreads on running his fathers building and loan business, rivaling the grumpy old Mr. Potter.

When a financial discrepancy puts George in a difficult position, an angel comes to show him what life would have been like if he had never been born. - Written by Eric Johnson George Bailey spends his entire life giving up his big dreams for the good of his town, Bedford Falls, as we see in flashback. But in the present, on Christmas Eve, he is broken and suicidal over the misplacing of an $8000 loan and the machinations of the evil millionaire Mr. Potter. His guardian angel, Clarence, falls to Earth, literally, and shows him how his town, family, and friends would have turned out if he had never been born. George meant so much to so many people; should he really throw it all away? - Written by Tommy Peter On the Christmas Eve of Bedford Falls, the guardian angel Clarence is assigned to convince the desperate George Bailey not to commit suicide. George is a good man that sacrificed his dreams and his youth on behalf of the citizens of his small town. He inherited the loan business of his father and he gave up traveling the world and joining University as scheduled. Later he resisted the proposals of the evil banker Mr.

Potter, and never sold his business to protect the poor community of Bedford Falls and offer a means to afford to buy their own house. He married his beloved Mary Hatch Bailey and had four children with her and a tough life with his family. When his uncle Billy loses US$ 8,000.00, found and stolen by Mr. Potter, George decides to commit suicide, since he believes he worth more dead than alive. When Clarence sees that he is not able to persuade George to give up his intention, he decides to show the life in town if George had never existed. The Real Bedford Falls | It's A Wonderful Life The Real Bedford Falls It's a Wonderful Life Museum 32 Fall Street Take the "It's a Wonderful Life" Walking Tour Download the brochure HERE It's A Wonderful Life (1946) Pages: ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) Background It's A Wonderful Life (1946), originally made for Liberty Films, is one of the most popular and heartwarming films ever made by director Frank Capra. Frank Capra regarded this film as his own personal favorite - it was also James Stewart's favorite of all his feature films.

It was actually a box-office flop at the time of its release, and only became the Christmas movie classic in the 1970s due to repeated television showings at Christmas-time when its copyright protection slipped and it fell into the public domain in 1974 and TV stations could air it for free. [Republic Pictures restored its copyright claim to the film in 1993, with exclusive video rights to it. Currently, it can be shown only on the NBC-TV network, and its distribution rights belong to Paramount Pictures.] The film's screenplay (credited as being written by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, and Capra himself, with additional scenes by Jo Swerling) was based on "The Greatest Gift," an original short story first written on a Christmas card by Philip Van Doren Stern. Uncredited for their work on the script were Dorothy Parker, Dalton Trumbo, and Clifford Odets. It is actually a dark, bittersweet post-war tale of a savings-and-loan manager who struggles against a greedy banker and his own self-doubting nature in a small town.

Earnest do-gooder George Bailey (James Stewart) recognizes his life as wonderful and truly rich, even in its humdrum and bleak nature, only after suffering many hardships, mishaps and fateful trials (including compromised dreams of youth to leave the town and seek fame and fortune, other sacrifices, dismay, losses and the threat of financial ruin, and suicide). He is given encouragement by a whimsical, endearing, trainee-angel named Clarence (Henry Travers). The story turns Dickensian (similar to A Christmas Carol, although told from Bob Cratchit's point-of-view rather than from Scrooge's) when the hysterical, despairing, and melancholy family man is shown what the small town (Bedford Falls, now renamed Pottersville after the town's evil tycoon) would be like without him. It's a frightening, nightmarish, noirish view of the world (at Christmas-time) that brings him back from self-destruction. He returns to the idyllic, small-town world that he left, with renewed faith and confidence in life itself. Hence, the film's title: It's a Wonderful Life.

The plot of the film was copied in the rags-to-riches fantasy storyline (also with a guardian angel played by Michael Caine) of Disney's Mr. Destiny (1990), starring James Belushi, and in Brett Ratner's The Family Man (2000) with Nicolas Cage. The famous "Pottersville" alternate reality scenes were also referenced in Robert Zemeckis' Back to the Future Part II (1989), in which the small town of Hill Valley was transformed into a Las Vegas-like Babylon in 1985, with young Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) in the role of George Bailey. The picture earned five Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor (James Stewart in his first film in almost six years), Best Director (Capra), Best Sound Recording and Best Film Editing, but won no Oscars. (It was eclipsed by William Wyler's award-winning The Best Years of Our Lives .) The Story The film's credits are seen in an illustrated storybook of wintry scenes as the pages turn.

As the film opens, the setting is the typical, but imaginary American small town of Bedford Falls, somewhere in New York State, identified by a snow-covered welcome sign. It is Christmas Eve. Prayers from friends in Bedford Falls are heard for a man named George Bailey on the verge of suicide. The camera pans over locations in town, identifying where the voices are coming from - Gower Drug Store, Martini's, the local church, one of the homes, Bedford Falls Garage, and George's own home, where his children's voices are heard. The camera shot dissolves slowly upward into the star-filled, dark night sky where two pulsating galaxies of light come into view. Two heavenly angels are conversing together in the film's otherworldly opening. They have heard the prayers for the film's hero, George Bailey (James Stewart), a man overwhelmed by his problems. Every time one of the heavenly voices speaks, the stars twinkle. In this cosmic fantasy sequence, Angel Joseph tells Angel Franklin that they will appoint a guardian angel for George. But the only angel available is Clarence Oddbody (Henry Travers), Angel Second Class, a sweet but inept, child-like apprentice angel who hasn't yet earned his wings.

The apprentice is summoned, and portrayed as a streaking star that appears before the brighter angelic stars. Before being dispatched, Clarence is told that George is despondent and considering suicide, "throwing away God's greatest gift," his life - he obviously needs angelic assistance. Clarence is promised that if he does a good job, he will earn his wings. Before Clarence is given a chance to become a full-fledged angel and sent to Earth, the heavenly powers show, in flashback, key events and background on George's life from his boyhood, to provide Clarence with important information about why George is so despairing. Bedford Falls comes slowly into focus. It is the year 1919 and young native George Bailey (Bobbie Anderson) is 12 years old - born, raised, and educated in Bedford Falls. George and a group of friends are sliding down an icy hill on shovels onto a frozen pond. When his younger kid brother Harry (George Nokes) slides past the safe area and plunges into the freezing water at the end of the icy pond, George jumps in after him and saves him from drowning by forming a human chain, but his heroics cause him to catch a bad cold.

From the resulting infection, he goes deaf in his left ear. In the afternoons, George works at the local drugstore owned by "old man" Mr. Gower (H. B. Warner). Walking to work with his friends, they stand in awe and watch a horse-driven, hearse-like carriage pass by, carrying Mr. Henry F. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), "the richest and meanest man" in the county. At the store, he talks with a flirtatious eight year old Violet Bick (Jeanine Anne Roose) who orders candy at the counter and vies for George's attention. Also there is young Mary Hatch (Jean Gale, or Jeanne Gail), the childhood sweetheart he will eventually marry. Mary orders a chocolate sundae, but rejects George's offer of coconuts on top. George tells "brainless" Mary that cocoanuts come from Tahiti, the Fiji Islands, and the Coral Sea. Obviously, he wants to explore and see the world, bragging about being nominated as a member of the National Geographic Society.

When he bends down in front of her, she whispers into his deaf ear, vowing: "George Bailey - I'll love you till the day I die." She already knows that the boastful George is the only man she'll ever love, but he doesn't hear her. While finishing fixing her order, George discovers a recent telegram to druggist Mr. Gower informing him of the tragic death of his son Robert, due to influenza. Distraught over the news and drinking as a result, the despondent Mr. Gower mistakenly mixes a pill prescription containing poisonous cyanide. Gower gives the order to George for an emergency delivery. Although obedient and diligent, George realizes that the prescription is fatal, but he faces a dilemma - should he deliver it? As he leaves the store, Mary is still sitting at the soda fountain counter, watching him as he dashes off. Not knowing what to do, young George spots a sign with the words: "Ask Dad - he knows." Young George runs to his dad Peter Bailey (Samuel Hinds) for advice. His father is busy in the Bailey Bros. Building and Loan Association building, confronting Potter in his office.

George's lovable Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell), (Peter Bailey's brother), known for wearing strings around his fingers to prevent absent-mindedness, prevents George from interrupting, but is called away. George enters his father's office and listens to the conversation between his father and Potter. The contrast between Bailey and Potter is clear - Potter wears black, sits in a wheelchair, and is a "hard-skulled," villainous, miserly banker demanding immediate payments and whose consuming goal in life is to destroy the Building and Loan. And Bailey is a champion and defender of the rights of the little man, refusing to foreclose on the mortgages of families in town. Potter insults Bailey: "Are you running a business or a charity ward?" and young George stands up and comes to his father's defense when Potter calls him a failure. His father rushes him out of the office without giving him a chance to ask about the pills. George returns to the store with the undelivered capsules. Before learning of the mistake, Mr. Gower angrily slaps George's sore ear for disobediently not delivering the order, although the boy describes the druggist's error: "You put something wrong in those capsules. It wasn't your fault, Mr.

Gower." When the old man tests the pills and learns the truth, he breaks down and tearfully embraces George, profusely begging him for forgiveness. George promises never to tell anyone about the mistake. The film moves ahead to the summer of 1928. George has grown up into adulthood and as a young man, he finally has his chance to get out of tiny Bedford Falls before entering college. He is about to leave for Europe on an exotic trip aboard an ocean freighter to see the world. He is in a local luggage and bags store purchasing a suitcase. With his hands outstretched, the moving image of George is suddenly stopped on the screen by the angels, as they inspect and comment upon it. When the flashback continues, George insists that his suitcase must be big enough "for a thousand and one nights with plenty of room here for labels from Italy and Baghdad...." He is presented with a second-hand bag with his name inscribed on it, a present from his ex-boss Mr. Gower. On the streets of town, townspeople kid with him about his upcoming trip.

With friends Ernie (Frank Faylen), the taxi driver, and Bert (Ward Bond), the cop [it has been hypothesized that the names for the Bert and Ernie characters on Sesame Street were taken from this film], he calls himself "a rich tourist" and asks to be driven home in style. Just then, George sees another childhood friend, Violet (Gloria Grahame), the town flirt. He compliments her on her summer dress, but she shrugs coquettishly and walks away wiggling her hips, stopping traffic and getting them all to crank their gaze in her direction. George spends his last night - the evening of brother Harry's (Todd Karns) high school graduation, with his parents for "his last meal" at the Bailey home. Behind his father on the wall are George's framed butterfly collection. His father tells him that Potter, on the board of directors, continues to harrass them. George calls Potter a "money-grubbing buzzard," although Mr. Bailey excuses Potter's miserliness as a sickness of his mind and soul. George has spent four years since his high school graduation working for his father at the Bailey Bros. Building and Loan Association.

George has "it all figured out." His younger brother Harry is to take his place at the Bailey Company for four years while he goes off to college. Mr. Bailey sounds out his "born older" son George about what he wants to do in his future. George boasts about his plans: "Oh well, you know what I've always talked about. Build things. Design new buildings. Plan modern cities." Mr. Bailey also asks about his son's feelings about taking over the Building and Loan. Exuberant about leaving Bedford Falls and traveling in his future, George declines his father's offer to return back home after college to take over the business: "I-I couldn't face being cooped up for the rest of my life in a shabby little office....I'd go crazy. I -, I want to do something big, something important." His father defends the importance of their business, sacrificing his entire life to altruistically help depositors in his bank and his family: "It's deep in the race for a man to want his own roof, walls, and fireplace.

And we're helping him get those things in our 'shabby little office.'" George doesn't wish to demean his father's work, but explains that he wants to get away and achieve financial/worldly success: "I just feel like if I didn't get away, I'd bust." His empathic father demonstrates his understanding. At Harry's 1928 high-school graduation party, George is heartily greeted by old friends including Sam Wainwright (Frank Albertson), a recent college graduate. Sam is known for prefacing conversations with "Hee Haw" and pretending to have floppy donkey ears. Violet approaches and offers her dance card to George: "What am I bid?" But George slights Violet when he is interrupted by Mary Hatch's brother Marty Hatch (Harold Landon) - they are all together again for old home week. Marty suggests that George dance with his "kid sister Mary" to give her "the thrill of her life." Violet reacts with mock surprise as George turns to look for Mary. His tall figure makes its way through the crowd to find her.

When he sees the grown-up 18 year-old Mary (Donna Reed), the first time they have met since they were childhood friends, she looks exquisitely beautiful in a close-up and he is visibly impressed with her. Although Mary is listening to an obnoxious suitor named Freddie (Carl Switzer, Our Gang's 'Alfalfa') tell her a boring story about an experience he has had, she immediately turns away and shows an interest and fondness for George. He takes her away from her partner and they go off dancing together after George tells Freddie off. Beginning a heart-warming set of dreamlike sequences, George courts his childhood sweetheart and their love grows. At the party, they enter a Charleston dance contest, while unbeknownst to them, the jealous rival Freddie plots his revenge with a prank. With the turn of a key and the push of a button, the gym dance floor is opened up, revealing a swimming pool underneath. When the floor separates beneath them, they are so carried away with their hectic Charleston dancing that they don't notice - and they plunge backwards into the pool. Soon, everyone joins them in the water, including the school principal.

George and Mary walk home together, returning from the high school dance after falling in the pool and soaking their party clothes. They wear a hastily-thrown together weird assortment of borrowed clothes - George a tight #3 football jersey and Mary a long, loose-fitting bathrobe. They sing an off-key duet of "Buffalo Gals" under the light of a new moon. Then, he sweet-talks her, calling his eighteen year-old date "the prettiest girl in town" while distancing himself slightly. On their way home while strolling along the street, they pause in front of the old deserted Granville house, and the gawky George accidentally steps on her bathrobe belt, the pretended "train" of her dress. She stops so that they can pretend a chivalrous encounter in a dramatic game. As a courtly lady, she extends her hand for a kiss from her courtier. He approaches closer to her, intending to give her a real kiss, but she coyly and slowly turns away from him. Playful, she walks away and continues to sing "Buffalo Gals." George threatens to hurl a rock through one of the Granville house windows.

He wants to make a wish - one that will only come true if he breaks a window. Mary wishes he wouldn't and confesses that she'd like to live in that old abandoned house - a prophetic wish: "I love that old house...It's full of romance, that old place. I'd like to live in it." He throws a rock and his aim is accurate - he breaks a window on the second floor. But then, he loudly describes his "whole hatful" of wishes to see the world and build magnificent buildings: I'm shakin' the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world. Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Coliseum. Then, I'm comin' back here to go to college and see what they know. And then I'm gonna build things. I'm gonna build airfields, I'm gonna build skyscrapers a hundred stories high, I'm gonna build bridges a mile long... Mary interrupts George by picking up a rock (unnoticed at first by self-centered George) and silently makes a wish of her own.

[Her wish, learned later, is to live with George someday in the Granville house.] Following George's example, she throws it through another window - and seals their fate. George curiously asks about her wish. For a second time, she replies with a sly smile as her answer, and then turns and continues down the street singing "Buffalo Gals." She explains that if she tells him her wish for the future, it wouldn't come true. George asks about her deepest wishes and then offers her a poetic, imaginative fantasy about lasso-ing the moon and bringing it down to Earth so that she can eat it - it's almost a marriage proposal: What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You-you want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey, that's a pretty good idea. I'll give you the moon...Well, then you could swallow it. And it'll all dissolve, see. And the moon beams that shoot out of your fingers and your toes and the ends of your hair...Am I talking too much?

A bald, overweight neighbor (Dick Elliott) on a nearby back porch hears their romantic, non-sensical conversation and challenges George to do less talking and try more romantic action: "Why don't you kiss her instead of talking her to death?" Just then, George inadvertently steps on Mary's bathrobe again and she accidentally loses it. She jumps into the hydrangea bushes to hide. Aroused by her predicament, he hesitates to throw her robe to her and teases her in a good-natured way, calling it "a very interesting situation." Mary begs for her robe back as he circles the bush with the bathrobe in his hands. George's imaginative and harmonious contemplation of possibilities with Mary is interrupted when a car roars up the street with Harry and Uncle Billy. He abruptly leaves after receiving the tragic news that his father has had a stroke. The beautiful harmony of their mutual attraction is shattered. The last shot of the scene is a long, sustained close-up of Mary (with a mixed expression of sadness, concern and disappointment). She watches the car drive off. Mr. Bailey death means that George's dream of traveling abroad to Europe for the summer before college is short-circuited.

He must handle the affairs of his father's business in the few months following his father's death. In a meeting of the board of the Bailey Building and Loan Company that gathers to vote on its future and to choose a successor to Mr. Bailey, George listens to Mr. Potter (one of the board members) present a motion to dissolve the Building and Loan Association in a bold-faced attempt to shut it down. Although Potter calls George's father "a man of high ideals," he criticizes Peter Bailey's business sense - he's "not a business man - that's what killed him," maintaining that the company was always a losing proposition. The crotchety old Potter believes that the loan policies of the company only produce: "a discontented, lazy rabble instead of a thrifty working class." Potter complains about a few idealistic, "starry-eyed dreamers like Peter Bailey (who) stir 'em up and fill their head with a lot of impossible ideas." George delivers an inspired address in defense of his father's character, fighting selfishness and deceitfulness with honesty and decency.

He speaks for the hard-working people of the town, and the way his father made them all better citizens and customers: Do you know how long it takes a working man to save five thousand dollars? Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about. They do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn't think so. People were human beings to him, but to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they're cattle. Well, in my book, he died a much richer man than you'll ever be. George is committed to keeping alive the company as the only alternative to allowing Bedford Falls to fall completely under the ownership of greedy and unscrupulous Mr. Potter - the only source for borrowing money.

"This town needs this measly, one-horse institution if only to have someplace where people can come without crawling to Potter." Potter calls George's ideals "sentimental hogwash." The board votes not to sell out to Potter but to keep the Bailey Building and Loan Company under one condition - if George is kept in charge as Executive Secretary to succeed his father. When they suggest that absent-minded Uncle Billy run the company - an unworkable alternative, George realizes his opportunities to go to college and study architecture are closing down, crying: "This is my last chance." But then, he again agrees to sacrifice and sidetrack his personal dreams as a victim of circumstance. He will remain in Bedford Falls to operate the company, inherit the responsibilities of running the loan company, and instead send his younger brother to college, using his own college savings. Over the next four years, George manages the company while his brother attends college in his place. When Harry graduates from college in 1932, he is to come back to Bedford Falls and run the family business.

At the train station, George waits with Uncle Billy for his brother to return from college for the last time - while eagerly clutching travel brochures to Venezuela and the Yukon in his hands. He believes that he can finally be replaced at the company by his brother and turn over the management to Harry - he can, at last, leave Bedford Falls. As the approaching train whistle sounds, George explains the three most exciting sounds in the world: Anchor chains, plane motors, and train whistles. The two brothers greet each other with overlapping lines when Harry bounds off the train. Unexpectedly, Harry is accompanied by his new bride Ruth (Virginia Patton), and George learns of Harry's promise of profitable work (out of town) in the research business for his father-in-law's glass factory in Buffalo. In a close-up of George's despairing, frustrated and dispirited face, he suddenly falls silent, realizing that he is doomed to stay in town. George is left alone as Harry returns to the train for his luggage. His dreams of escape and adventure are dashed, but he keeps his bitterness and discouragement to himself.

The REAL Bedford Falls: Inside the town that inspired Frank Capra's Christmas classic 'It's A Wonderful Life' | Daily Mail Online The REAL Bedford Falls: Inside the town that inspired Frank Capra's Christmas classic It's A Wonderful Life Sixty-five years ago Bedford Falls was the talk of the town as the setting for Christmas classic 'It's a Wonderful Life'. But in real-life Seneca Falls, scenes are immortalised from the 1946 film. Residents from the New York village say it served as director Frank Capra's inspiration for the design of the famous fictional town. And if you hadn't guessed by its design, vintage signs dotting its streets will tell you. Tribute: A street in Seneca Falls, New York pays homage to the 1946 movie 'It's a Wonderful Life' As CBS News reports, residents hold the 'It's a Wonderful Life' festival each December, where fans gather to celebrate the film. And it's a matter of local pride to do so. Lining the village streets are signs proclaiming 'You are now in Bedford Falls', not far from road signs emblazoned Bedford Hills Blvd.

This year, two of the actors from the film, Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu, and Carol Coombs-Mueller, who played her sister Janie, even made the trip to greet fans at the festival. Immortalised: Frank Capra's film, set in the fictional town, became a Christmas classic It's not hard to imagine the small town might seem strikingly similar to the Hollywood movie set they worked on so many years ago. An old hotel in Seneca has been renamed Clarence, after the angel who earns his wings by saving George Bailey. There's a museum in the town dedicated to the movie, and walking tours denoting landmarks from the film. Striking similarities: A gate rises above the canal in Seneca Falls, an upstate New York village residents say served as inspiration for Capra's film A lifetime ago: Karolyn Grimes who starred as six-year-old Zuzu in the 1946 movie visited Seneca falls last year. The actress divorced and her former husband was killed in a hunting accident. She married again, and her son committed suicide and second husband died of cancer Main drag: The buildings in the business district of Seneca Falls show similarities to the architecture in the film Familiar?

The famous steel truss bridge is not unlike where George Bailey stands as he looks into the water The trouble is, the director never confirmed their town actually served as his inspiration. But residents say there are too many similarities between the two towns to ignore. Capra on his own set Bedford Falls in upstate New York, and there are road signs in the movie pointing to Katonah and Chappaqua, both of which are in Westchester County and near the towns of Bedford and Bedford Hills. Both of the towns are just 45 miles from New York City and a train ran through Seneca Falls just as it did in Bedford Falls. Both are also mill towns.

Christmas classic: James Stewart as George Bailey in 'It's a Wonderful Life' Movie magic: Seneca Falls had a grassy median same as the one James Stewart's character runs down in Bedford Falls with a movie theatre located off to the side Happy ending: George Bailey celebrates Christmas with his family at the end of 'It's a Wonderful Life' What could have been: James Stewart as George Bailey stands in Pottersville - what Bedford Falls would have become without him Seneca Falls had a grassy median same as the one James Stewart's character runs down in Bedford Falls with a movie theatre located off to the side. The architecture has strikingly similar Victorian influences - there is main street and the famous steel truss bridge that resembles where George Bailey stands as he looks into the water. Then there is what residents say is final proof Capra himself visited the town in late 1945, and famously had his hair cut by a local barber while trying to talk Jean Arthur into the female lead. But 20 years since the director's death it's almost certain his inspiration will be forever encased in mystery, meanwhile, some say, immortalising Seneca Falls on the silver screen.

It's a wonderful setting: New York town claims link to Frank Capra's 'Wonderful Life' | NOLA.com It's a wonderful setting: New York town claims link to Frank Capra's 'Wonderful Life' comments SENECA FALLS, N.Y. -- Is this where George Bailey lived his wonderful life? Folks in this quaint upstate New York town think so. Or more precisely, they say Bailey's make-believe hometown of Bedford Falls in "It's a Wonderful Life" -- including the main street and the steel truss bridge -- was heavily inspired by Seneca Falls. This cannot be proven, and director Frank Capra never confirmed such a connection. But that hasn't stopped locals from celebrating the beloved movie every December, complete with actors dressed as Clarence the Angel and mean old Mr. Potter parading down a main street gussied up to look like Bedford Falls. "Capra always said Bedford Falls represented little slices of small towns that he had visited all across America. We're not in a position to dispute that," said Francis Caraccilo, a trustee for the Seneca Falls It's a Wonderful Life Museum.

"We just think we're a bigger slice." Capra's 1946 film stars Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, a frustrated small-town banker who realizes his life's value after the aspiring angel Clarence shows him what would become of Bedford Falls if George had never been born. The homey town falls into the clutches of the greedy slumlord Potter, and his Pottersville becomes a city of sin, brimming with sleazy nightclubs, burlesque halls, pawn shops and neon lights. If Bedford Falls (the nice one, not the naughty one) really was modeled after Seneca Falls, Capra never let on, and died in 1991. But many in this town of 9,000 say they have a strong circumstantial case. Seneca Falls has a nice broad main street like Bedford Falls', and there's a bridge with a plaque dedicated to a man who jumped from the span to save a suicidal woman in 1917 -- an act echoed in the film.

Karolyn Grimes, who played George's daughter Zuzu in the movie and is a festival regular, said Seneca Falls' similarities are so striking she blurted out "It's Bedford Falls!" during her first visit. The film also is loaded with references to nearby upstate cities. The bank examiner wants to get back to his family in Elmira for Christmas. George's wealthy friend Sam Wainwright talks of building a factory outside of Rochester, and his brother is offered a job in Buffalo. Bedford Falls also has a Genesee Street. The word "genesee" is from the local Iroquois and is closely associated with the Finger Lakes region that includes Seneca Falls. And while there's no slam-dunk proof that Capra ever set foot in Seneca Falls, there is the haircut story: Local barber Tommy Bellissima claimed he cut Capra's hair in 1945. Bellissima, who died in 2011, didn't initially know the customer he chatted with was famous, but the surname Capra stuck in his head because it means "goat" in Italian. The story is that Capra had been on his way to visit an aunt nearby.

Maybe fitting for a Christmas story, the contention that Seneca Falls is the real Bedford Falls comes down to belief. "There just is no evidence to support it, but God bless them," said Jeanine Basinger, curator of the Frank Capra Archive at Wesleyan University and author of "The It's a Wonderful Life Book." Basinger said Capra was a meticulous record keeper, yet she has never come across the link in Capra's records, his diary entries or script notes -- not to mention the many conversations she had with Capra over years. "I hate being in the role of Mr. Potter. I'm sorry, everybody. I wish I could say: 'Eureka! And here it is!' But the fact is there is absolutely no evidence to confirm this," Basinger said. It's also possible that Capra might have known of Bedford Hills, a hamlet in the moneyed bedroom community of Bedford (think Sam Wainwright) north of New York City. But Evelyne Ryan, executive director of the Bedford Historical Society, said that the place is not similar to Bedford Falls and that a case has never been seriously made. It's also possible Bedford Falls was meant to be an ideal, not a place.

Basinger notes the great thing about "It's a Wonderful Life" is that everyone feels it's their hometown. And that's just fine to some Seneca Falls partisans. "We're OK not having proof. In fact, maybe having a little mystery behind it makes it even better," Caraccilo said. "Keeps the magic going." Michael Hill wrote this article for The Associated Press. Most Read Now Playing Get the latest news, reviews, trailers and up-to-date listings for movies playing in local theaters. Delivered Friday afternoons. Leave this field blank Seneca Falls, N.Y., looks to 'Wonderful Life' movie for hope - USATODAY.com Enlarge By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY In Seneca Falls, many believe the town inspired the setting of the holiday movie It's a Wonderful Life. Seneca Falls, N.Y., looks to 'Wonderful Life' movie for hope By Rick Hampson, USA TODAY SENECA FALLS, N.Y.  This fall Menzo Case has faced the worst question a banker can hear from his depositors: Where's my money? Not in the vault, he tells them.

It's in the grand old hotel on Fall Street that reopens next spring. It's in the Downtown Deli, which will serve free Thanksgiving dinners to the hungry. It's in this fellow's home, and that one's. You know them. They're your neighbors. At Seneca Falls Savings Bank, "we're making loans," says Case, its president. "Same as two months ago." He sounds like George Bailey, the small-town banker played by Jimmy Stewart in the holiday classic It's a Wonderful Life, who stops a Depression-era bank run by telling depositors to calm down and stick together. Perhaps Case sounds like Bailey because Seneca Falls claims to have inspired the look and feel of Bedford Falls, the 1946 film's fictional setting. 'GEORGE BAILEY EFFECT': Giving thanks can help your own health The bank run inIt's a Wonderful Life is probably American cinema's most famous depiction of financial panic. Now, the people here are facing the real thing. Can they — can we — tap the spirit of Bedford Falls? "People will have to reach down and find something to get them through this," says Richard Goodson, a collector ofIt's a Wonderful Lifememorabilia.

"They'll have to show that there's something more to life than bigger-faster-more, that there are still enclaves of people that believe that." When the real estate and finance markets collapsed in communities across the nation this year, leaving whole neighborhoods half-abandoned and up for sale, Seneca Falls seemed to have been spared any real misery. An old mill town of 9,000 about 300 miles northwest of New York City, Seneca Falls had not boomed when others boomed, and so did not go bust. Home prices didn't collapse. Foreclosures didn't soar. Banks didn't close their doors or their windows. People here were relieved, maybe a little smug. "We were proud that our banks did it by the rules," says Joyce Sinicropi, the florist. That is, they demanded a down payment on mortgages and collateral on commercial loans; carefully checked customers' credit, and knew the people to whom they were loaning.

Says Case: "When I make a loan I sit across the desk, look them in the eye and ask, 'If you're gonna borrow money from us, are you gonna pay it back?' " But hastened by the decline in the value of IRAs, 401(k)s and college savings funds, the economic crisis now is bearing down everywhere — even on those who planned for tough times. For many people here,It's a Wonderful Life's Depression scenes have taken on new meaning. "They're afraid of what the future will bring," says Fran Caraccilio, a former village planner. Already, food pantries are besieged. One, the House of Concern, used to be open mornings but now is open all day and one weeknight. Although it used to see five to 10 new recipients a month, it had 38 in September and 36 in October. Business at ZuZu Café, named after George Bailey's youngest daughter, is so slow that it will move to a smaller storefront after Christmas. More people are coming into Mark Robinette's jewelry store to sell their rings and brooches. Some tell him it's to pay the rent or mortgage.

So for Seneca Falls, this Thanksgiving is time to do as George Bailey said: Stay cool, stick together, give thanks for what you've got. "This will be a brutal recession, but we'll get through it," Case says. "Upstate New York has been economically depressed for the last 20 years, so there's no huge adjustment here. I don't live in a mansion on the lake. I drive a 2000 Honda. I don't need to downscale much further." Town sees itself in film It's a Wonderful Life has been named one of the 100 best American films by the American Film Institute, and the most inspirational. Directed by Frank Capra, it's the story of Bailey, whose wanderlust is frustrated by the demands of his family's marginally profitable but public-spirited building and loan association. The business's cash shortage on Christmas Eve has Bailey on the verge of suicide. But he's saved by a guardian angel named Clarence Odbody, who uses flashbacks to an alternate Bedford Falls — where Bailey was never born — to convince Bailey that he's made a difference and that it's really a wonderful life.

When it was released in 1946 the film was a box-office disappointment and faded into relative obscurity. Because of an accidentally lapsed copyright, it entered the public domain in the 1970s, was televised frequently and found a broad audience as a holiday staple. Meanwhile, real-life Seneca Falls had stagnated. In the 1990s the textile mill, the auto parts maker, the Army depot and a Sylvania plant all closed or moved. Young people drifted away. Storefronts emptied. About the same time, people began commenting on the town's similarity to the movie's Bedford Falls. Looking back, Frances Barbieri, a life-long resident, says, "We needed something to make us feel good about ourselves. … People never understand. They say, 'Why do you live here?' " A marker on the old bridge over the Seneca-Cayuga Canal says the town "may have inspired the hometown look of It's a Wonderful Life." Some residents, like Adrienne Emmo, are more emphatic: "There are too many coincidences for it not to have." Enthusiasts list many similarities between Seneca Falls and Bedford Falls: • Both have an old steel truss bridge.

Bailey jumps off the one in the movie to rescue Clarence; Seneca Falls' has a plaque dedicated to a man who died in 1917 while trying to save a drowning woman. • Both are on a train line in western New York. The film mentions Buffalo, Rochester and Elmira; a reference to Cornell University, 40 miles south of Seneca Falls, was cut from the script. • Both have affordable, single-family housing developments named for benefactor-founders: "Bailey Park" and "Rumseyville," which acknowledges Seneca Falls industrialist John Rumsey. • The town barber in Seneca Falls, Tommy Bellissima, says that in the mid-1940s he cut the hair of a man named Capra who was passing through en route to visit a relative in Auburn, N.Y. Bellissima said he made the connection to the director only after he saw Capra's name on a movie poster. His story supported what many already believed. Capra must have crossed the bridge and read about the 1917 rescue attempt. "Tommy sort of gave us our legitimacy," Barbieri says. A proud community Today, Seneca Falls takes shameless pride in the film.

Signs proclaim "Angel Avenue" and "George Bailey Lane." The hotel under renovation will be renamed The Clarence. On the second weekend in December the town holds a festival called "It's a Wonderful Life in Seneca Falls." Actors will stroll about in the roles of George Bailey, Clarence Odbody and the others. Karolyn Grimes, the former child actress (now 68) who played Zuzu, will sign autographs, sell copies of her book and point out similarities between the town and the film. The George Bailey Award will be given to the person who personifies Bailey's qualities. The winner's a secret, but it would be hard to think of someone more qualified than banker Case, who shares Bailey's passion for affordable housing and heads the county Habitat for Humanity chapter. "Helping the community is part of our charter," Case says of the bank. "We'll never make as much money" as the go-go bankers who pumped up the real estate bubble in other parts of the nation, "but we'll never lose as much, either." By all accounts, the weekend is a happy occasion. No one, says Bonnie Vaughn, an organizer, "walks out of here a skeptic." But skeptics there are.

Jeanine Basinger is a film professor at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., and curator of Capra's archives. She knew Capra, interviewed him, brought him to campus. She has read his diaries and the unedited manuscript of his autobiography. She says he was asked many times what town inspired Bedford Falls. Never, she says, did he mention Seneca Falls. To the contrary, Capra repeatedly insisted that no one place was Bedford Falls; it was every place. In that light, the towns' similarities seem products of coincidence and conjecture. Many upstate towns have steel truss bridges, Victorian houses and globe street lamps. And if you want to make associations, a road sign in the movie mentions Katonah and Chappaqua, towns in Westchester County outside New York City that are near Bedford and Bedford Hills — and far from Seneca Falls. Basinger says she's not trying to play the role of Henry Potter, the character in the film described as "the richest, meanest man in the county." "This is a painful subject," she says, sounding nothing like the crusty old miser played by Lionel Barrymore.

"I don't want to rain on Seneca Falls' parade." Communities left behind by progress or prosperity often yearn for such a connection to history or celebrity, hoping to attract tourists or new residents or just buck up local pride. Oddly, Seneca Falls already had such a calling card: birthplace of the American women's rights movement. In 1848 it hosted the nation's first women's rights convention, and today is the site of the Women's Rights National Historical Park. But women's history does not have the same cachet here as It's a Wonderful Life. The movie weekend is a bigger deal than the summer "Convention Days" linked to women's rights, Sinicropi says. "The most successful brand this town has is the movie," says Bob Buccieri, the town's development director, who's been here a year. "Exactly why escapes me." No escape from recession For some people in Seneca Falls this season, life isn't so wonderful. April Kohut, 28, faces radiation therapy following thyroid cancer surgery in September, two months after she had her fourth child. Her husband has been out of work for two months.

They can't afford to put their car on the road, and he can't get a job without a car. The family lost its last apartment after two of the kids got lead poisoning and the place was condemned. They moved, but recently one of their new neighbors was beaten by some other residents in an argument. "You think you're doing good and suddenly one problem turns into three and it all falls apart," Kohut says. She's sitting in the living room, holding 4-month-old Michaela as the other kids play on the floor. However, in a few weeks, as always, they'll bake cookies and watch It's a Wonderful Life. Kohut will cry when George Bailey visits the Georgeless Bedford Falls and his wife, Mary, (Donna Reed), an old maid, doesn't recognize him; when Bailey gently tricks Zuzu into thinking he's "glued" the petals back on her flower; and when Bailey realizes he wants his life back, even if it means going to jail for embezzling. And she cries when the people of Bedford Falls turn out with the money to save the building and loan association from bankruptcy and Bailey from prison. The film makes Kohut cry for the reason her kids make her cry — their innocence.

"We have to cut corners this Christmas. But what gets us through is our family," she says. "I wouldn't change my life." When they moved here from a tough neighborhood in Buffalo, Kohut thought people were joking about the Bedford Falls connection. Now she has no doubt. She senses it in people's attitudes, even when she goes for help to the House of Concern. "They never make you feel small," she says. Her belief is testament to the film's enduring power. Now, as the holidays and the recession and the winter close in, as unemployment rises and fear along with it, Seneca Falls is being tested, much as Bedford Falls was tested by the bank run and Potter's scheming. Basinger, the Capra expert, wonders whether people will reach down for something to get them through this, to show that there's something more to life than bigger-faster-more. "How much Bedford Falls is there in Seneca Falls?" she wonders. "Maybe now we'll see." Posted E-mail | Print | To report corrections and clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent Jones . For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com . Include name, phone number, city and state for verification.

Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more . It's a Wonderful Life Movie Review (1946) | Roger Ebert Tweet The best and worst things that ever happened to "It's a Wonderful Life" are that it fell out of copyright protection and into the shadowy no-man's-land of the public domain. Because the movie is no longer under copyright, any television station that can get its hands on a print of the movie can show it, at no cost, as often as it wants to. And that has led in the last decade to the rediscovery of Frank Capra 's once-forgotten film, and its elevation into a Christmas tradition. PBS stations were the first to jump on the bandwagon in the early 1970s, using the saga of the small-town hero George Bailey as counter-programming against expensive network holiday specials. To the general amazement of TV program directors, the audience for the film grew and grew over the years, until now many families make the movie an annual ritual.

Advertisement That was the best thing that happened to "It's a Wonderful Life," bringing cheer into the lives of director Frank Capra and star James Stewart , who both consider it their favorite film. The worst thing--which has inspired Stewart to testify before a congressional committee and Capra to issue a sickbed plea--is that the movie has been colorized. Movies in the public domain are so defenseless that you could cut one up to make ukulele picks, and who could legally prevent you? And so a garish colorized version--destroying the purity of the classic original black-and-white images--has been seen on cable, is available for local syndication and is sold on cassette. It is a great irony that the colorized version has been copyrighted, and so many stations are paying a great deal for the rights to an inferior version of a movie that they could show for free in black and white. If I were a local television program director with taste and a love of movies, I would find out when my competitor was going to air his colorized version, and counter-program with the original black-and-white movie, patting myself on the back for a public service.

Maybe it could be promoted with a clip of Jimmy Stewart telling Congress, in his inimitable way, "I tried to look at the colorized version, but I had to switch it off--it made me feel sick." What is remarkable about "It's a Wonderful Life" is how well it holds up over the years; it's one of those ageless movies, like " Casablanca " or " The Third Man ," that improves with age. Some movies, even good ones, should only be seen once. When we know how they turn out, they've surrendered their mystery and appeal. Other movies can be viewed an indefinite number of times. Like great music, they improve with familiarity. "It's a Wonderful Life" falls in the second category. Advertisement I looked at the movie once again recently, on the splendid video laserdisk edition from the Criterion Collection. The movie works like a strong and fundamental fable, sort of a "Christmas Carol" in reverse: Instead of a mean old man being shown scenes of happiness, we have a hero who plunges into despair. The hero, of course, is George Bailey (Stewart), a man who never quite makes it out of his quiet birthplace of Bedford Falls.

As a young man he dreams of shaking the dust from his shoes and traveling to far-off lands, but one thing and then another keeps him at home -- especially his responsibility to the family savings and loan association, which is the only thing standing between Bedford Falls and the greed of Mr. Potter ( Lionel Barrymore ), the avaricious local banker. George marries his high school sweetheart ( Donna Reed , in her first starring role), settles down to raise a family, and helps half the poor folks in town buy homes where they can raise their own. Then, when George's absentminded uncle (Thomas Mitchell) misplaces some bank funds during the Christmas season, it looks as if the evil Potter will have his way after all. George loses hope and turns mean (even his face seems to darken, although it's still nice and pink in the colorized version). He despairs, and is standing on a bridge contemplating suicide when an Angel 2nd Class named Clarence ( Henry Travers ) saves him and shows him what life in Bedford Falls would have been like without him.

Advertisement Frank Capra never intended "It's a Wonderful Life" to be pigeonholed as a "Christmas picture." This was the first movie he made after returning from service in World War II, and he wanted it to be special--a celebration of the lives and dreams of America's ordinary citizens, who tried the best they could to do the right thing by themselves and their neighbors. After becoming Hollywood's poet of the common man in the 1930s with an extraordinary series of populist parables ("It Happened One Night," "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "You Can't Take It With You"), Capra found the idea for "It's a Wonderful Life" in a story by Philip Van Doren Stern that had been gathering dust on studio shelves. For Stewart, also recently back in civilian clothes, the movie was a chance to work again with Capra, for whom he had played Mr. Smith. The original trailer for the movie (included on the Criterion disk) played up the love angle between Stewart and Donna Reed and played down the message--but the movie was not a box office hit, and was all but forgotten before the public domain prints began to make their rounds.

"It's a Wonderful Life" is not just a heart-warming "message picture." The conclusion of the film makes such an impact that some of the earlier scenes may be overlooked--such as the slapstick comedy of the high school hop, where the dance floor opens over a swimming pool, and Stewart and Reed accidentally jitterbug right into the water. (This covered pool was not a set but actually existed at Hollywood High School). There's also the drama of George rescuing his younger brother from a fall through the ice, and the scene where Donna Reed loses her bathrobe and Stewart ends up talking to the shrubbery. The telephone scene--where an angry Stewart and Reed find themselves helplessly drawn toward each other--is wonderfully romantically charged. And the darker later passages have an elemental power, as the drunken George Bailey staggers through a town he wants to hate, and then revisits it through the help of a gentle angel. Even the corniest scenes in the movie--those galaxies that wink while the heavens consult on George's fate--work because they are so disarmingly simple. A more sophisticated approach might have seemed labored.

Advertisement "It's a Wonderful Life" did little for Frank Capra's postwar career, and indeed he never regained the box office magic that he had during the 1930s. Such later films as "State of the Union" (1948) and "Pocketful of Miracles" (1961) have the Capra touch but not the magic, and the director did not make another feature after 1961. But he remained hale and hearty until a stroke slowed him in the late 1980s; and he died in 1991. At a seminar with some film students in the 1970s he was asked if there were still a way to make movies about the kinds of values and ideals found in the Capra films. "Well, if there isn't," he said, "we might as well give up." Popular Blog Posts It's a Wonderful Life (1946) Synopsis - Plot Summary - Fandango GO Synopsis This is director Frank Capra 's classic bittersweet comedy/drama about George Bailey ( James Stewart ), the eternally-in-debt guiding force of a bank in the typical American small town of Bedford Falls.

As the film opens, it's Christmas Eve, 1946, and George, who has long considered himself a failure, faces financial ruin and arrest and is seriously contemplating suicide. High above Bedford Falls, two celestial voices discuss Bailey's dilemma and decide to send down eternally bumbling angel Clarence Oddbody ( Henry Travers ), who after 200 years has yet to earn his wings, to help George out. But first, Clarence is given a crash course on George's life, and the multitude of selfless acts he has performed: rescuing his younger brother from drowning, losing the hearing in his left ear in the process; enduring a beating rather than allow a grieving druggist ( H.B. Warner ) to deliver poison by mistake to an ailing child; foregoing college and a long-planned trip to Europe to keep the Bailey Building and Loan from letting its Depression-era customers down; and, most important, preventing town despot Potter ( Lionel Barrymore ) from taking over Bedford Mills and reducing its inhabitants to penury. Along the way, George has married his childhood sweetheart Mary ( Donna Reed ), who has stuck by him through thick and thin.

But even the love of Mary and his children are insufficient when George, faced with an $8000 shortage in his books, becomes a likely candidate for prison thanks to the vengeful Potter. Bitterly, George declares that he wishes that he had never been born, and Clarence, hoping to teach George a lesson, shows him how different life would have been had he in fact never been born. After a nightmarish odyssey through a George Bailey-less Bedford Falls (now a glorified slum called Potterville), wherein none of his friends or family recognize him, George is made to realize how many lives he has touched, and helped, through his existence; and, just as Clarence had planned, George awakens to the fact that, despite all its deprivations, he has truly had a wonderful life. Capra's first production through his newly-formed Liberty Films, It's a Wonderful Life lost money in its original run, when it was percieved as a fairly downbeat view of small-town life. Only after it lapsed into the public domain in 1973 and became a Christmastime TV perennial did it don the mantle of a holiday classic.

~ Hal Erickson, Rovi Provided by Rovi It's a Wonderful Life (2/9) Movie CLIP - Lasso the Moon (1946) HD - YouTube It's a Wonderful Life (2/9) Movie CLIP - Lasso the Moon (1946) HD Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Oct 9, 2011 It's a Wonderful Life movie clips: BUY THE MOVIE: Don't miss the HOTTEST NEW TRAILERS: CLIP DESCRIPTION: George (James Stewart) regales Mary (Donna Reed) with all of his dreams for the future. FILM DESCRIPTION: This is director Frank Capra's classic bittersweet comedy/drama about George Bailey (James Stewart), the eternally-in-debt guiding force of a bank in the typical American small town of Bedford Falls.

As the film opens, it's Christmas Eve, 1946, and George, who has long considered himself a failure, faces financial ruin and arrest and is seriously contemplating suicide. High above Bedford Falls, two celestial voices discuss Bailey's dilemma and decide to send down eternally bumbling angel Clarence Oddbody (Henry Travers), who after 200 years has yet to earn his wings, to help George out. But first, Clarence is given a crash course on George's life, and the multitude of selfless acts he has performed: rescuing his younger brother from drowning, losing the hearing in his left ear in the process; enduring a beating rather than allow a grieving druggist (H.B. Warner) to deliver poison by mistake to an ailing child; foregoing college and a long-planned trip to Europe to keep the Bailey Building and Loan from letting its Depression-era customers down; and, most important, preventing town despot Potter (Lionel Barrymore) from taking over Bedford Mills and reducing its inhabitants to penury. Along the way, George has married his childhood sweetheart Mary (Donna Reed), who has stuck by him through thick and thin.

But even the love of Mary and his children are insufficient when George, faced with an $8000 shortage in his books, becomes a likely candidate for prison thanks to the vengeful Potter. Bitterly, George declares that he wishes that he had never been born, and Clarence, hoping to teach George a lesson, shows him how different life would have been had he in fact never been born. After a nightmarish odyssey through a George Bailey-less Bedford Falls (now a glorified slum called Potterville), wherein none of his friends or family recognize him, George is made to realize how many lives he has touched, and helped, through his existence; and, just as Clarence had planned, George awakens to the fact that, despite all its deprivations, he has truly had a wonderful life. Capra's first production through his newly-formed Liberty Films, It's a Wonderful Life lost money in its original run, when it was percieved as a fairly downbeat view of small-town life. Only after it lapsed into the public domain in 1973 and became a Christmastime TV perennial did it don the mantle of a holiday classic.

CREDITS: Cast: James Stewart, Donna Reed Director: Frank Capra Screenwriters: Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra, Jo Swerling, Philip Van Doren Stern, Michael Wilson WHO ARE WE? The MOVIECLIPS channel is the largest collection of licensed movie clips on the web. Here you will find unforgettable moments, scenes and lines from all your favorite films. Made by movie fans, for movie fans. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MOVIE CHANNELS:

Question: What town is the setting for the film "It's a Wonderful Life"?
Answer: Bedford Falls