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It's a Wonderful Life Overview:

It's a Wonderful Life (1946) was a Drama - Family Film directed by Frank Capra and produced by Frank Capra.

The film was based on the short story The Greatest Gift written by Philip Van Doren Stern published in Reader's Scope & Good Housekeeping and as a Novel (1943 (magazine) and 1944 (novel)).

SYNOPSIS

Now the essential Hollywood Christmas movie classic, Capra's fable of finding sustenance in the humdrum of everyday life is a surprisingly dark vision for such a holiday icon. After all, this is a portrait of a man, played with great feeling and emotion by Stewart, driven to despair by potential financial ruin and the loss of his youthful dreams. It also features one of the angriest romantic clinches in all of movie history, as Stewart sees his future in Reed's eyes and knows it doesn't include the foreign adventures that have kept him going day to day in his broken-down savings and loan. But all this loss and compromise is balanced by genuine warmth and joy, as Stewart lassoes the moon for Reed, when she welcomes him to their improvised honeymoon suite, when, finally, all is put right by the community Stewart selflessly served - and by an angel named Clarence. More complex than most holiday fare, and maybe that's why it remains in our hearts.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

It's a Wonderful Life was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1990.

Academy Awards 1946 --- Ceremony Number 19 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActorJames StewartNominated
Best DirectorFrank CapraNominated
Best Film EditingWilliam HornbeckNominated
Best PictureLiberty FilmsNominated
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It's a Wonderful Life BlogHub Articles:

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE BLOGATHON - A 75TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION: Ward Bond and Frank Faylen as Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver

on Dec 11, 2021 From Caftan Woman

Ari, The Classic Movie Muse is hosting the It's a Wonderful Life Blogathon, A 75th Anniversary Celebration. Click HERE to access the tributes to Capra's Classic. Assuming you have lost count of the number of times you have watched the movie, spoilers abound.It's a Wonderful Life is a story of dreams... Read full article

The "It's a Wonderful Life" 75th Anniversary Celebration: It's a Wonderful (and Sexy) Kiss

By FlickChick on Dec 10, 2021 From A Person in the Dark

This is my entry in the “It’s a Wonderful Life Blogathon” hosted by The Classic Movie Muse. Click HERE for more great posts celebrating the 75th anniversary of this classic.I hate to be a wet blanket at this party, but I have a bit of an issue both with George Bailey and James Stew... Read full article

GlamAmor-ous Holidays--Always Remember IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

on Dec 19, 2013 From GlamAmor

Though many point to 1939 as "The Greatest Year in the History of Hollywood," I always remind people to celebrate 1946 as well. For a film noir fan like myself, the quality is virtually unparalleled--Gilda, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Big Sleep, The Blue Dahlia, The Killers, and Notorious a... Read full article

Who's watching "It's a Wonderful Life"?

By Caftan Woman on Dec 13, 2013 From Caftan Woman

Christmas traditions include stories. It starts with the Gospel of Luke and the first Christmas story. From 1843 we have Dickens' immortal tale of redemption and charity in A Christmas Carol. Over the years many movies have added to our emotional connection to the holiday and none more so than 19... Read full article

Classic Films in Focus: IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)

By Jennifer Garlen on Dec 5, 2012 From Virtual Virago

The vast array of memorabilia that has sprung up around It's a Wonderful Life (1946) over the last two decades tends to support the general sense of the holiday staple as the ultimate example of director Frank Capra's corny sentimentality, strengthening that idea we have of the movie being all about... Read full article

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It's a Wonderful Life Quotes:

George Bailey: Now, come on, get your clothes on, and we'll stroll up to my car and get... Oh, I'm sorry. I'll stroll. You fly.
Clarence: I can't fly! I haven't got my wings.
George Bailey: You haven't got your wings. Yeah, that's right.
Clarence: [In book inscription] Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends.
Nick: [slamming a bottle on the bar] That's it! Out you two pixies go... through the door, or out the window!
George Bailey: Hold on, Nick! What's wrong?
Nick: That's another thing. Where do you come off calling me Nick?
George Bailey: Well... Nick, that's your name. Isn't it?
Nick: What does that have to do with anything? I don't know you from Adam's off Ox.
George Bailey: You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money. Well, it doesn't, Mr. Potter. In the whole vast configuration of things, I'd say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider! And...
[turning to his aide]
George Bailey: And that goes for you, too!
George Bailey: You call this a happy family? Why do we have to have all these kids?
See More Quotes from It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life Facts
Two of Sesame Street's Muppets, Bert and Ernie, share their names with the film's cop and cab driver, respectively, but it's believed to be just a coincidence. While Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu, claimed that the two Muppets were named after the characters because the movie was Jim Henson's favorite, according to longtime Muppets head writer Jerry Juhl in an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle, Ernie and Bert were not named after the movie's characters. Juhl said, "I was not present at the naming, but I was always positive the rumor was incorrect. Despite his many talents, Jim Henson had no memory for details like this. He knew the movie, of course, but would not have remembered the cop and the cabdriver. I was not able to confirm this with Jim before he died, but shortly thereafter I spoke to Jon Stone, Sesame Street's first producer and head writer and a man largely responsible for the show's format. He assured me that Ernie and Bert were named one day when he and Jim were studying the prototype puppets. They decided that one of them looked like an Ernie, and the other one looked like a Bert. The movie character names are purely coincidental."<br
When Officer Bert shoots at George, the "s", the "v" and the "i" in the electric "Pottersville" sign far away in the distance, go out.
James Stewart said that of all the films he made, this was his favorite.
In the scene where George Bailey runs through the streets wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, there's a shot of a theater marque advertising for The Bells of St. Mary's. Henry Travers, who plays Clarence, had co-starred in the film the previous year.
Actor and producer Sheldon Leonard said in an interview that the only reason he agreed to play Nick the bartender in this film was so that he would have money to buy Dodger baseball tickets.
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