The film details the life of George as seen by several angels from heaven itself. Clarence Odbody, Angel Second Class (Henry Travers) is briefed by his superiors on the details of George's life from his early days all the way through to the present, covering a time gap between 1919 and 1945. The many acts that George performs are made plain, up to his marriage to Mary Hatch (Donna Reed) and the birth of his children, as well as taking over the Savings & Loan in the town of Bedford Falls and building affordable housing for the people there.
Why is this important? Because on Christmas Eve 1945, George Bailey is nearly driven to suicide when it appears as though he's going to go to prison for being unable to pay the debts of the Savings & Loan. Luckily for him, that's when divine intervention literally comes to him in the form of Clarence, who shows him a world where he was never born. The town taken over by the evil Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), his brother having died in 1919 and thus being unable to save the soldiers he did in the Pacific during World War II, his wife being a lonely spinster...all of these in more just examples of all the things that were different because he had never existed.
In the end, much like Ebeneezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, George learns that his life is a precious thing that hasn't at all been a waste. While he was unable to pursue his childhood dreams of traveling the world, seeing new sights and learning new things, he has spent his life building a community and raising up others. It's deep, touching, and highly sentimental. Sure, it can be incredibly sappy at times and critics even back in its day hailed it as having surprisingly unrealistic portrayals of people. But it's still a touching story and a reminder that we never know just whose lives we touch with our own.
Consider the life of George Bailey. So many people's lives were changed simply by his very existence. Some died, some suffered greatly, some had never even been born. Indeed, without his selfless generosity that had led him to help so many others, Bedford Falls would have - and, in the alternate timeline, did - become a much, much darker place.
There's no debating that this film is dated. And very much so. But, much like A Christmas Carol, it has endured through the ages as a story that virtually everyone can connect with regardless of its time. There are times where everyone feels like they're worthless and their lives are without meaning, and this film serves as a nice reminder that we may feel that way, but we really have no idea how much we mean to others, even outside of our loved ones. It says something when so many people in Bedford Falls were praying for someone to help George Bailey through his darkest hour.
Really, beyond a few jarring moments where it shows its age, there's no reason to not like this movie. James Stewart is an absolute joy to behold as George Bailey, showing off his acting chops like the master he is. Some might question his casting in the film before seeing it, and I would respond by placing "This is why" in subtitles under many of the scenes in the film. He manages to go from a young man in the bloom of youth to a tenacious and perceptive man just trying to do the best he can for his customers to a man about to end his own life in grief to a man who realizes that his life is, in fact, a wonderful thing and the world has been made so much better by his existence than it would have been without him.
As this will be the last movie review before it happens, Merry Christmas to my readers who celebrate it! I wish you all the very best, and I'll see you again on the 26th for one last Christmas film...and it's one I've been admittedly somewhat dreading...
It's A Wonderful Life was originally made by Liberty Films and RKO Radio Pictures, current rights rest with Paramount.
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