Those Holiday Movies

The real time action is all about a man on a bridge contemplating suicide. But this dark tale of a conflicted being fighting a battle with the forces of deep despair did not go down well with the movie-going public of the day, notwithstanding the star power of its leading man and a director with a string of hits to his name.

Ironically, new generations of TV viewers have looked upon the story as the feel-good movie of the century, and is now THE Christmas staple, as necessary to the holidays as eggnog, mulled wine, and Martha Stewart. We are talking, of course, about "It's a Wonderful Life," directed by Frank Capra and starring Jimmy Stewart, with a great supporting cast including Lionel Barrymore and Donna Reed.

"Please, God," a child begs in the opening sequence. "Something's the matter with Daddy."

An angel in heaven sets the scene: "At exactly ten-forty-five PM tonight, Earth time," he tells another angel, "that man will be thinking seriously of throwing away God's greatest gift."

As if that's not depressing enough, an early flashback takes us to a grieving Mr Gower the druggist, who has just learned his son has died of influenza.

Then come all of life's disappointments, one after another. George Bailey played by James Stewart is permanently stuck in his own version of "Groundhog Day," prevented from pursuing his life's dreams as one crisis upon another derails all his best-laid plans and dooms him to remain in his hometown of Punxsutawney - um Bedford Falls - for the rest of his life.

When the inevitable catastrophe happens, George is in no shape to handle it. Unaccountably, in the presence of his wife, he lashes at his daughter's teacher, and the script tells us:

"[His wife] cannot know that George's tirade against Mrs Welch is really a tirade against the world, against life itself, against God."

Then comes the long march to the gallows, with a detour in the local gin mill, where the bartender admonishes:

"Hey look, mister, we serve hard drinks in here for men who want to get drunk fast and we don't need any characters around to give the joint atmosphere. Is that clear or do I have to slip you my lip for a convincer?"

Finally, we bear witness to George's drunken walk in the snow toward a toll bridge looming ominously out of the darkness. A 1946 audience taking all this in for the very first time would have been extremely confused, given the title of the film. Sure, George in the end does discover that life is really wonderful, but viewers back then did not exactly appreciate the long and painful process Jimmy Stewart's character went through to arrive at this conclusion.

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